{"id":1131,"date":"2020-12-01T12:25:14","date_gmt":"2020-12-01T12:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/?p=1131"},"modified":"2020-12-01T12:25:14","modified_gmt":"2020-12-01T12:25:14","slug":"nancy-astors-early-life-in-virginia-by-james-langhorne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/nancy-astors-early-life-in-virginia-by-james-langhorne\/","title":{"rendered":"Nancy Astor’s early life in Virginia by James Langhorne"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are delighted to welcome James Langhorne as our guest blogger, James is based in Virginia and is Nancy Astor\u2019s cousin. Here, James describes Nancy Astor\u2019s early life in Virginia.<\/em><\/p>\n

Nancy Witcher Langhorne was born in 1879 in Danville, a place one would never know of had it not served as the last capital of the Confederacy for eight days in 1865. The year before, her father, a soldier named Chiswell Dabney Langhorne, was stationed there when he met and soon married sixteen year old Nancy Witcher Keene. The Langhornes had been planters for generations before establishing flour mills and tobacco factories in Lynchburg during the second quarter of the nineteenth century. The Keenes owned a tobacco plantation near Danville which was destroyed during the civil war, so the young couple began their married life under circumstances that were very grim indeed. But the modest house where Nancy was born fifteen years later made the family feel rather lucky. For more than a decade after the war, \u201cChillie,\u201d as Nancy\u2019s father was called, struggled to support his wife and children with countless odd jobs. It was not until Nancy was nearly three years old and her father moved to Richmond that the family began to regain its footing. Chillie was energetic and tenacious. As Nancy later wrote, although \u201che had been brought up in luxury as a country gentleman and\u2026knew nothing apart from looking after horses\u2026he was ready to take on anything.\u201d Within several years of moving to Richmond, Chillie recovered his fortunes in the railroad business.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Nancy Witcher Langhorne age 19<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(left) and with her mother<\/span><\/p>\n

The first place Nancy remembered from her childhood was the comfortable Victorian house she grew up in at 101 West Grace Street. Despite having a large garden, she and her siblings \u201cran wild\u201d in the streets. Nancy wrote many years later of a famous local pianist telling her that \u201che had always been in a perfect terror of passing our house, because we were apt to throw stones at him.\u201d Her mother \u201cnever wanted any children,\u201d but Nancy remembered none of her three brothers (Keene, Harry, and Buck) and four sisters (Lizzie, Irene, Phyllis, and Nora) having \u201cever suffered the slightest frustration on that account.\u201d She did remember family musicals, \u201cFather had a fine voice and Mother played beautifully,\u201d and the \u201cfamily jokes and stories\u2026told and re-told, and laughed over.\u201d The atmosphere was informal. \u201cMeals at home were not at all elaborate. We had the same supper every night: cornbread and eggs, raw tomatoes, beaten biscuits and molasses\u2026rarely meat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nancy\u2019s early education took place at the small school run by Miss Julia Lee (a relation of General Lee\u2019s) near the house on Grace Street, but she credited the \u201creal educational influence\u201d in her life to Miss Jenny Ellett, \u201ca brilliant teacher with methods all her own\u2026in those days very revolutionary.\u201d Nancy was taught philosophy, history, and geography in the form of a \u201cclose-woven tweed rather than the untidy patchwork [given] so many young minds,\u201d and left school with a \u201cpassion for reading that lasted the rest of [her] life.\u201d At home, Nancy was surrounded by animals of all sorts. Her sister had a dog and her brother had a goat. Nancy\u2019s earliest pet was a parrot. She had been \u201cunder the influence of Robinson Crusoe,\u201d and imagined \u201clong interesting conversations.\u201d The bird proved a grave disappointment. \u201cAll it ever did was sit on its perch saying over and over, \u2018Good morning everybody. Take it away, oh!\u2019\u201d The terrapins Nancy\u2019s father kept attracted her attention too. \u201cWhen the terrible day of massacre came, we wept bitterly, but we ate the soup.\u201d The Richmond menagerie was outdone at Mirador, the country house near Charlottesville that Nancy\u2019s father bought when she was twelve.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mirador<\/span><\/p>\n

Chillie renovated the house, adding large wings to accommodate the family. Nancy remembered the place as \u201ca sort of paradise,\u201d where the children \u201chad ponies of [their] own for the first time, and wide lands to adventure in, and wonderful woods to play in.\u201d She and her sister Phyllis, whom she considered \u201cthe best horsewoman that ever lived,\u201d became outstanding riders. Nancy loved \u201call the estate hands and servants\u2026just as much as anyone in the family.\u201d Their nurse was Aunt Liza, a devout Christian who loved telling stories of \u201cMr Jesus,\u201d even though she was \u201cno admirer of the Virgin Mother, for she just could not bring herself to believe that story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Irene Langhorne Gibson<\/span><\/p>\n

There was much excitement added to life at Mirador when Irene, one of the elder Langhorne daughters, became the famous Gibson Girl after her marriage to Charles Dana Gibson: \u201cThe papers were full of paragraphs about her astonishing beauty and grace.\u201d Nancy enjoyed watching her sister\u2019s romances, but as she later wrote, \u201cI had [not] yet thought seriously of getting married myself. I loved the life I had, and Mirador, and the horses. And I had, besides, found other interests\u2026The Reverend Frederick Neve, our local clergyman\u2026was the worst preacher I ever heard. But he was a man of God. He went off with his Bible and started the Mountain Missions. From the first I loved and respected him.\u201d It was Neve who suggested young Nancy volunteer at a home for old people and the disabled. She never forgot the experience. \u201cAt the Sheltering Arms I met, for the first time, people who had nothing,\u201d and learned that \u201chappiness has nothing to do with possessions.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1896, Nancy, aged seventeen, was sent to New York to attend Miss Brown\u2019s Academy for Young Ladies. She later recalled, \u201cI nearly finished the school instead of it finishing me.\u201d Having been brought up in a \u201cnatural atmosphere where nobody talked of money or thought a great deal about clothes,\u201d Nancy was horrified by girls who \u201ctalked of nothing but their wardrobes and how much money their fathers made.\u201d She therefore \u201cset out quite deliberately to shock them all,\u201d wearing \u201ca yellow blouse with a pink bow on one side and a green bow on the other side,\u201d and telling them that her father was a drunk and her mother a washerwoman. To Nancy\u2019s \u201cintense delight,\u201d her parents appeared one day for a visit, and \u201cseeing how wretched [she] was\u2026broke the pleasant news that [she] need not stay.\u201d Nancy later described how wonderful it was \u201cto be home again after that ghastly finishing school. We were at Mirador, and those were lovely summer days.\u201d More than fifty years later she wrote, \u201cNow when I think of those days, it seems to me the sun was always shining. I have never been as happy as I was there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nancy married her first husband, Robert Gould Shaw, in 1897. Her first child, Bobby Shaw, was born the following year. After several difficult years together, the couple separated, and were finally divorced in 1903. Nancy met Waldorf Astor on the voyage to England for the hunting season of 1905, and married him in 1906. Her second marriage was a happy one, producing five children: Bill, Wissie, David, Michael, and Jakie. Waldorf Astor was elected Conservative MP for Plymouth in 1910. After his elevation to the peerage upon the death of his father in 1919, he and Nancy decided that she should replace him. On December 1st of that year, she became the first woman to take her seat in Parliament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are delighted to welcome James Langhorne as our guest blogger, James is based in Virginia and is Nancy Astor\u2019s cousin. Here, James describes Nancy Astor\u2019s early life in Virginia….Read More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":189,"featured_media":1133,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[35,23,121,123,118,124,120,18,122,119],"class_list":["post-1131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-events","tag-ladyastor100","tag-astor100","tag-danville","tag-gibson-girl","tag-lady-astor","tag-langhorne","tag-mirador","tag-nancy-astor","tag-richmond","tag-virginia"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNancy Astor's early life in Virginia by James Langhorne | Nancy Astor and Gendered Interwar Politics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/nancy-astors-early-life-in-virginia-by-james-langhorne\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nancy Astor's early life in Virginia by James Langhorne | Nancy Astor and Gendered Interwar Politics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We are delighted to welcome James Langhorne as our guest blogger, James is based in Virginia and is Nancy Astor\u2019s cousin. Here, James describes Nancy Astor\u2019s early life in Virginia....Read More >\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/nancy-astors-early-life-in-virginia-by-james-langhorne\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nancy Astor and Gendered Interwar Politics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-01T12:25:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/70\/2020\/11\/Mirador.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"561\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jacqui Turner\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@LadyAstor100\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@LadyAstor100\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jacqui Turner\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/nancy-astors-early-life-in-virginia-by-james-langhorne\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/nancy-astors-early-life-in-virginia-by-james-langhorne\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jacqui Turner\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/#\/schema\/person\/3104705c849b40bcdab31fdea11420c5\"},\"headline\":\"Nancy Astor’s early life in Virginia by James Langhorne\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-01T12:25:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-01T12:25:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/nancy-astors-early-life-in-virginia-by-james-langhorne\/\"},\"wordCount\":1243,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"@LadyAstor100\",\"Astor100\",\"Danville\",\"Gibson Girl\",\"Lady Astor\",\"Langhorne\",\"Mirador\",\"Nancy Astor\",\"Richmond\",\"Virginia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News and Events\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/nancy-astors-early-life-in-virginia-by-james-langhorne\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/nancy-astors-early-life-in-virginia-by-james-langhorne\/\",\"name\":\"Nancy Astor's early life in Virginia by James Langhorne | Nancy Astor and Gendered Interwar Politics\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-01T12:25:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-01T12:25:14+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/nancy-astors-early-life-in-virginia-by-james-langhorne\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/nancy-astors-early-life-in-virginia-by-james-langhorne\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/nancy-astors-early-life-in-virginia-by-james-langhorne\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Nancy Astor’s early life in Virginia by James Langhorne\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/\",\"name\":\"Nancy Astor and Gendered Interwar Politics\",\"description\":\"Challenging the male narrative in parliament\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/#organization\",\"name\":\"University of Reading\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/70\/2022\/07\/readinglogo.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/70\/2022\/07\/readinglogo.gif\",\"width\":2386,\"height\":782,\"caption\":\"University of Reading\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LadyAstor100\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/#\/schema\/person\/3104705c849b40bcdab31fdea11420c5\",\"name\":\"Jacqui Turner\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f9b79767b51e17ac1c0226c781a4e3435f44168bdfcbeef4f5b7ef20f58d5f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f9b79767b51e17ac1c0226c781a4e3435f44168bdfcbeef4f5b7ef20f58d5f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jacqui Turner\"},\"description\":\"I am broadly interested in C19th and early C20th parliamentary politics and political cultures including gender, early feminism and a mix of working class politics and religion. My existing 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 largely on female MPs between 1919 and 1931 primarily as 'sex-candidates'. I examine the contribution of early female MPs but also reassess the importance of the 1918 Representation of the People Act on British democracy, in relation to women and the emergence of female politicians - I am particularly interested in Nancy Astor, who was the first female MP to sit in the House of Commons and whose papers are held at the University of Reading. After spending several years working in heritage, I remain interested in archives and collections, material culture, museums and heritage.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.reading.ac.uk\/history\/our-staff\/jacqui-turner\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/dr-jacqui-turner-09b994110\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/author\/e-j-turnerreading-ac-uk\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nancy Astor's early life in Virginia by James Langhorne | Nancy Astor and Gendered Interwar Politics","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/nancy-astors-early-life-in-virginia-by-james-langhorne\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Nancy Astor's early life in Virginia by James Langhorne | Nancy Astor and Gendered Interwar Politics","og_description":"We are delighted to welcome James Langhorne as our guest blogger, James is based in Virginia and is Nancy Astor\u2019s cousin. Here, James describes Nancy Astor\u2019s early life in Virginia....Read More >","og_url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/nancy-astors-early-life-in-virginia-by-james-langhorne\/","og_site_name":"Nancy Astor and Gendered Interwar Politics","article_published_time":"2020-12-01T12:25:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":561,"url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/70\/2020\/11\/Mirador.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jacqui Turner","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@LadyAstor100","twitter_site":"@LadyAstor100","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jacqui Turner","Estimated reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/nancy-astors-early-life-in-virginia-by-james-langhorne\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/nancy-astors-early-life-in-virginia-by-james-langhorne\/"},"author":{"name":"Jacqui Turner","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/#\/schema\/person\/3104705c849b40bcdab31fdea11420c5"},"headline":"Nancy Astor’s early life in Virginia by James Langhorne","datePublished":"2020-12-01T12:25:14+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-01T12:25:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/nancy-astors-early-life-in-virginia-by-james-langhorne\/"},"wordCount":1243,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/#organization"},"keywords":["@LadyAstor100","Astor100","Danville","Gibson Girl","Lady Astor","Langhorne","Mirador","Nancy Astor","Richmond","Virginia"],"articleSection":["News and Events"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/nancy-astors-early-life-in-virginia-by-james-langhorne\/","url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/nancy-astors-early-life-in-virginia-by-james-langhorne\/","name":"Nancy Astor's early life in Virginia by James Langhorne | Nancy Astor and Gendered Interwar Politics","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-12-01T12:25:14+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-01T12:25:14+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/nancy-astors-early-life-in-virginia-by-james-langhorne\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/nancy-astors-early-life-in-virginia-by-james-langhorne\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/nancy-astors-early-life-in-virginia-by-james-langhorne\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Nancy Astor’s early life in Virginia by James Langhorne"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/#website","url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/","name":"Nancy Astor and Gendered Interwar Politics","description":"Challenging the male narrative in parliament","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/#organization","name":"University of Reading","url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/70\/2022\/07\/readinglogo.gif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/70\/2022\/07\/readinglogo.gif","width":2386,"height":782,"caption":"University of Reading"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/LadyAstor100"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/#\/schema\/person\/3104705c849b40bcdab31fdea11420c5","name":"Jacqui Turner","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f9b79767b51e17ac1c0226c781a4e3435f44168bdfcbeef4f5b7ef20f58d5f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f9b79767b51e17ac1c0226c781a4e3435f44168bdfcbeef4f5b7ef20f58d5f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jacqui Turner"},"description":"I am broadly interested in C19th and early C20th parliamentary politics and political cultures including gender, early feminism and a mix of working class politics and religion. My existing 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 largely on female MPs between 1919 and 1931 primarily as 'sex-candidates'. I examine the contribution of early female MPs but also reassess the importance of the 1918 Representation of the People Act on British democracy, in relation to women and the emergence of female politicians - I am particularly interested in Nancy Astor, who was the first female MP to sit in the House of Commons and whose papers are held at the University of Reading. After spending several years working in heritage, I remain interested in archives and collections, material culture, museums and heritage.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.reading.ac.uk\/history\/our-staff\/jacqui-turner","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/dr-jacqui-turner-09b994110\/"],"url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/author\/e-j-turnerreading-ac-uk\/"}]}},"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/189"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1131"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1150,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1131\/revisions\/1150"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/astor100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}