GWR defends naming train after Nancy Astor

Great Western Railway 802101 was named Nancy Astor on November 28, recognising the first female MP in the UK.

However, the operator has been forced to defend its decision, following criticism of Astor’s views towards the Jewish community.

Simon Kendler, who works in the rail industry, wrote to Great Western Railway and train builder Hitachi stating that she was “a virulent anti-Semite and thoroughly despicable character”.

He added: “During the same period that Nancy Astor was hoping that Hitler would rid the world of ‘the Jewish problem’, my late grandmother was in a Nazi concentration camp while the rest of her family had already been murdered at Bełzec Death Camp in 1942.

“I find it somewhat offensive that her name should therefore be adorning one of your trains and I do hope that you can see to it that it is removed.”

GWR spokesman Dan Panes told RAIL: “We were alive to these issues, and how they weighed up against the fact that she was the first female MP to sit in the House of Commons at a time when most women did not have the vote.

“To help us understand this, we spoke to leading Astor historians at Reading University to make sure we got the context and balance right. They agreed that her initial support of appeasement of Nazi Germany - a view common among certain members of society at the time - was a key part of her election address. These evolved quickly and she wholeheartedly supported the war effort and her naval constituency of Plymouth Sutton.

“There are things that Nancy Astor said that we would not support today. However, the historical record shows she supported Jewish people in her constituency and beyond.

“Indeed, rather than being seen as a supporter, her name was very firmly on a Nazi hit list to be arrested when they reached England.”

He added: “The Campaign Against Anti-Semitism takes a nuanced approach - celebrating Lady Astor as a ‘trailblazer for women in politics’ but stressing her views towards Jewish communities needed to be remembered.”

The ceremony took place at London Paddington, exactly 100 years after the by-election when she won the seat previously held by her husband. Her descendants travelled on the nine-car bi-mode to Plymouth where they unveiled a statue of Astor on the Hoe.

“I don’t know if our grandmother would ever have thought a train would be named after her. But we feel she would be both flattered and appreciative, and her father absolutely delighted,” said granddaughter Emily Astor.