Ida Copeland

Infobox MP

name = Ida Copeland née Fenzi
honorific-suffix = MP; FRSA; Silver Medallist


imagesize =
constituency_MP1 = Stoke on Trentt
term_start1 = 1931
term_end1 = 1935
majority1 = 6654 votes
predecessor1 = ...
successor1 = ...
order2 = Chairman of Stoke Division Women's Unionist Association
term_start2 = 1920
term_end2 = 1921
predecessor2 = ...
successor2 = ...
order3 = Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem
term_start3 = 1949
Sovereign3 =Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Grand Master3 =His Royal Highness Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester
Grade3 =Serving Sister


order4 = Chairman of the Staffordshire Anglo Polish Society
term_start4 = 1943
order5 = Polish Gold Cross of Merit
term_start5 = 1952
birth_date = 1875
birth_place = Florence, Italy
nationality = British
death_date = 29 June 1964
death_place = Sussex
spouse = Richard Ronald John Copeland
party = Conservative
relations =
children =
residence = Trelissick
occupation = Envoy
religion = Church of England
website =
footnotes =

Ida Copeland [née Fenzi] (1876–1964) was a British politician born in Florence, Italy in about 1875/6. Great Grand Daughter of Emanuele Fenzi and daughter of Senitor Cav. Camillo Fenzi (d. August 1883) of the noble Florentine banking family, and his wife, Evelyne Isabella, daughter of Sir Douglas Strutt Galton.Brought up in Florence. In 1898 her mother married Leonard D. Cunliffe, Governor of the Bank of England. In 1915 she married Richard Ronald John Copeland Esq (1884–1958), Staffordshire, grandson of William Taylor Copeland. Issue Two sons: (Spencer 1918- 2003 & Geoffrey 1920-1953). From 1913 Ronald Copeland. was president and chairman of the Spode-Copeland firm of bone china manufacturers in Staffordshire. They travelled widely abroad in order to promote the quality of Spode bone China. She inherited her step fathers estate at Trelissick, Cornwall in 1937.

Ida Fenzi was active in Girl Guides and was on the International Council of Girl Guides from 1920–28 and 1940-?.She was throughout her life dedicated to all forms of social and welfare causes. Mrs Copeland and her husband were good friends with Baden-Powell and played an important part in the developing of the Girl Guide movement. She served as a division commissioner for the north-west of the county from 1918, while her husband Ronald was a county commissioner for the Boy Scouts Association.

Elected MP

In 1920 she became chairman of the Stoke division of the Women's Unionist Association. She was chosen as Conservative candidate for Stoke on Trent in 1931 for the general election. One of her main opponents was Sir Oswald Mosley (also known as the fascist), leader of the New Party and who maintained strong connections with the Nazi Party in Germany which were strengthened by his wife Lady Cynthia Moseley’s personal connections with Adolf Hitler. Lady Cynthia Mosley, had won Stoke for Labour in 1929. Although Mosley spent less than a week campaigning in the constituency, directing his efforts instead at a national campaign, Mosley met with enthusiastic support there, especially among younger voters. In spite of this, and to the amazement of her supporters, the electoral tide ran in Copeland's favour. She benefited from her husband's position as a leading china manufacturer in the Potteries, while her 'moderate and straightforward appeal' won her an audience even outside factory gates ("The Times", 23 Oct 1931). She won by an impressive majority of 6654 votes.

Copeland made her maiden speech in May 1932 on import duties, which she approached 'entirely from the point of view of the pottery industry' (Hansard 5C, vol. 265, col. 1204). It was an industry under threat from foreign competition and she welcomed the protection that tariffs afforded. She believed that overseas manufacturers paid starvation wages to their workers, and it was with a critical eye on the opposition benches that she asked:

:"Can we allow goods manufactured under those conditions to come into this country and lower the standard of living of our own people? I say 'no', and I firmly believe that, if we raise these tariffs, the time will come when our industry will be on its feet again. (ibid., col. 1206)"

Ancestry

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1= 1. Ida Fenzi b 1875 , d 1964 , m Richard Ronald John Copeland Esq
2= 2. Cav. Camillo Emanuele Arturo Carlo Sebastiano Fenzi of Palazzo Fenzi b 1852 , d 1883
3= 3. Lady Evelyne Isabella Strutt Galton b1853 , d 1938
4= 4. Cav. Sebastiano Fenzi b 1822 , d 1901
5= 5. Emily Verity
6= 6. Sir Douglas Strutt Galton KCB FRS , b 1822 , d 1899
7= 7. Lady Marianne Nicholson
8= 8. Cav. Emanuele Fenzi of Palazzo Fenzi b 1784 , d 1875
9= 9. Countess Ernesta Paffetta dei Lamberti b 1801 , d 1869
10= 10. Abraham Verity
11= 11. Catherine Jenkins
12= 12. John Howard Galton of Hadzor House, b 1794 , d 1862
13= 13. Isabella Strutt b 1797 , d 1877
14= 14. George Thomas Nicholson of Waverley Abbey
15= 15. Ann Elisebeth Smith
16= 16. Cav. Jacobo Orazio Fenzi
17= 17. Luisa Bardini b 1767 , d 1849
18= 18. Count Luigi Lamberti
19= 19. Eleonora Disperati
24= 24. Lucy Barclay of Urie
25= 25. Samuel "John" Galton Jr. FRS of Duddeston House b 1753 , d 1832
26= 26. Joseph Strutt Esq. of St Helen's House, Derby b 1765 , d 1844
27= 27. Isabella Archibald Douglas , b 1769 , d 1802
28= 28. Samuel Nicholson , b 1738
29= 29. Mary Haydon
30= 30. William Smith M.P , b 1756 , d 1835
31= 31. Frances Coape b
32= 32. Camillo Santi Fenzi
50= 50. Samuel Galton b 1720 d 1779
51= 51. Mary Farmer Barclay
52= 52. Jedediah Strutt of Exeter House, Derby b 1726 , d 1797
53= 53. Elizabeth Woolatt

Accomplishments

*Served on the International Council of Girl Guides from1920-1928 and in 1940,
*Division Commissioner for N.W. Staffordshire Division of Girl Guides from 1918;
*Chairman of Stoke Division Women's Unionist Association, 1920;
*MP (U) Stoke Division of Stoke-on-Trent, 1931-1935;
*Chairman of the Staffordshire Anglo Polish Society 1943-;
*President of the Staffordshire Allotment Holders Association in 1948-;
*President of the Women's Advisory Council, Truro Division 1955.
*Sister of Order of St John of Jerusalem, 1949.
*Polish Gold Cross of Merit, 1952.
*Donor of the Trelissick Gardens Estate to the National Trust in 1955.

ources

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography;