Nancy Astor
1879 – 1964
British

Politician. She succeeded her husband as Conservative Member of Parliament for Plymouth and thus, notwithstanding her American birth, became the first woman MP. Throughout her career, she sought to promote women's rights, but was best known for her biting humor and wit. (She to Winston Churchill: "If I were your wife, I would poison your coffee." He to her: "If I were your husband, I would drink it.")

Contemporaries
1904–1993Solly Zuckerman
1863–1942Sir Francis Younghusband
1853–1936Henry Wellcome
1851–1920Mary Augusta Ward
1819–1901Queen Victoria
1910–2003Wilfred Thesiger
1893–1993Dame Freya Stark
Born 1940Tim Severin
1891–1976Michael Polanyi
1912–1988Kim Philby
1865–1947Baroness Emma Orczy
1838–1923John Morley
1784–1885Sir Moses Montefiore
1898–1963C. S. Lewis
1913–1967Vivian Leigh
1888–1935T. E. Lawrence
1882–1960Melanie Klein
Born 1941Richard Dawkins
1879–1963William Beveridge