Alice Theresa Lucas born Alice Theresa Stern (6 May 1853 – 3 May 1924) was a British parliamentary candidate in the 1918 General Election. She was the first woman candidate for the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

Life

Lucas was born in

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and latterly a ...

in 1853 to a Jewish family. Her father was David de Stern in the Portuguese nobility and a co-founder of the investment banking company "Stern Brothers". She married Colonel

Francis Alfred Lucas Colonel Francis Alfred Lucas (7 June 1850 – 11 December 1918) was a British company director and Conservative Party politician who lived in London and in Suffolk. He sat in the House of Commons from 1900 until his defeat in 1906. He died whil ...

in 1887. He was a businessman who took to politics and was a member of Parliament. They lived at Stornaway House in Cleveland Row in London from 1898. In 1918 her husband died in the flu pandemic when he was the prospective Conservative candidate for

Kennington Kennington is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark, a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between the ...

. She was chosen to replace him and the election was delayed for a few days because of the change in candidate. This was the first British general election where some women were allowed to vote and she became the first ever woman to be a Conservative Party candidate in a general election. She came second to the Liberal candidate who was the person given approval by the coalition government. If she had have been elected then she would have been the first woman member of parliament in Britain. She did much better than her husband had when contesting this seat but it has been commented "that there is nothing like bereavement, injury or childbirth to commend a candidate to the British electorate."Pamela Brookes, ''Women at Westminster''; Peter Davies, London, 1967 p14 Lucas died at Stornaway House in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1924.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, Alice Theresa 1853 births 1924 deaths People from Marylebone Conservative Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Jewish British politicians