Margery Corbett Ashby

Dame Margery Irene Corbett Ashby, DBE (19 April 1882 – 15 May 1981) was a British suffragist, Liberal politician, feminist and internationalist.

Dame Margery Corbett Ashby DBE
Ashby in 1923
President of the Women's Liberal Federation
In office 1928–1929
Preceded by	Margaret Wintringham
Succeeded by	Eleanor Acland
Personal details
Born	Margery Irene Corbett 19 April 1882
Died	15 May 1981
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Brian Ashby ​ (m. 1910)​
Children	Michael Ashby
Occupation	Politician

Background

She was born at Danehill, East Sussex, the daughter of Charles Corbett, a barrister who was briefly Liberal MP for East Grinstead and Marie (Gray) Corbett, herself a Liberal feminist and local councillor in Uckfield. Margery was educated at home. Her governess was the feminist polymath Lina Eckenstein. Eckenstein was to become her friend and assisted with her work.[1]

She passed the Classical tripos as a student at Newnham College, Cambridge; but the university did not at that time give degrees to female students. She married lawyer Brian Ashby in 1910. Their only child, a son, Michael Ashby (1914-2004), was a neurologist who gave evidence as an expert witness at the 1957 trial of suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams.[2]

Political career

With her sister Cicely and friends, she founded the Younger Suffragists in 1901. After deciding against teaching, she was appointed Secretary of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies in 1907. She served as President of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance from 1923 to 1946.[3] She received an honorary LLD at Mount Holyoke College, USA, in 1937 in recognition of her international work. In 1942 she went on a government propaganda mission to Sweden.[4]

Ashby was one of the seventeen women candidates to contest a parliamentary election at the first opportunity in the General Election of 1918. She stood for Birmingham Ladywood against Neville Chamberlain the Unionist Coalition candidate. Her slogan was 'A soldier's wife for Ladywood'. Although she came third behind Chamberlain and the Labour candidate J.W.Kneeshaw, she forced Chamberlain to address women's issues during his campaign, one of the few candidates who tried.

Her papers at the Women's Library at the LSE in London contain a selection of her affectionate letters to her husband who was still in France for the early stages of the campaign. Chamberlain kept his sisters up to date with the campaign and his letters are preserved in the Cadbury Research Library at the University of Birmingham. Together they provide a unique record of the candidates' contrasting view of the election campaign.[5]

In 1922 and 1923 she contested Richmond, Surrey, 1924 Watford, 1929 Hendon, and 1935 and 1937 Hemel Hempstead.[6] Finally, she stood as an independent liberal with the backing of Radical Action at the 1944 Bury St Edmunds by-election.[7][8]

Archives

The archives of Margery Corbett Ashby are held at The Women's Library at the London School of Economics.[9]

Posthumous recognition

Her name and picture (and those of 58 other women's suffrage supporters) are on the plinth of the statue of Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square, London, unveiled in 2018.[10][11][12]

Electoral record

General Election 1918: Birmingham Ladywood[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Neville Chamberlain	9,405	69.5
	Labour	John W Kneeshaw	2,572	19.0
	Liberal	Margery Corbett Ashby	1,552	11.5
Majority			6,833	50.5
Turnout				40.6
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1922: Richmond (Surrey)[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Unionist	Harry Becker	12,075	50.6
	Unionist	Clifford Blackburn Edgar	6,032	25.3
	Liberal	Margery Corbett Ashby	5,765	24.1
Majority			6,043	25.3
Turnout				68.8
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1923: Richmond (Surrey)[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Harry Becker	13,112	63.0	+12.4
	Liberal	Margery Corbett Ashby	7,702	37.0	+12.9
Majority				26.0	+.07
Turnout				59.4	-9.4
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1924: Watford[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Dennis Herbert	15,271	54.7
	Labour	Herbert Henry Elvin	7,417	26.6
	Liberal	Margery Corbett Ashby	5,205	18.7
Majority			7,854	28.1
Turnout				73.1
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1929: Hendon[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Philip Cunliffe-Lister	31,758	52.3
	Labour	Robert Lyons	15,434	25.5
	Liberal	Margery Corbett Ashby	13,449	22.2
Majority			16,324	26.8
Turnout				72.0
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1935: Hemel Hempstead[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Davidson	20,074	62.5	-4.7
	Liberal	Margery Corbett Ashby	7,078	22.0	-2.6
	Labour	Charles William James	4,951	15.4	+7.2
Majority			12,996	40.6	-2.0
Turnout				69.3	-7.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.1

1937 Hemel Hempstead by-election[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frances Davidson	14,992	57.7	-4.8
	Liberal	Margery Corbett Ashby	7,347	28.3	+6.3
	Labour	Charles William James	3,651	14.0	-1.4
Majority			7,645	29.4	-11.2
Turnout				55.0	-14.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	-5.6

1944 Bury St Edmunds by-election[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edgar Keatinge	11,705	56.2	n/a
	Independent Liberal	Margery Corbett Ashby	9,121	43.8	n/a
Majority			2,584	12.4	n/a
Turnout			20,828	50.8	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

References

1. Sybil Oldfield, 'Eckenstein, Lina Dorina Johanna (1857–1931)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, September 2014 Profile, oxforddnb.com; accessed 1 October 2015.
2. Cullen, Pamela V., A Stranger in Blood: The Case Files on Dr John Bodkin Adams, London, Elliott & Thompson, 2006; ISBN 1-904027-19-9
3. Law, Cheryl. Women, A Modern Political Dictionary. I.B. Tauris, 200. ISBN 1-86064-502-X
4. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
5. Hallam, David J.A., Taking on the Men: the first women parliamentary candidates 1918, Studley, 2018, Chapter 4 "Corbett Ashby in Ladywood.
6. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
7. Chris Cook, A Short History of the Liberal Party: 1900 - 2001, pp.268-269
8. Peter Barberis, Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations, p.316
9. Margaret Corbett Ashby's records ref=7MCA, London School of Economics
10. "Historic statue of suffragist leader Millicent Fawcett unveiled in Parliament Square". Gov.uk. 24 April 2018. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
11. Topping, Alexandra (24 April 2018). "First statue of a woman in Parliament Square unveiled". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
12. "Millicent Fawcett statue unveiling: the women and men whose names will be on the plinth". iNews. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
13. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
14. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
15. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig, F. W. S.

External links

• Biodata
• Oxford DNB
• Biodata