Lucy, Lady Houston

Dame Fanny Lucy Houston, Lady Houston ( Radmall; 8 April 1857 – 29 December 1936) was a British philanthropist, political activist, and suffragist.

Beginning in 1933, she published the Saturday Review,

Early life Fanny Lucy Radmall was the fourth daughter of Thomas Radmall, a woollen warehouseman and draper, and Maria Isabella Clark. She was born at 13 Lower Kennington Green, Lambeth, the ninth child of ten children. This Surrey suburb was across the Thames from the city, but now forms part of Inner London. As a young woman, she was a professional dancer, a chorus girl known as "Poppy". On 3 September 1883 they married but the relationship did not flourish and the couple divorced on 14 January 1895 after a long separation. After a dramatic proposal on her part, she remarried on 1 March 1901, to the retiring and previously confirmed bachelor, George Byron, 9th Baron Byron. As Lady Byron, she became a suffragist, joining the Women's Social and Political Union in 1908. She stood bail for Emmeline Pankhurst.

During the First World War she strongly supported the war effort, for example by sending matches to soldiers serving overseas, the boxes labelled 'A Match for Our Matchless Troops from Lady Byron', and her 'Give Him Socks' campaign.

Marriage to Sir Robert Houston Her third and final marriage was to Sir Robert Houston, 1st Baronet, Member of Parliament for West Toxteth, and a shipping magnate. Houston is described in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as "a hard, ruthless, unpleasant bachelor."

Schneider Trophy

Lady Houston gave generously to British aviation. In 1931, she donated £100,000 (equivalent to £ million in ) to Supermarine, allowing them to win the Schneider Trophy in that year. The Ministry forbade the use of the aircraft that competed in the 1929 race; forbade RAF pilots of the High Speed Flight who were trained to fly these seaplanes, to take part; and said that it would not police the race course in 1931 in the busy shipping lanes in the Solent. The Royal Aero Club sent a statement to the Cabinet on 22 January 1931, offering to raise £100,000, if the Government would rescind the Air Ministry's decrees on planes, pilots and policing.

Many newspapers backing the opposition Conservative Party wanted to put pressure on Ramsay MacDonald's Labour government. One newspaper sent a telegram to MacDonald stating that, "To prevent the socialist government from being spoilsports, Lady Houston will be responsible for all extra expenses beyond what Sir Philip Sassoon (President of the Royal Aero Club) says can be found, so that Great Britain can take part in the race for the Schneider trophy." The gift gave Lady Houston an opportunity to attack the Labour government, with the declaration "Every true Briton would rather sell his last shirt than admit that England could not afford to defend herself." In a telegram to MacDonald, she wrote:

She funded disruptive campaigns against the National Government at nine by-elections in 1933.

In October 1934 Lady Houston sent a cable to the winners of the MacRobertson Air Race, Tom Campbell Black and C. W. A. Scott; "Your achievement has thrilled me through, oh brave men of my heart... If this does not make the Government sit up, nothing will ... Sleep well and feel proud of yourselves, as we all are ... Rule Britannia. God bless you both."

Following her purchase of the Saturday Review in 1933 at the age of 76, she threw herself in a frenzy of activity as a newspaper proprietor determined to alert Britain to the weakness of its political leaders and the dangers of Communist infiltration of Britain. Frustrated by what she saw as the weakness of Ramsay MacDonald and then Stanley Baldwin as Prime Ministers she tried to push Lloyd George, Winston Churchill, and ultimately from 1935 the new king, her friend Edward VIII, into the role of virtual dictator of the country. At the 1935 Norwood by-election she supported an Independent Conservative candidate against Duncan Sandys.

In that she believed that Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler were strong leaders who pulled their countries, Italy and Germany, round from a state of decay, she wanted a strong British leader to emulate them. She admired the stance of both Hitler and Mussolini against Soviet Russia, believing that its political ambitions presented the greatest threat to the power of Britain and its Empire. She had no children and left no will.

In popular culture

Lady Houston is depicted in the 1942 film The First of the Few, directed by Leslie Howard, showing her support for the development of British aircraft and her anti-government views. She is portrayed by actress Toni Edgar-Bruce.