Bernadette Devlin McAliskey

Maiden speech, April 22, 1969 Elected for Mid Ulster at 21, then the youngest woman ever returned to the Commons, Devlin made her maiden speech on the day she arrived in Parliament, rather than settling in first as new members usually do. She spoke as Northern Ireland's crisis deepened and turned on the Unionist establishment that ran it, speaking of a ruling minority of landlords. Members across the House praised it, and Norman St John-Stevas called it electrifying. It came only months before British troops were sent onto the streets, and reads now as a warning the House did not heed.