Margaret Haig Thomas, Viscountess Rhondda

Lady Rhondda was a hereditary woman peer in her own right, who was denied the opportunity to sit in the House of Lords following a famous test case before the Lords Committee for Privileges in 1922. She was an active suffragette in her youth, a leading feminist between the wars, and a magazine proprietor.

In the interwar period Viscountess Rhondda was a staunch opponent to fascist regimes and was proud to be named on the 1945 'Nazi blacklist' – a list of prominent figures to be detained following a successful invasion of Britain. Rhondda's publication Time and Tide continued to publish throughout the war and in 1943 she was selected as the first president of the new Women's Press Club.

Image: © the artist, Parliamentary Art Collection, WOA 7177