The Gender History Cluster would like to extend our warmest congratulations to our own Jacqui Turner and the rest of the Astor 100 team – including cluster member Melanie Khuddro, and our wonderful students Rachel Newton, Abbie Tibbott, Molly Edwards and Bronwyn Jacobs – on winning a 2020 University of Reading Research Engagement and Impact Award. The Astor 100 project celebrated the centenary of the first woman MP to take her seat in Parliament, Nancy Astor. We enjoyed a year of memorable events, culminating in the unveiling of a statue of Nancy Astor in Plymouth last November. Jacqui used the centenary to highlight the importance of women in politics, demonstrating the value that historical research can have in ongoing activist efforts.

The main site for the Astor 100 project can be found here. You can find a range of short pieces about Astor and the project here. Visit the online exhibition, ‘An Unconventional MP’ on Twitter.