Preceded by Cynthia Mosley Occupation Envoy Party Conservative Party Political party Conservative Role British Politician | Majority 6654 votes Name Ida Copeland Succeeded by Ellis Smith Religion Church of England | |
 | ||
Died June 29, 1964, Ticehurst, United Kingdom Spouse Richard Ronald John Copeland (m. 1915) Residence Trelissick Garden, United Kingdom | ||
Ida Copeland (née Fenzi; born 15 April 1881 – 29 June 1964) was an Anglo-Italian British politician. She was active in social welfare both locally and nationally, particularly the Girl Guides, and was one of the earliest women to join Parliament, sitting as a Conservative MP for Stoke on Trent from 1931–35.
Contents
Family and early life
Ida was born in Florence, Tuscany, the daughter of Italian Cavalier Camillo Fenzi (1852–1883), and his English wife, Evelyne Isabella, daughter of Sir Douglas Strutt Galton and Marianne (née Nicholson), a first cousin of Florence Nightingale, who were married in 1875. Ida was the great granddaughter of Cavalier Emanuele Fenzi, Senator of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and banker (Banco Fenzi), granddaughter of Cavalier Sebastiano Fenzi and his wife, Emily Verity.
On the death of her father, she and her brother Leone inherited the Villa di Rusciano designed by Brunelleschi for the Dukes of Urbino. Copeland grew up in Italy and moved to England at the end of the 19th century. In 1898, her mother married Leonard Daneham Cunliffe, an influential London financier, Governor of the Bank of England, President of the Hudson's Bay Company and one of the major investors in the Harrods department stores.
On 28 July 1915, Ida Fenzi wed Richard Copeland (1884–1958) of Staffordshire, grandson of William Taylor Copeland, Mayor of London, president and chairman of the Spode-Copeland firm of bone china manufacturers in Staffordshire, potters to the royal family since 1806.
Girl Guides
Copeland was an active participant in the success of the Girl Guides and was member of the International Council of Girl Guides from 1920–28 and 1940–48. Throughout her life she was dedicated to all forms of social and welfare causes. Funding and campaigning alongside Baden-Powell for the development of the Girl Guide movement. She served as a division commissioner for the north-west of the county from 1918, while her husband Ronald was a county commissioner for the Boy Scout Association. Later the Copeland family donated the Kibblestone Hall Estate to the Staffordshire Scouting Movement to be used as a Scout camp.
Elected as MP
Elected chairman of the Stoke division of the Women's Unionist Association in 1920, she was chosen as Conservative candidate for the Stoke division of Stoke on Trent in 1931 for the general election. Facing the opposition of Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the New Party for the constituency, Copeland's popularity and involvement in local politics and welfare proved fruitful. Mosley maintained strong connections with the Nazi Party in Germany. Lady Cynthia Mosley, had won Stoke for Labour in 1929. Although Mosley spent less than a week campaigning in the constituency, directing his efforts instead at a national campaign, he met enthusiastic support there, especially amongst younger voters. However the electoral tide ran in Copeland's favour. Her husband's position as a leading china manufacturer in the Potteries, and her 'moderate and straightforward appeal' won her an audience even outside factory gates. She won by an impressive majority of 6654 votes. She was the 25th woman to be elected to the House of Commons.
In May 1932, Copeland made her maiden speech on import duties, which she approached "entirely from the point of view of the pottery industry". It was an industry under threat from foreign competition and she welcomed the protection that tariffs afforded. She believed that overseas manufacturers paid starvation wages to their workers, and it was with a critical eye on the opposition benches that she asked:
"Can we allow goods manufactured under those conditions to come into this country and lower the standard of living of our own people? I say 'no', and I firmly believe that, if we raise these tariffs, the time will come when our industry will be on its feet again."
She made another plea for protection of the china industry in December 1933 after reports that Australian and New Zealand markets were being flooded by cheap Japanese goods, including skillful imitations of British wares: "the competition is so severe that it threatens to sweep the English Potteries right out of those countries". She wanted the British government to compel the dominion governments, in their own interests as much as in Britain's, to take action to prevent this "dumping". This was, though, a sensitive matter and the official response was sympathetic without being specific.