Lucy Masterman

Lucy Blanche Masterman (19 July 1884 – 22 April 1977) was a British Liberal Party politician, poet and diarist.

Early life

Born Lucy Blanche Lyttelton, the eldest daughter of Rt. Hon. Gen. Sir Neville Lyttelton and his wife, Katherine Sarah Stuart-Wortley, she married Charles Masterman in 1908. They had one son and two daughters (including Margaret Masterman), before he died on 17 November 1927.

Literary career

During the period when her husband was in Government, she kept a diary. She published in 1912 Lyrical Poems. She worked as Literary editor for Outlook. Assisting Elizabeth Lee, she published in 1918 Wives of the Prime Ministers 1844-1906. She published in 1939 - C. F. G. Masterman: a biography.

Political career

She was the Liberal Party candidate for the Conservative seat of Salisbury at the 1929 General Election. The Liberal party had last won the seat in 1923 and had come second in 1924. She finished a strong second, well ahead of Labour.

She remained active for the Liberals in Salisbury and was again candidate at the Salisbury by-election in March 1931, when she again finished second. In October 1931 when the General election took place, the Liberals and Conservatives had joined the National Government and Salisbury Liberals decided not to contest the seat. She did not contest an election again. In June 1936 she was elected to serve on the Liberal Party Council.^[1]

References

• Who's Who
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
• The Times Guide to the House of Commons 1929