Betty Harvie Anderson

A Conservative MP for East Renfrewshire, Harvie Anderson became the first woman to chair proceedings in the Commons when she was appointed a Deputy Speaker in 1970, serving until 1973. She showed a woman could keep order in the chamber two decades before Betty Boothroyd became Speaker, and broke a barrier in the Speaker's chair that many members at the time thought unlikely to fall. Her achievement is now little remembered, which is part of why it belongs here.