Beatrice Rathbone

Beatrice Frederika Wright, Lady Wright, MBE, formerly Rathbone, née Clough, (17 June 1910 – 17 March 2003), was an American-born British politician.

For the American psychologist, see Beatrice Wright (psychologist).

Beatrice Rathbone
MBE
Rathbone in 1943
Member of Parliament
for Bodmin
In office
11 March 1941 – 4 July 1945
Preceded byJohn Rathbone
Succeeded byDouglas Marshall
Personal details
Born
Beatrice Frederika Clough

(1910-06-17)17 June 1910
New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
Died17 March 2003(2003-03-17) (aged 92)
Political partyConservative
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1932; died 1940)​
    ​
    (m. 1942)​
    Children3, including Tim Rathbone

    Early life

    Wright was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in the United States on 17 June 1910; her father was an international banker. She came to England as an exchange student at Christ Church, Oxford, where she met, and in 1932 married, John Rathbone, with whom she had two children, including Tim, later MP for Lewes.[1] Her husband was elected in 1935 as Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Bodmin, but was killed in December 1940 in the Battle of Britain, aged 30. In March 1941 she was elected unopposed as his successor and sat in the House of Commons for the rest of the Second World War. She stepped down at the 1945 general election, after becoming the first sitting MP to give birth to a child.

    Later life

    In 1942, she married Paul Wright, who had a distinguished career as a diplomat and was knighted in 1975. They both converted to the Roman Catholic Church. They had one child, Faith Beatrice Wright, who married firstly Julian Shuckburgh (son of Evelyn Shuckburgh),[2] and secondly Colin Clark, younger brother of the politician and diarist Alan Clark.[3][4]

    She served as Vice President of the Royal National Institute for the Deaf from 1978 to 2003. In 1996, she was appointed an MBE.[5]

    In 1982, she co-founded the charity Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, along with vet Dr. Bruce Fogle (father of Ben Fogle), serving as the charity's president until 1988. The charity's northern training centre, in Bielby, East Riding of Yorkshire, is named the Beatrice Wright Training Centre after her, and her daughter Faith Clark served as trustee and chairman of the charity between 2002 and 2022.[6]

    An American-born woman would not be elected to Parliament again until 2019,[7] when another Conservative, Joy Morrissey, was elected in that year's general election for Beaconsfield.

    References
    1. "CLOUGH-GENEALOGY-L Archives". RootsWeb.
    2. Times, Special to The New York (28 June 1963). "Faith B. Wright Is Married To Julian J.E. Shuckburgh". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
    3. "Colin Clark". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
    4. Obituaries, Telegraph (7 October 2021). "Julian Shuckburgh, publisher and Bach scholar who wrote a highly original book on the great composer's work and personality – obituary". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
    5. "Hearing Dogs: our history". Hearing Dogs. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
    6. "Faith Clark". www.hearingdogs.org.uk. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
    7. "Worthington Christian grad earns a spot in UK's House of Commons". Worthington Christian School. 10 March 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
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