First Female Senators
The Northern Ireland Senate was the upper house of the Parliament of Northern Ireland.
It had 26 members in total. 24 were elected by Single Transferable Vote by members of the Northern Ireland House of Commons in blocks of twelve for eight-year terms; the other two were the Lord Mayor of Belfast and the Mayor of Derry/Londonderry.
The Senate was suspended in 1972.
Marion Greeves
Marion Greeves was the first female Senator of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, serving as an independent from 1950 and retiring in June 1969.
She was born in England to George and Dame Elizabeth Cadbury, Quaker philanthropists of the Cadbury chocolate dynasty.
Marion ‘Mollie’ Greeves married linen manufacturer William Edward Greeves, Deputy Lieutenant and High Sheriff of County Armagh. She joined the WVS during the Second World War and in 1940 joined the Belfast Charitable Society.
Following the suspension of the Senate, she continued to concentrate on charitable work and, in 1976, was one of the founders of Age Concern NI.
Edith Taggart
Edith Taggart was elected as an Ulster Unionist Party member of the Senate of Northern Ireland in 1970, becoming only the second female member of that body.
She served until its abolition in 1973.
