Dorothy Crisp

Dorothy Crisp (1906–1987) was a right-wing English political figure, writer and publisher.

Dorothy Crisp was born in Leeds, England on 17 May 1906.

She was the only daughter of Albert Edward Crisp, an examiner, and Annie Beckwith.

She was baptized at the Anglican church of St Saviour Richmond Hill, Leeds in June the same year.

She became a public speaker, political commentator and writer on nationalism, contributing to the National Review in the 1920s.

Among her books were The Rebirth of Conservatism (1931) and Christ is no Pacifist: the Religious and Secular Case against Pacifism (1939).

She was also a regular contributor of provocative articles for the Sunday Dispatch.

The Rebirth of Conservatism (1931, Methuen) - with five essays from the universities, an introduction by John Buchan and a conclusion by Oliver Stanley, 203p

England - Mightier Yet (1939, The National Review Ltd.) - an analysis of the problems confronting the British Government, 232p

Christ is no Pacifist: the Religious and Secular Case against Pacifism, (1939, Boswell Publishing Co. Ltd.)

By the mid-1940s she was becoming more directly involved in politics.

One edition in 1943 was banned in Ireland because of her criticism of the de Valera government.

She stood in the 1943 Acton by-election as an Independent but secured only 707 out of the 8,315 votes cast.

Despite this poor showing, she became famous as the belligerent and outspoken champion of the right-wing British Housewives' League.

She was cheered for threatening to throw Aneurin Bevan (then Minister of Health in the Attlee Labour government) over Westminster Bridge if he brought in the National Health Service Act.

The heated atmosphere of the League's meetings, however, frequently led to boos, catcalls and scuffles for control of the microphone.

The police were summoned twice to maintain order at an uproarious meeting in which she expelled several executive members amid shouted accusations of "dictatorship".

In the spring of 1945, she married John Noel Becker in Westminster, London, although she chose to keep her maiden name.

They moved to the village of Smarden, near Ashford in Kent.

There, she gave birth to a daughter in the summer of 1946.

They named her Elizabeth, and the Conservative MP Ida Copeland stood as her godmother.

Her controversial views divided public opinion.

Some praised her good sense ("Privately, the Englishman will agree with everything she writes," said one reviewer in The Belfast Telegraph.) Others attacked her – "the buxom, brown-eyed, voluble little woman", as Gordon Beckles described her in the 12 July 1947 issue of Leader Magazine.

Some attacks went too far and in 1947 she sued the New Statesman for libel.

The court found in her favour and she was awarded substantial damages.

The following year she launched a similar claim against the Daily Herald.

She was forced to abandon the libel suit when her husband died suddenly.

He was a senior assistant at Watts & Co in Singapore and a part-time special constable.

While helping the police to arrest an intruder in his office on Robinson Road, he was shot dead.

Because he was off-duty at the time, the government denied her a widow's pension.

She spent the next three years fighting her case before she was finally awarded an annual pension of £500.

By this time, however, her publishing company had folded and she was declared bankrupt.

She moved to Sussex, living variously at Overs Farmhouse, Barcombe; Jigg's Cottage, Jevington; and Woodland Drive in Hove.

Nevertheless, she remained chairman until 1948; after which the League went into decline.

During this period (the 1950s and 1960s) she was convicted three times of obtaining credit while an un-discharged bankrupt – a criminal offence under the Bankruptcy Act – and served three terms in Holloway Prison.

Her experiences in prison led her to write a memoir entitled A Light in the Night (1960).

By describing the conditions inside Britain's jails, she hoped to draw attention to the cause of prison reform.

Around 1975 she moved to Oxford – possibly living with her daughter Elizabeth – and faded from public view.

She died in Fulham in May 1987, aged 81.

She was later described as the historical figure who most resembles Margaret Thatcher.