Patricia Ford, Lady Fisher ( Smiles; 5 April 1921 – 23 May 1995), was briefly an

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it l ...

politician in the

House of Commons of the United Kingdom The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...

. She was the first woman Member of Parliament from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, and the second woman to be returned to a seat in

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

from a constituency on the island of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

(the first to take her seat).

Early life

She was born at

Donaghadee Donaghadee ( , ) is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the northeast coast of the Ards Peninsula, about east of Belfast and about six miles (10 km) south east of Bangor, County Down, Bangor. It is in the Civil paris ...

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, and educated at Bangor Collegiate School,

Glendower Preparatory School Glendower Prep School is an independent preparatory school in South Kensington, London for girls aged 4 to 11. History Glendower Prep was founded in 1895 by Miss Lloyd and Miss Cornwall at 103A Fulham Road and was originally called "Cornwall ...

, London, and abroad. Her father was Ulster Unionist MP Sir Walter D. Smiles and her mother, Margaret Heigway.

Career

Ford returned from living in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

upon her father's death in the disaster in January 1953 and was returned unopposed to Parliament from his North Down constituency. In her

maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...

to the House she was required to apologise for an article she had written in the ''

Sunday Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet ...

'' in which she mentioned that

Bessie Braddock Elizabeth Margaret Braddock (née Bamber; 24 September 1899 – 13 November 1970) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for the Liverpool Exchange division from 1945 to 1970. She was a ...

and

Edith Summerskill Edith Clara Summerskill, Baroness Summerskill, (19 April 1901 – 4 February 1980) was a British physician, feminist, Labour politician and writer. She was appointed to the Privy Council in 1949. Early life Summerskill attended Eltham Hill ...

had been snoring whilst asleep in the lady members' room. The matter was referred to the

Committee for Privileges A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

. Ford was an advocate for

equal pay Equal pay for equal work is the concept of labour rights that individuals in the same workplace be given equal pay. It is most commonly used in the context of sexual discrimination, in relation to the gender pay gap. Equal pay relates to the full ...

and supported the Equal Pay Campaign Committee in their cross-party efforts. On 9 March 1954 she joined Conservative Party's

Irene Ward Irene Mary Bewick Ward, Baroness Ward of North Tyneside, (23 February 1895 – 26 April 1980) was a British Conservative Party politician. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) successively for Wallsend and for Tynemouth for over three decad ...

and Labour Party's

and

Barbara Castle Barbara Anne Castle, Baroness Castle of Blackburn, (''née'' Betts; 6 October 1910 – 3 May 2002) was a British Labour Party politician who was a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament from 1945 United Kingdom general elec ...

to submit the 'Equal Pay in the public services' petition, with over 80,000 signatures, to Parliament. The four policiticians arrived together in a horse drawn carriage decorated in suffragette colours. She retired at the 1955 general election. In 1972 she founded and was co-chairman of the Women Caring Trust, now Hope for Youth Northern Ireland. She was expelled from the Ladies Orange Benevolent Association (L.O.B.A.) for attending a wedding at the

Brompton Oratory Brompton Oratory, also known as the London Oratory, is a neo-classical late-Victorian Catholic parish church in the Brompton area of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, neighbouring Knightsbridge, London. Its name stems from Oratorian ...

Personal life

In 1941, she married cricketer Neville Montagu Ford, son of the Very Rev. Lionel George Bridges Justice Ford and grandson of 4th Lord Lyttelton. They had two daughters: Sarah, who married Sir Michael Grylls and whose son is explorer

Bear Grylls Edward Michael "Bear" Grylls (; born 7 June 1974) is a British adventurer, writer, television presenter and former Special Air Service, SAS trooper who is also a survival expert. He first drew attention after embarking on a number of notable ...

, and Mary Rose, who is married and has two daughters. Patricia Ford was divorced from her first husband and married Sir Nigel Fisher, MP, in 1956, becoming stepmother to

Mark Fisher Mark Fisher (11 July 1968 – 13 January 2017), also known under his blogging alias k-punk, was an English writer, music critic, political and cultural theorist, philosopher, and teacher based in the Department of Visual Cultures at Golds ...

, later a Labour Party MP. She acquired the title of Lady Fisher when her husband was knighted in 1974.

References

External links

Hope for Youth Northern Ireland (official website)
Accessed 23 November 2022.
Image
npg.org.uk. Accessed 23 November 2022.
Patricia Ford MP - first woman to sit for a Northern Ireland constituency
ukvote100.org. 15 September 2016. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Patricia 1921 births 1995 deaths Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Down constituencies (since 1922) Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Northern Irish constituencies Ulster Unionist Party MPs People from Donaghadee People educated at Glendower Preparatory School Politicians from County Down UK MPs 1951–1955 20th-century women politicians from Northern Ireland Wives of knights Spouses of British politicians People educated at Glenlola Collegiate School