Eveline Hill, JP (née Ridyard; 16 April 1898 – 22 September 1973) was a British catering business manager and

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 ...

politician. She served for fourteen years as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for Manchester Wythenshawe.

Family

Hill was born to a rising middle-class family in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, where her parents, Richard and Mary Ridyard, ran a catering business. They were not wealthy enough to send her to public school, and on leaving state secondary school in

, she joined the family business. In 1922 she married John Stanley Hill, and as usual for married women in those times, gave up work to look after the home. They had a son, John, and two daughters, Betty and Faye. John married Joyce Lee and had two children John and Caroline. Caroline has three children Jennifer, Christopher and Daniel. Betty went on to have two children Alex Angus and Richard William Smith who married Anne Hinds in 1986 and had 3 children Benjamin, Hannah and Joshua.

Community activities

On the death of her father, Hill and her brother took joint control of the family firm. She also became involved in the

and in 1936 was elected to

Manchester City Council Manchester City Council is the local authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester is the sixth largest city in England by population. Its city council is composed of 96 councillors, three ...

from

Didsbury Didsbury is a suburban area of Manchester, England, on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 26,788. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, there are ...

ward. On the council she specialised in health issues, and was chair of the Health Committee and of the South Manchester Hospital Management Committee. In addition to her council work she was County Borough organiser for the Women's Voluntary Service (WVS) for Manchester from 1943, and a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

from 1945. She chaired the local Poppy Fund. She was widowed in 1947.

Parliament

At the 1950 general election, Hill was elected as Conservative

for Manchester Wythenshawe, a newly created constituency at the southern end of Manchester which included her ward. Her maiden speech was on the subject of housebuilding, which she urged be maintained in order to prevent illnesses associated with poor housing.

Women's issues

In November 1950 Hill won a spot in the ballot for

Private Member's Bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

s, and introduced the Deserted Wives Bill which proposed to allow courts to award tenancy of a house and ownership of the chattels within it to a wife who had been deserted by her husband. However, she was unable to find the votes to force a vote on its merits and the Bill fell. In 1952 Hill, together with three other backbench women Conservative MPs, wrote to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' to urge Conservative Associations to adopt more women candidates.''The Times'', 7 March 1952. Hill broke the Conservative whip to oppose changes in the Manchester constituency boundaries in 1954, and found herself in a slightly less favourable position at the 1955 general election; she was re-elected by 2,822 votes. She became chairman of the Conservative backbench committee on Health and Social Security, and in 1958 supported government proposals to increase

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

charges, arguing that people who made contributions were putting something away for a rainy day in the traditional manner.

Rebelliousness

In 1961 Hill supported the reintroduction of corporal punishment. She also rebelled the next year over a Bill setting up a training council for Health visitors, to increase the council's power to make grants. Reacting to the 1963 budget, she hoped that husbands would pass on to their wives some of their allowances which had been increased. She also joined the rebellion over the abolition of resale price maintenance in 1964.

Defeat

Having held a marginal seat for two elections, Hill's position was made more difficult by the growth of

council housing Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council estates, council housing, or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in so ...

in the constituency in the early 1960s. At the 1964 general election, she was defeated by a wide margin of 4,777 votes. Hill had retained her seat on Manchester City Council throughout her time in Parliament, but retired in 1966; the Council appointed her as an honorary

Alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

in honour of her years of service.

References

*"Who Was Who", A & C Black *"The Times House of Commons 1950" {{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Eveline 1898 births 1973 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 Conservative Party (UK) councillors Councillors in Manchester Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Lancashire 20th-century British women politicians 20th-century English women 20th-century English people Women councillors in England