Nelia Penman

Nelia Penman (née Muspratt; 6 November 1915 – 16 August 2017) was a British Liberal Party politician and barrister.

Nelia Muspratt the year she was married

Background

She was born Nelia Muspratt, a daughter of Clifford Muspratt and Bertha Noble.[1] in Hampstead, London. She was part of an established Liverpool Liberal family; she was the niece of the MP Max Muspratt[2] and the suffragists Nessie Stewart-Brown and Julia Solly and granddaughter of the Industrialist Edmund Knowles Muspratt. She was educated privately.

On 29 May 1947 she married Derek Penman.[3] They had three daughters,[4] Fiona, Alison and Wendy. The marriage was dissolved in 1974.[5]

Career

She trained as a fencing instructor. She joined the Ministry of Information during the war and also served as a station officer with the London Ambulance Service. In 1945 she became a barrister, being Called to the Bar by Gray's Inn.[4]

Political career

While in her early twenties her activity in the Liberal party took the form of membership of the 8.30 Club, a young Liberal group that monthly debated international issues from its founding in 1936 to 1939. In 1936 she advocated the creation of an International Police Force under the control of the League of Nations. In 1937 she advocated the suppression of Fascist and Communist propaganda.[6] In 1938 she was selected as Liberal prospective parliamentary candidate for Liverpool Wavertree for a general election expected to take place in 1939/40.[7] It was not a promising seat, although the Liberals had won the seat in 1923, they had come fourth at a by-election in 1935. During the war, she continued as PPC for Wavertree and spoke at the 1941 Liberal Assembly in favour of the creation of a Ministry of Civil Defence.[8] She did not contest Wavertree and instead was Liberal candidate for the Sevenoaks Division of Kent at the 1945 general election. Sevenoaks was a safe Conservative seat that the Liberals had not won since 1923. They were second in 1935 when no Labour candidate stood. Labour had no candidate in place in 1939/40.[9] A two-party contest between Conservative and Liberal would have been an attractive prospect for any Liberal in 1945. However Labour intervened and pushed the Liberals into third place;

General election 1945: Sevenoaks[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Col. Charles Ponsonby 18,893 45.6
Labour John Pudney 14,947 36.1
Liberal Nelia Muspratt 6,906 16.7
Communist K. Thompson 676 1.6
Majority 3,946 9.5
Turnout 73.6
Conservative hold Swing

Four general elections later she stood again at Sevenoaks, but did no better;

General election 1959: Sevenoaks[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Charles Rodgers 28,186 56.1
Labour Roderick C Ogley 14,265 28.4
Liberal Nelia Penman 7,819 15.6
Majority 13,921 27.7
Turnout 50,270 80.2
Conservative hold Swing

She stood again at the following election and slightly increased her vote share;

General election 1964: Sevenoaks[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Sir John Charles Rodgers 28,678 52.0
Labour Peter B Pearce 14,958 27.1
Liberal Nelia Penman 11,480 20.8
Majority 13,720 24.9
Turnout 55,116 80.1
Conservative hold Swing

She was Chairman of the Liberal Party's Social Security Panel, before resigning in 1977 to become President of the Women's Liberal Federation.[12]

Penman died in August 2017 at the age of 101.[13]

References
  1. "Court Circular." Times [London, England] 12 May 1933: 19+. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 5 March 2015.
  2. Nottingham Evening Post, 9 April 1937.
  3. "Marriages." Times [London, England] 31 May 1947: 1. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 5 March 2015.
  4. The Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1959.
  5. The Herald, Friday 16 July 2004.
  6. Liberals, International Relations and Appeasement: The Liberal Party, 1919-1939 By Dr Richard S Grayson.
  7. The Liberal Magazine, 1939.
  8. The Glasgow Herald, 21 July 1941.
  9. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939.
  10. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949, Craig, F. W. S.
  11. British parliamentary election results 1950–1973, Craig, F. W. S.
  12. New outlook - Volume 18, 1978.
  13. Nelia Penman, eminent Liberal - obituary
Party political offices
Preceded by
Baroness Seear		 President of the Women's Liberal Federation
1977–1978		 Succeeded by
Meg Budd
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