Directing from the wings
Brian Masters
LADIES OF INFLUENCE by A. Susan Williams Allen LanelPenguin, £18.99, pp. 240 Abook of undemanding pen-portraits is a rash endeavour. Hester Chapman used to produce them regularly, and the late A. L. Rowse condescended to offer one when he had a weekend loose in Cornwall, yet neither found that people queued in the streets to buy them. That they may still be agreeable companions to one's leisure is demonstrated by this example.
A. Susan Williams is no slouch. She has fingered her way through much dusty archive material to give forth seven chapters, each with a separate subject, yet united by a common theme, namely that of women who did not wait for opportunities spread out by emancipation, but drove their own robust furrow and, while men occupied the stage of history, achieved a great deal in the wings.
One may question the degree of influ- ence which the author allots to her ladies, as with the first, that formidable Mar- chioness of Londonderry whose close friendship with Ramsay MacDonald cost him his popularity and probably his career. Having long ago examined her papers myself, I opened these pages eager for the final revelation, that stack of documents which must prove her influence over gov- ernment policy between the wars, about which one had heard rumours ever since her death in 1959. But no such stack exists. Williams tells us that by spending time with Ramsay Lady Londonderry secured a job in his government for her husband, the 7th Marquess. However, this we knew already. What she cannot show us is that her lady- ship's influence extended to decisions on matters of moment. The correspondence between the Labour prime minister and the Grand Tory hostess is affectionate and often touching, but it is rarely of historic significance. It is suggested that Ramsay might have dealt with the 1931 crisis rather differently if he had not heeded Lady Lon- donderry's counsel. Perhaps. Perhaps not. We do not know what she said to him, so we can make no inference.
Where her power was indubitable was on the social level. Standing at the top of her staircase at Londonderry House, weighed down with the splendid tiara and necklace which nowadays would require a special security van to transport, she received the great of the land, on her own ground, answerable to no man for her invitations. She was the Tory Party on Display, and in that role nobody could touch her. It is a role which has no real heirs in the modern era.
Lucy Baldwin's achievement was more measurable, because, virtually alone, she ensured that anaesthesia be available to every woman in childbirth, at a time when it was thought rude even to mention the word and wicked of women to want it (for it indicated that they did not care for their children!). Similarly, Joan Grigg, as wife of the governor of Kenya, brought sophisticat- ed and efficient maternity care to native women for the first time, a gift for which she is still honoured. There is a paragraph in this chapter which describes, without euphemism or evasion, exactly what hap- pens during the performance of female cir- cumcision. The details, the extent of the operation and its consequences are so hor- rific that I almost passed out (and I have seen a thing or two). It is terrible to think that such cruelty continues even now. As an antidote, the chapter contains the only joke in an earnest book. Karen Blixen, deploring the awkwardness of labour, remarked how much nicer it would be to sit on an egg.
Lady Milner's influence was exercised journalistically, as she devoted 16 years of widowhood to editing the National Review, right-wing and empire-adulating but nonetheless strident in its warnings about Hitler. Lady Milner mocked and patron- ised Chamberlain, and came to represent, in Ed Murrow's words, the spirit of resis- tance to Nazism more than anyone else in Britain. Her prose was sharp and combat- ive, with the snarl and threat of a terrier. Her husband, the Milner who helped bring about the Boer war by design, was merely stiff and stubborn in comparison.
The Duchess of Atholl was another cam- paigner, this time for the triumph of truth in political discourse (fat chance!). She was fastidious, honest, sincere, determined to right wrongs, and not afraid to change her mind if evidence demanded it. To be a duke's wife and an MP was pushing it already, but when she undertook to defend the elected government of Spain against the usurper Franco, she was done for. Still, her Searchlight on Spain (1938) had impor- tant popular influence as a bestseller on the subject.
I am doubtful whether Nancy Cunard deserved to be included. Although her Hours Press was the first to publish Beck- ett, she was not as serious as Williams would have us believe, being more devoted to lust than literature, especially if it helped offend Mama (Lady Cunard). On the other hand, the Marchioness of Reading was a real star, and it is fitting she should crown this selection. Her establishment of the WVS, her dedication, her spirit, energy, and practical common sense, made a huge impact on countless thousands of service- men and gave ordinary women a sense of usefulness which no salary could have fos- tered. The achievements of the WVS have to be felt rather than listed, for they improved the taste of life at a time when the twin terrors of despair and indifference lurked just beyond the door. Every old per- son today who looks forward to Meals on Wheels has Stella Reading to thank for it. Now that is influence.
Previous page
