Nancy Astor's Canadian Correspondence
| Author: | Thornton, Martin | |
| Year: | 1997 | |
| Pages: | 512 | |
| ISBN: | 0-7734-8452-3 978-0-7734-8452-8 | |
| Price: | $299.95 + shipping | |
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Nancy Astor, as the first woman to take up a seat in the British House of Commons as a Member of Parliament, and as social reformer and social hostess, has a memorable place in social and political history. No collection of her correspondence has yet been published. Her home, Cliveden in Buckinghamshire, was used as a Canadian military hospital in the first and second World Wars. This provided a source of contact with many eminent Canadians as well as Canadian service and ex-service personnel. She corresponded with a number of Canadian Prime Ministers and politicians: Sir Robert Borden, William Lyon Mackenzie King, Richard Bedford Bennet, Louis St. Laurent, and Lester Bowles Pearson. With illustrations.
Reviews
"Dr. Thornton is to be congratulated for making this splendidly edited collection of letters available to a wider audience. . . . . they give an extremely revealing glimpse of the Canadian military hospital during the two world wars and in insight into the courage, generosity and kindness of a woman who is frequently remembered today solely as a society hostess. . . . This set of letters reveals another side to Nancy Astor and her lifelong relationship with so many people in Canada." - from the Preface by Colin Eldridge.