Almost to the day, 616 years after the first Speaker of the House of Commons took office, the first woman speaker was elected today 27th April in 1992. Her earliest predecessor, Sir Peter de la Mare, would have been somewhat startled to know that she was an ex-chorus girl! 
She was, of course, Betty Boothroyd, Labour MP for West Bromwich, whose commanding cry of “Order! Order!”, sometimes accompanied by a wry smile, became very familiar.
Britain was right at the back of the field when it came to appointing women Speakers and a Scandinavian country was at the head of it: Miina Silanpaa became Speaker of the Finnish “Diet” (Parliament) in 1936. Just to put it in perspective, Britain had only just got around to letting a woman loose in an aeroplane as an air hostess! This trailblazer was Daphne Kearley, who also had to be able to type in case any of the business passengers needed dictated documents typed up by the time that they landed.
Needless to say, we have moved on somewhat since then…
She was, of course, Betty Boothroyd, Labour MP for West Bromwich, whose commanding cry of “Order! Order!”, sometimes accompanied by a wry smile, became very familiar.Britain was right at the back of the field when it came to appointing women Speakers and a Scandinavian country was at the head of it: Miina Silanpaa became Speaker of the Finnish “Diet” (Parliament) in 1936. Just to put it in perspective, Britain had only just got around to letting a woman loose in an aeroplane as an air hostess! This trailblazer was Daphne Kearley, who also had to be able to type in case any of the business passengers needed dictated documents typed up by the time that they landed.
Needless to say, we have moved on somewhat since then…
