About the curator | Nancy Astor and Gendered Interwar Politics

Dr Jacqui Turner

Dr Jacqui Turner is an Associate Professor in History at the University of Reading.

Research interest

I am broadly interested in Edwardian and interwar parliamentary politics and political cultures, including gender, feminism and a mix of working-class politics and religion. My established research, ‘The soul of the Labour Movement’, is a detailed examination of the Victorian morality and spirituality upon which the life of the Labour movement was built and includes the wider contribution of the women’s movement, children’s associations and radical literary traditions. My current research concerns early female pioneers in politics, focusing mainly on female MPs between 1919 and 1931 primarily as ‘sex-candidates’. I examine the contribution of early female MPs and reassess the importance of the Representation of the People Act 1918 and the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise Act) 1928 on women’s citizenship and British democracy in response to the emergence of female politicians. I am particularly interested in Nancy Astor, the first female MP to sit in the House of Commons, whose papers are held at the University of Reading.

After spending several years working in heritage, I remain interested in archives, collections and heritage.

Astor100: Impact and Public Engagement

I was senior partner for the national Vote100 project, a commemoration managed by parliament, of the centenary of the women’s vote in 2018. From 2019, I was the national curator for the Astor100 centenary programme from the University of Reading and delivered the Speaker’s Advisory Committee On Works Of Art International Women’s Day Lecture ‘Nancy Astor: First Steps Towards a Better Balanced World’. Astor100 was a year-long celebration of women in politics, Nancy Astor and her wider legacy. It incorporated a major series of academic and public engagements that took place during 2019 and on into 2020. The Astor archives are held here at the University of Reading Special Collections.

As a direct result of curating the national Astor100 programme, I am currently writing on the ‘impact of impact’ and in particular the ‘expert voice’ in the media and on social media. I am also currently writing a biography of Nancy Astor.

University of Reading

You can find out more about Jacqui and her work at the university of Reading here Dr Jacqui Turner – History (reading.ac.uk) and her research on Early Women Pioneers in Politics here Dr Jacqui Turner’s story – Department of History, University of Reading