Margaret Haig Thomas, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda

Inheriting her father's viscountcy in 1918, Lady Rhondda petitioned in 1922 to take her seat in the Lords under the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act. The Committee for Privileges first agreed and then, after Lord Birkenhead intervened, reversed itself. She campaigned for the rest of her life, through her magazine Time and Tide and the Six Point Group, for women to sit in the Lords. Hereditary peeresses were finally admitted in 1963, five years after her death, partly on the strength of her case.