Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor
Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor, Viscountess Astor (19 May 1879 – 2 May 1964) was an American-born British politician who was the first woman seated as a Member of Parliament (MP), serving from 1919 to 1945. Astor was born in Danville, Virginia and raised in Greenwood, Virginia. Her first marriage, to socialite Robert Gould Shaw II, was unhappy and ended in divorce. She then moved to England and married American-born Englishman Waldorf Astor in 1906.
Quotes
[edit]- I am a Virginian, so naturally I am a politician.
- Speech in Plymouth accepting the nomination to stand as a Conservative candidate (1919), quoted in Robert Stewart, A Dictionary of Political Quotations (1984), p. 6
- After two years in that first war, we did not look at the casualty lists any more. There was nothing to look for. All our friends had gone.
- From her memoirs, as quoted in Nancy Astor: A Life (Anthony, 1982, p. 84)
- Am I dying, or is this my birthday?
- Note: In her final illness, she awoke on her deathbed to see her family at her bedside. The full quote is "Jackie, am I dying, or is this my birthday?" to which Jackie replied "A bit of both, Mum."
Quotes about Nancy Astor
[edit]- Nancy was an unreconstructed Southener, a Virginian first and last. For all her life lived in England, she never ceased to be a Virginian. When I told her of my visit to the National Cemetery at Arlington (where now the two Kennedys lie), she exclaimed, "National Cemetery? — dam’ Yankees — it's Lee’s place, Arlington."
- A. L. Rowse, 'Nancy Astor', Memories and Glimpses (1986), p. 27
