Dame Edith Maud Pitt, (14 October 1906 – 27 January 1966) was a British Conservative Party MP for the

Birmingham Edgbaston Birmingham Edgbaston is a constituency, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Preet Gill, a Labour and Co-operative MP. The most high-profile MP for the constituency was former Prime Minister Neville Chamber ...

seat. She had also sat on

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local government body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local council area in the United Kingdom ...

, and sought several Parliamentary seats before being placed in the Conservative safe seat of Edgbaston. When she died, she was succeeded by

Jill Knight Joan Christabel Jill Knight, Baroness Knight of Collingtree, (; 9 July 1923 – 6 April 2022) was a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, she served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Edgbaston from 1966 to 1997. ...

Early life

Edith Maud Pitt was born in Birmingham on 14 October 1906. She was the oldest of six children, and her father was a die-stamper. She attended a Birmingham council school, as well as night school before becoming a junior clerk.

Political career

Pitt joined the Conservative Party in 1929, and gained a seat on

. While working for the Council she was a member of an interim committee, established in 1947, designed to ensure that the Council was ready to implement the reforms of the 1948 Children's Act. She was selected as the Conservative candidate for Birmingham Stechford for the 1950 general election, but lost to the future

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national s ...

, Roy Jenkins. She fought the seat again in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

unsuccessfully. The

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

did not put forward a candidate, resulting in a straight fight between Pitt and Jenkins. She gained 23,384 votes to Jenkin's 34,355, a reduction on his majority. Pitt failed to get elected for the safe Labour seat of Birmingham Small Heath in a 1952 by-election. Following her defeat in the by-election, it was suggested that she could again stand for the Birmingham Stechford constituency. She was instead chosen to represent the Conservatives for the

seat, one which was considered to be safe. The selection of a female candidate for a safe seat was considered by the press to be a change in policy for the Conservative party. Her candidacy had been caused by the resignation in 1953 of Peter Bennett after he had been made 1st Baron Bennett of Edgbaston and took a seat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

. The Labour Party candidate was F. B. Watson. Both Watson and Pitt had seats on

. In the resultant by-election, Pitt received 20,142 votes to Watson's 9,635 for a majority of 10,507. However this was a drop of 2,597 in majority from the previous election. She said after the votes were tallied, "This can be no satisfaction to the Tory party that, in their own traditional stronghold, they have polled so few votes." She was the first female MP to represent Edgbaston. On the opening day of the Parliament in 1953, Pitt made her maiden speech. She spoke in support of John Morrison's opening address of thanks to Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

on behalf of the new Parliament, and was cheered on by her fellow Members. Following this, former Prime Minister Clement Attlee said of Pitt, "I think the House was impressed by the sincerity and knowledge with which she spoke on subjects very dear to her heart." By 1960, she was a Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Health. One of the issues she spoke to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

about was the effect of poorly shaped shoes on children. She launched an independent report into the problem in February 1960. She was made

Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 1962. At the 1964 general election, Pitt retained her seat. She chaired the Air Corporations Act 1966 through the committee stage until Christmas Recess 1965. She died before Parliament returned and

Robert Carr Leonard Robert Carr, Baron Carr of Hadley, (11 November 1916 – 17 February 2012) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Home Secretary from 1972 to 1974. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 26 years, and later se ...

began the tributes to her on behalf of the bill team on 3 February 1966. Following her death, at the 1966 general election,

was elected as her successor, who retained the seat for the following eight general elections. Knight and Pitt knew each other well. Phillips (1980): p. 80

Death

After collapsing at her home in

Yardley, Birmingham Yardley is an area in east Birmingham, England. It is also a council constituency, managed by its own district committee. Historically it lay within Worcestershire. Birmingham Yardley is a constituency and its Member of Parliament is Jess ...

on 24 January 1966, she was moved to the

Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham is a major, 1,215 bed, tertiary NHS and military hospital in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham, situated very close to the University of Birmingham. The hospital, which cost £545 million to construc ...

and died of a

brain haemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

on 27 January.

Notes

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pitt, Edith 1906 births 1966 deaths 20th-century British women politicians Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Conservative Party (UK) councillors Councillors in Birmingham, West Midlands Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Ministers in the Eden government, 1955–1957 Ministers in the Macmillan and Douglas-Home governments, 1957–1964 People from Edgbaston People from Yardley UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 20th-century English women 20th-century English people Women councillors in England