English: Diolch, Llywydd. Last week, we celebrated the centenary of the day women were able to stand for Parliament in 1918, and one of the early pioneering women MPs was Edith Picton-Turbervill, featured in Angela John's book, Rocking The Boat: Welsh Women who Championed Equality 1840-1990. A family plaque for Edith Picton-Turbervill is featured in Ewenny priory in my constituency, where she lived, but it doesn't mention the fact that she was a Labour MP for the Wrekin. In January 1919, Edith, from a staunchly Conservative family, joined the Labour Party. She declared that the Labour Party does its thinking in human terms. She was elected to the Wrekin in 1929, having unsuccessfully stood twice for Parliament in Islington. Angela John describes Edith as an able debater, unafraid of asking difficult questions. Most of her speeches concerned the plight of the poorer woman and her children. She was a passionate advocate of women priests and wore a cassock in Parliament, preaching several times in a chapel near Ewenny on the spiritual aspect of the women's movement. She claimed she'd heard better speeches made at meetings of the Mother's Union than many in the House. Her great parliamentary achievement came in 1931, when she took a private Member's Bill outlawing the hanging of pregnant women through Parliament. As Angela John describes, her Bill provided that a woman should have the opportunity to state that she was pregnant before the death sentence was pronounced and, if her statement proved correct, this sentence could not then be given. Her first reading of the Bill produced silence in the Chamber. It was unopposed, backed by the Government and became law. Edith Picton-Turbervill was inspirational and I pay homage to her here today.
Welsh: Diolch, Lywydd. Yr wythnos diwethaf, roeddem yn dathlu canmlwyddiant y diwrnod y gallodd menywod sefyll etholiad i'r Senedd yn 1918, ac un o'r ASau benywaidd arloesol cynnar oedd Edith Picton-Turbervill, sydd wedi ei chynnwys yn llyfr Angela John, Rocking The Boat: Welsh Women who Championed Equality 1840-1990. Mae plac teuluol i Edith Picton-Turbervill ym mhriordy Ewenni yn fy etholaeth, lle roedd yn byw, ond nid yw'n sôn am y ffaith y bu'n AS Llafur dros Wrekin. Ym mis Ionawr 1919, a hithau o deulu Ceidwadol cadarn, ymunodd Edith â'r Blaid Lafur. Datganodd fod y Blaid Lafur yn meddwl mewn termau dynol. Cafodd ei hethol dros Wrekin ym 1929, ar ôl bod yn ymgeisydd seneddol aflwyddiannus ddwywaith yn Islington. Mae Angela John yn disgrifio Edith fel dadleuwr medrus, nad oedd yn ofni gofyn cwestiynau anodd. Roedd y rhan fwyaf o'i hareithiau'n ymwneud â dioddefaint y fenyw dlotach a'i phlant. Roedd yn eiriolwr brwd dros offeiriaid benywaidd ac yn gwisgo casog yn y Senedd, a phregethodd droeon mewn capel ger Ewenni ar agwedd ysbrydol y mudiad menywod. Honnodd ei bod wedi clywed areithiau gwell yng nghyfarfodydd Undeb y Mamau nag yn y Tŷ. Daeth ei champ seneddol fawr ym 1931, pan arweiniodd Fil Aelod preifat drwy'r Senedd yn gwahardd hongian menywod beichiog. Fel y mae Angela John yn disgrifio, roedd ei Bil yn darparu ar gyfer rhoi cyfle i fenyw ddatgan ei bod yn feichiog cyn i ddedfryd o farwolaeth gael ei chyhoeddi ac os câi ei datganiad ei brofi'n gywir, ni ellid cyflawni'r ddedfryd honno wedyn. Arweiniodd ei darlleniad cyntaf o'r Bil at dawelwch yn y Siambr. Ni chafodd ei wrthwynebu, cafodd gefnogaeth y Llywodraeth, a daeth yn ddeddf. Roedd Edith Picton-Turbervill yn ysbrydoledig ac rwy'n talu teyrnged iddi yma heddiw.