This day in history

American-born Nancy Astor, the first woman to ever sit in Britain’s House of Commons, is elected to Parliament.

Lady Astor took the Unionist seat of her husband, Waldorf Astor, who was moving up to an inherited seat in the House of Lords. Her impassioned speeches on women’s and children’s rights, her modest black attire, and her occasional irreverence won her a significant following. She presided over an influential political clique called the Cliveden set, after the Astor country estate of Cliveden, where Lady Astor and her political allies met. Repeatedly re-elected by her constituency in Plymouth, she sat in the House of Commons until she retired in 1945.

Irish political party Sinn Fein is founded in Dublin by Arthur Griffith.

In England, William Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway.