Career
A graduate of the London School of Economics, she married in 1924 the Labour Party MP Hugh Dalton; they had one child, a daughter. The family lived at West Leaze, Aldbourne, Wiltshire and at Carlisle Mansions, Carlisle Place, London.
In 1925 she was elected a member of the London County Council.
Her husband was MP for Peckham in South London, later a solidly Labour seat, but then highly marginal; his majority in 1924 was only 947 votes. He had been selected as Labour candidate for the safe seat of Bishop Auckland in County Durham, where the sitting MP Ben Spoor was retiring, but Spoor died shortly before Christmas 1928, necessitating a by-election. However, Hugh Dalton could not stand without resigning his Peckham seat, and the candidate selected to succeed him in Peckham was John Beckett, then MP for Gateshead, so Hugh Dalton could not stand without triggering another two by-elections.
The Bishop Auckland Constituency Labour Party therefore needed a candidate who would agree to stand down at the next general election. The seventy-strong general committee unanimously chose Ruth Dalton, because she could be relied on to resign in favour of her husband as soon as Parliament was dissolved; no other candidate was even considered.
Ruth won the by-election on 7 February with a large majority and 57% of the votes, and served until Parliament was dissolved on 10 May for the 1929 general election. She had been Member of Parliament (MP) for only 92 days, a record never beaten, but equalled 45 years later by Margo MacDonald, the Scottish National Party MP for Glasgow Govan from 8 November 1973 to 8 February 1974.
Dalton did not enjoy the House of Commons, and did not stand for Parliament again. She felt that more work was accomplished on London County Council, where she held her seat until 1931, returning from 1935 to 1942 as an alderman, including a time as Chairman of the Parks Committee. She later served on the Board of Governors of the Royal Ballet and from 1957-62 on the Arts Council.
Her husband was made a life peer in 1960, and she was then known as Lady Dalton.
Read more about this topic: Ruth Dalton
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