KNEW GLADSTONE

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 119, 22 May 1930, Page 24

KNEW GLADSTONE

MOTHER OF PARLIAMENT

MEMBERS AND THEIR SOCKS

A woman who often spoke to Gladstone and saw Charles Bradlaugb forcibly removed from the House of Commons is Mrs. Annie Thornton, carpet mender to the British Houses of Parliament for 44 years, who uus been contributing her experiences to the "Sunday Express." The luffragettes provided plenty of thrills, says Mrs. Thornton. One hid in the fluo of the Commons dining-room, and was taken out in the morning more dead than alive, and she saw the women who had chained themselves to the Common Gallery carried away struggling and kicking. "Looking back," Mrs. Thernton says, "it does not seem long after that Lady Astor walked in to take her seat as the first woman M.P. As soon aa she set eyes on mo, she said: 'Well, they can't do without us, can they'?' 'That they can 't, my lady,' I answered, and ever since she haj been one of my best | friends. Later, when the other women members bpgan to trickle in, I came to know them all. Miss Lawrence was my chief surprise. When slu> first came to the Hou«'e she had iong skirts and long hair. But before she had been at Westminster a couplo •>£ months she came in one morning with her hair bobbed and her skirt shortened. You could have knocked me drwn. The House of Commons policeman liked the change. 'Why don't you have your hair off,too, Annie?' he asked. 'What!' I said, 'do you want Parliament to adjourn for good?' SEWED ON HIS BUTTONS. "Long before the first woman M*P. came to Westminster I had become the 'mother' of the-House. I was expected to do a mother's work, too. Many a time as I have been kneeling on the stairs one of the passing M.P.'s would whisper: 'Say a prayer for me,'mother.' 'You need one,' was my usual retort. But I was delighted when one young fellow asked mo to sew on his buttons. He explained that he was wearing 'a paper war-time suit,' and that they had all burst off him on the way upstairs. "I expect. I know more about the kind of socks worn by M.P.'s and lords than any other woman in the kingdom. When you are kneeling on the stairs all day you can't help noticing. But it was in the retiring room that I used to find out whose socks needed mending. AVhen the M.P.'s lie down on the benches and take off their shoes most people would be surprised at the number of holes. Many a time I have thought to myself that I would never 1 send my husband out with his socks in such' a state. HER FAVOURITE MINISTER. "My favourite Prime Minister was Mr. Lloyd George. Mr. Asquith was a fine gentleman, but rather sharp in his manner. .Ho would bounce into the room, say, 'There's a mouse—get a cat,' and I'ounce out again. In tlie days when Mr. Lloyd George's hair was coal black I loved to see him come down> the stairs of No. 10 with his little dog. They made a pretty picture, and he was never too busy to stop and speak to me. "Whenever M.P.'s brought parties over the House I was introduced as the little lady who knew Queen Victoria. The parties of 'country cousins,' as we workers in the House used to call the rural constituents, were the funniest. TLoy always treated "no as a most important person, and used to ask me to find jobs at Westminster for their boys. One woman even wanted me to.speak to the Prime Minister about her Jim, who was 'so handy with gas fittings.' .-, "At election times I used to feel sorry to part with so many friends, and although they always' said, 'Ta ta, you'll see us back,' I knew that some of them would be missing next opening day. Of course, I miss the Hi use terribly now that I have had to retire. But I still have two links with it. One is Ben, my black cat, who was actually born in the House, and is named after the famous clock. I brought him home with me, and ho seems quite content to exchange Westminster for Kennington. My other link is the little war memorial' justlnside the Chancellor's Gate. It bears the names of members of the House of Commons staff, and I often visit it to put on flowers ror my boy."