Jun 18, 2026 · 28 min · 10 segments
The first woman to serve in UK's Parliament was a surprise to everyone, and most of all herself. Nancy Astor was born American, and of course she was a woman. But when her husband couldn't stand for…
In 1879, Nancy was the second daughter to arrive in the Langhorne family of Virginia.
The Langhorns had once been well-to-do, but not since the Civil War.
Eventually, her father struck gold in railroads, so as teenagers, Nancy and her sisters got to be wealthy Southern Bells after all.
The oldest daughter was the beautiful Irene.
She had no fewer than 62 men proposed to her before she accepted the artist Dana Gibson.
Gibson was famous for his drawings of glamorous women, and the original Gibson girl was Irene herself.
Irene was a hard act to follow.
Her younger sister Nancy felt out of place at finishing school.
She bagged a mere 16 proposals before she accepted Robert Gold Shaw from a prominent Boston family.
Nancy was 18 years old.
My sources give conflicting accounts on who promoted this marriage and who thought it was brilliant and who knew all along that it wasn't going to work.
What I can say is that it wasn't going to work.
They married in 1897.
Within two days, Nancy was back at home, where she had to be persuaded to give marriage another try.
The exact nature of the problem was not clearly documented.
One source claims that Nancy had been left in total ignorance about sex, and she fought back.
This was written by a man who was a friend of hers, but he neglects to say under what circumstances Nancy told him the details of her first wedding night.
It seems unlikely to me that he knew what he was talking about.
Other sources say that Shaw was a depressed alcoholic who physically abused her.
It's not clear to me what the sources on that are.
The marriage limped along, and Nancy did give birth to a son.
In 1901, Nancy signed an official separation, and in 1903, they divorced on grounds of adultery and even on grounds of bigamy, for Shaw had already married his mistress.
So much for Nancy's brilliant match.
In 1879, Nancy was the second daughter to arrive in the Langhorne family of Virginia.
The Langhorns had once been well-to-do, but not since the Civil War.
Eventually, her father struck gold in railroads, so as teenagers, Nancy and her sisters got to be wealthy Southern Bells after all.
The oldest daughter was the beautiful Irene.
She had no fewer than 62 men proposed to her before she accepted the artist Dana Gibson.
Gibson was famous for his drawings of glamorous women, and the original Gibson girl was Irene herself.
Irene was a hard act to follow.
Her younger sister Nancy felt out of place at finishing school.
She bagged a mere 16 proposals before she accepted Robert Gold Shaw from a prominent Boston family.
Nancy was 18 years old.
My sources give conflicting accounts on who promoted this marriage and who thought it was brilliant and who knew all along that it wasn't going to work.
What I can say is that it wasn't going to work.
They married in 1897.
Within two days, Nancy was back at home, where she had to be persuaded to give marriage another try.
The exact nature of the problem was not clearly documented.
One source claims that Nancy had been left in total ignorance about sex, and she fought back.
This was written by a man who was a friend of hers, but he neglects to say under what circumstances Nancy told him the details of her first wedding night.
It seems unlikely to me that he knew what he was talking about.
Other sources say that Shaw was a depressed alcoholic who physically abused her.
It's not clear to me what the sources on that are.
The marriage limped along, and Nancy did give birth to a son.
In 1901, Nancy signed an official separation, and in 1903, they divorced on grounds of adultery and even on grounds of bigamy, for Shaw had already married his mistress.
So much for Nancy's brilliant match.
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