Nancy Witcher Langhorne was born on 19 May 1879 into a large wealthy family in Virginia, US. In her teens, the family moved to an estate known as Mirador in Albemarle County. She attended finishing school in New York City, where she met the socialite Robert Gould Shaw II. They wed in 1897 (Nancy was only 18), however, even from the start, the marriage was troubled. They had one son, but divorced after four years. When her mother died, she returned to Mirador. She planned to take over the running of her father’s household, but after a visit to England, she decided, with her father’s blessing, to emigrate there with her son and her sister Phylis. She was witty, clever, beautiful and glamorous and soon became a favourite among the aristocracy.
In 1906, Nancy married Waldorf Astor, also a rich American ex-pat, and, coincidentally, born on the same day as Nancy. They moved to Cliveden, a lavish estate in Buckinghamshire on the River Thames, a wedding gift from Astor’s father; they also owned a large London house on St James’s Square. They had five children together. In 1910, Waldorf Astor became Conservative MP for Plymouth, and Nancy helped organise his campaign. In 1919, though, Astor’s father died, and Waldorf inherited his title, Viscount Astor. This required him to step down from the House of Commons to take his place in the House of Lords. He intended to divest himself of the title and return to the Commons. In the meantime, though, he promoted his wife for the seat. She campaigned for herself as a loyal wife, uninterested in a political career, and certainly showed no concern for the suffragette movement. She was elected, that same year, and became the first woman to sit in the House of Commons.
It never became possible for Waldorf to renounce his peerage, and so Nancy, in fact, remained an MP (representing Plymouth) for a quarter of a century. In Parliament, she spent two years as the only woman MP, but quickly made a name for herself with outspoken views, increasingly on women’s rights (she advocated lowering the voting age for women from 30 to 21), restricting alcohol drinking hours, the employment of women in the civil service, and the provision of nursery care. In 1931, Bobby, her son from her first marriage, was arrested for homosexual offences. In the later 1930s, she supported Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement, and, with her husband, was at the centre of the so-called Cliveden set favourable to the rise of Nazism. When war came, however, she admitted she had made mistakes, and voted against Chamberlain.
During the war, Astor increasingly became a liability for the Conservative party, and, eventually, she was encouraged (not least by her husband) to stand down in 1945, which she did reluctantly, and without acknowledging that she had lost public support. She struggled in retirement, separating from her husband and became estranged from some of her children; friends, too, were passing away (such as Bernard Shaw). She was reconciled with her husband before his death in 1952. In 1959, she was awarded the Freedom of the City of Plymouth. She died in 1964. Further biographical details are readily available at Wikipedia, The History Press, The New York Times, the UK Parliament, and The British Academy.
Lady Astor’s archive is largely held by the University of Reading Special Collections Services which, according to the Archives Hub, includes ‘political diaries and other diaries’. The university’s own collections website lists an item titled ‘Extracts from Lady Astor’s diary (typescript)’ without any further information. Otherwise, the only information on her diaries that seem to be in the public domain can be found in Nancy: The Story of Lady Astor by Adrian Fort (Jonathan Cape, 2012). Fort quotes from the diaries only occasionally, and almost always within his own narrative. Here are those parts of that narrative which include extracts (I have italicised the quotations from Astor’s diary).
‘They set off from Richmond on 20 January 1898. “Last goodbyes to dear ones,” Nancy wrote, “with heavy heart.” Before they could experience the delights of Europe, however, they had to cross the sea, a new and trying experience for Nancy, as she confided, somewhat briefly, to her diary:
“23 January: Nice looking passengers.
24 January: Desperate.
25 January: All of us have been desperately ill. I hate the beautiful sea. Oh my.”
As they drew near the Italian coast, her spirits revived a little: “We have made such nice friends,” she wrote. “Funny time learning the currency. It is fine on the steamer now, rather monotonous . . . these last days on the water are as beautiful as a dream.” ’
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‘Early in the New Year, however, Nancy’s happiness faded. Her diary shows that at the beginning of January her chronic but undiagnosed illness returned to smother her with lassitude and depression. As 1907 unfolded she was forced to spend a great amount of time in bed, frequently at least all morning, often until the early evening, very tired and sometimes unable to get up at all. “If all the days of the year are to be as this one,” she wrote on 1 January, “may 1907 pass like lightning - bed all day.” “Have done no good to anyone,” she wrote the next evening, “a selfish, useless day.” ’
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‘On 8 May, Waldorf, who seemed to have accumulated a number of ailments, went off for another cure. They had been married only a year, and Nancy was greatly upset whenever he had to leave. “I wept as I so hate his going,” she wrote in her diary, “. . . we dine alone, very sadly.” He went first to Marienbad, before returning to England to stay in a spa in Folkestone. Nancy dreaded being left alone, “helpless at Cliveden with a butler, groom of the chambers and three footmen to manage”.’
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‘A few days after her dinner party, Nancy combined a remedy for her exhaustion with her longing to see Waldorf - ‘my darling Wal’ as she called him - by arranging to join him in Folkestone. [Diary:] “I took the 3.18 train to Folkestone - was met by a fat man whom I hardly recognised. He tells me his name is Waldorf Astor - Hurrah, for his 10 lbs of Germany and health . . . Rest, rest, rest; I slept well and rested, rested, rested . . . Went to beach, luncheon, sleep, walk, dined in our room and so to bed - a restful place . . . only golf croquet - such a good game but Waldorf always wins - howling wind and coolish - how I hate the sea, except to look at . . .” ’
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‘The Astors’ first son was born on Tuesday 13 August 1907; he was given the Astor family name of William, but would usually be called Bill. “Frightened to death,” she wrote in her diary, as the moment drew near. “Can’t say I am enjoying it.” ’
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‘Ever since her arrival in England she had dressed well and expensively, although she occasionally wondered why: “I wish I had character enough,’ she wrote in her diary, “to dress in a uniform. I wish we all dressed like Japanese, and fashions were stationary. I loathe these yearly changes and silly light skirts and gruelling hats. We are not so far from apes as Mr Darwin would have us believe.” ’
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‘After the election, Nancy and Waldorf when off to the Switzerland for a well-earned rest - Nancy said that she slept ten hours for the first time in her life - and were soon restored by the mountain air, and happy days of skating, curling and sleighing. They returned to Cliveden early in February, with Lent almost upon them, and Nancy dutifully made her resolutions [Diary 9 February 1919]: “I have made many vows,” she wrote. “I shall try my utmost to keep them. Gossip is barred, Now kiss and intercourse. No cigarettes . . . all this is but little to fear when I think of manifold blessings.” ’
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