11 Facts About Lucy Baldwin

Lucy Baldwin was invested as a Dame of Grace, Order of Saint John of Jerusalem and a Dame Grand Cross, Order of the British Empire, and styled as Countess Baldwin of Bewdley on 8 June 1937.

Lucy Baldwin was born Lucy Ridsdale in Bayswater, London, the oldest daughter of Edward Lucas Jenks and Esther Lucy Ridsdale.

Lucy Baldwin married Stanley Baldwin on 12 September 1892 in Rottingdean.

Lucy Baldwin was very active and sociable, quite different from her husband in nature.

Lucy Baldwin often travelled with her husband during his time as prime minister, and she was an excellent speaker who found her own voice in politics.

Lucy Baldwin was involved in the Young Women's Christian Association and other charitable bodies for women, especially those concerned to improve maternity care, after having herself suffered difficult pregnancies and the loss of her first child.

Lucy Baldwin was particularly concerned with reducing the pain of childbirth, and lobbied for new funds to make anaesthesia affordable for low-income women.

Lucy Baldwin's work contributed to the passage of the Midwives Act 1936.

Lucy Baldwin died suddenly of a heart attack in 1945 at Astley Hall, their country home in Worcestershire.

Lucy Baldwin was cremated and her ashes were interred, with those of her husband, after his death in 1947 in the nave of Worcester Cathedral.

Lucy Baldwin wrote valuable notes of two major events in politics, the fall of the Lloyd George ministry and the Abdication Crisis.