PEERESSES IN LORDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18072, 22 April 1922, Page 9

PEERESSES IN LORDS.

! ESTABLISHMENT OF RIGHTS. j TWENTY-THREE AFFECTED. COUNTESS OF SEAFIELD. The success of Lady Rhondda's petition before the House of Lords' Committfe I affects 22 other peeresses, and it is quite possible that more women may immedi- ; ately sit in the House of Lords than are i likely to win their way into Parliament j during the next few years, says the Man- | Chester Guardian. j Lady Rhondda is the onlv one of the I peeresses in her own right who has peti- ! tioned to receive a writ of summons to I Parliament. There is really no reason why any of the others should have joined with her in her petition, and probably none of them are so ardently feminist as Lady Rhondda has always been. There are, undoubtedly, some who will value their right to a place in the Legislature, but who have been content to wait and see what happened to Lady Hhondda's ' claim. One finds something picturesque in the fact that it i= the possessor of a new title, a great industrial magnate, who has j sallied forth to do battli.- for her claim. while women whose peerages date hack to the days of pride and chivalry have stood quietly by. .k>mc of them, indeed, were determined in asserting their claims to titles which had long been in abeyance, but while they fought for their rights to rank it is Lidy Rhondda who has fought for her share in the respons: bility of rank. The report of the Committee of Privileges has yet to be formulated, and it- ■ will then have to be passed by the House of Lords, but there is little danger of its rejection, especially as the ground for admitting Lidy Rhondda's claim is a statutory one. The 22 other peeresses who will be affected include Princess Arthur of Con- , naught, Duchess of Fife; three countesses, Lady Cromartie, Lady Loudoun, and Lad) Roberts, daughter of Lord Roberts of Kandahar; while the Countess of Seafield, who is now only 16. may look forward as a Scottish peeress I to being elected some day to the Hiuse of Lords. Li addition to Lady Rhondda. one other viscountess mav take a seat— Lad* Wobeley. who founded the Glynde Col • lege for lady gardeners 21 years ago, and whose experience in training women gardeners and knowledge of agriculture made her help of great value to the Board of Agriculture during the war She would be a very useful member if the Legislature Tlie women who hold English baronies in their own right are: Lady F)eatimont, Lady Berkeley, Lady Burton, Lady Clifton, the Countess of Powys (as Baroness d'Arcv de Knayth), the Countess of Dartrey (as Baroness" de Ross). Lady Dorchester, the Count-ess of Yarborough (as Baroness Fau.co.nberg and Oonyers), Baroness Purnivall, the Viscountess St Davids (as Baroness Strange of Knokvn), Baroness de Malines, and Baroness Hungerford, Lidy Stralhcona and Mount Royal, Lady Wentworth, and Lady Zouche, ' In addition to these are the Scottish baronesses who are eligible for election to the Lords, the Duchess of Norfolk I (Baroness Hemes), Lady Gray, and Lady I Kinloss. i Some of these titles are of very old 1 ] creation. The Barony of Strange of j Knokvn, one of the three held by Lady I St. Davids, dates back to 1299. and her I second title of Hungerford to 1246. Lady j St. Davids has said that she will certainly . : take her seat in the House of Lords if her s i right to sit is proved. Lady Funiivall. ! the youngest of the baronesses, is only 22. She was married in 1920 to Lieuten- ' ant Agar, V.C.