The first woman to be elected to the British House of Commons was Mme Constance Georgine Markievicz (n‚e Gore Booth). She was elected as member (Sinn Fein) for St Patrick’s Dublin on 28 December 1918 but did not take her seat.

The first woman to take her seat was the Viscountess Astor (1879-1964) (n‚e Nancy Witcher Langhorne at Danville, Virginia, USA; formerly Mrs Robert Gould Shaw), who was elected Unionist member for the Sutton division of Plymouth, Devon on 28 November 1919 and took her seat 3 days later.