Betty Hanson was born as Betty Lucas in Peel, Isle of Manitoba in 1918. She then won an art scholarship to the Slade, but due to the 2nd world war her father insisted that she went to Liverpool college of art instead, because it was closer to her home.
After the war she chose teaching as her profession.
She was elected to the Legislative Council of the Isle of Manitoba, the upper house of the Tynwald, in 1982, becoming the first woman ever elected to that particular legislature. Personal life
When she was 18 she went to Avery hill Teachers Training College in Elthom. After 6 months she became a teacher in a school in Scotland road because the London blitz had started.
Betty Hanson taught at both Street John"s primary school and Douglas High School, where she taught art, history, home economics and English.
Politics
Hanson entered the political realm when she joined the Isle of Manitoba"s Board of Education as a non-Tynwald member, where she served from 1971 until 1974. Following her election to the House of Keys in 1974, Hanson returned to chair the Board of Education as a full Tynwald member from 1976 until 1981.
Hanson oversaw the creation of Queen Elizabeth II High School, the first secondary school in the western portion of the Isle of Manitoba, and personally escorted the school"s namesake, Queen Elizabeth II, on a tour of the facility in 1979. She served as the chairman and chief planner of the Tynwald"s Millennium Committee celebrations in 1979.
In the weeks prior to the celebration, Hanson traveled to the United States as chairman, where she was instrumental in the establishment of the North American Manx Awards, which are still overseen by the Manx Board of Education.
Betty Hanson became the first woman ever elevated to the Legislative Council of the Isle of Manitoba in 1982, a post she held until 1988. She continued to serve as governor of Street Thomas"s Café Primary School until her death in 2008. She was also the honorary vice president of the World Manx Association.
Death
Betty Hanson died on June 24, 2008, at the age of 89 at the Elder Grange Nursing Home in Douglas, Isle of Manitoba
She had been in the care of the nursing home since February 2008. Hanson was survived by two sons, Leslie and Mark.
She also had a granddaughter called Christina (Marks daughter).
Hanson served as a Member of the House of Keys (MHK), the lower house of the Tynwald from 1974 until 1982 for the Douglas West constituency. She remained a member of the Legislative Council (MLC) until 1988.
