If you wander the halls of the Houses of Parliament, you’ll see a few sculptures and other tributes to a person named Lady Nancy Astor. In the accompanying captions, you’ll read she’s notable as the first woman to take a seat in the House of Commons, serving for 26 years as the MP for Plymouth Sutton.
![[PARTICIPANTS IN THE IRISH REVOLT TO BE TRIED FOR TREASON-THE COUNTESS OF MARKIEVICZ, NOW A PRISONER IN ENGLAND, AND WHOSE TRIAL FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE RECENT SIN FEINER REBELLION IN DUBLIN WILL TAKE PLACE IN A FEW DAYS. 5/4/16]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233757094-16f2.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
You may also notice that these descriptions are often quite awkwardly worded, usually focusing on the fact she was the first to physically sit on the green benches. That’s because Lady Astor was not the first woman elected to Westminster as an MP. That title belongs to someone rather less likely to be celebrated by the British political establishment – and who certainly didn’t take a seat.
![[2HETF14 CONSTANCE MARKIEVICZ (1868-1927) Irish politician and revolutionary addressing a crowd about 1918]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233757096-49f0.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Constance Markievicz was born in London in 1868 to an influential Protestant family, the Gore-Booths. In her early adulthood, it became clear she cared little for the high society life predestined for her by her blood. Instead, she wanted to become an artist, and she rented a studio in the capital to indulge her passion for painting.
![[DUBLIN, IRELAND - MAY 25: a bust of Constance Markievicz on May 25, 2013 in St. Stephen's Green in Dublin, Ireland. Constance Markievicz was an Irish politician and revolutionary nationalist.; Shutterstock ID 146654096; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233757097-b365.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
When she was 25, she took her brushes and canvas to Paris, where she continued her studies and married a Polish count named Casimir Dunin-Markievicz. The couple decided to move to Dublin in 1903. Constance already had strong ties to Ireland as much of her childhood was spent in the family home of Lissadell in Sligo, but her attachment was about to grow far more profound.
