Education
London School of Economics.
Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom
London School of Economics.
The family lived at West Leaze, Aldbourne, Wiltshire and at Carlisle Mansions, Carlisle Place, London. Her husband was Member of Parliament for Peckham in South London, later a solidly Labour seat, but then highly marginal. His majority in 1924 was only 947 votes.
He had been selected as Labour candidate for the safe seat of Bishop Auckland in County Durham, where the sitting Member of Parliament Ben Spoor was retiring, but Spoor died shortly before Christmas 1928, necessitating a by-election.
However, Hugh Dalton could not stand without resigning his Peckham seat, and the candidate selected to succeed him in Peckham was John Beckett, then Member of Parliament for Gateshead, so Hugh Dalton could not stand without triggering another two by-elections. The Bishop Auckland Constituency Labour Party therefore needed a candidate who would agree to stand down at the next general election.
Dalton did not enjoy the House of Commons, and did not stand for Parliament again. She later served on the Board of Governors of the Royal Ballet and from 1957-1962 on the Arts Council.
Her husband was made a life peer in 1960, and she was then known as Lady Dalton.
34th United Kingdom Parliament]
A long serving member of the London County Council, she also holds the record for the shortest-serving female Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament). In 1925 she was elected a member of the London County Council. She had been Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) for only 92 days, a record never beaten, but equalled 45 years later by Margo MacDonald, the Scottish National Party Member of Parliament for Glasgow Govan from 8 November 1973 to 8 February 1974.