Caroline Gathorne-Hardy, Countess of Cranbrook (''née'' Jarvis; 18 December 1935) is an English aristocrat and campaigner on

food quality Food quality is a concept often based on the organoleptic characteristics (e.g., taste, aroma, appearance) and nutritional value of food. Producers reducing potential pathogens and other hazards through food safety practices is another important fa ...

issues. She is the wife of

Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 5th Earl of Cranbrook Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 5th Earl of Cranbrook, (born 20 June 1933), styled Lord Medway until 1978, is a British zoologist, biologist, naturalist, and peer. Since 1956, he has been active in the fields of ornithology, mammalogy, and zooarch ...

. She was born in London in 1935, the daughter of Colonel Ralph George Edward Jarvis of

Doddington Hall, Lincolnshire Doddington Hall is, from the outside, an Elizabethan prodigy house or mansion complete with walled courtyards and a gabled gatehouse. Inside it was largely updated in the 1760s. It is located in the village of Doddington, to the west of the cit ...

and his wife, Antonia Mary Hilda Meade. Both of her parents were in

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

, and she moved to Portugal as a girl. She married the Earl of Cranbrook on 9 May 1967, and took up the married name Caroline Gathorne-Hardy. Their early home was in a jungle area of Malaya, where her husband worked as a zoologist. After three years, they took up residence at his family seat, Great Glemham House,

Great Glemham Great Glemham is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district, England, a mile and a half to the west of the A12 and roughly equidistant between Framlingham and Saxmundham. The parish takes the shape of an irregular triangle formed b ...

, Saxmundham, Suffolk. She ran the estate farm and raised their three children. When her husband inherited the earldom of Cranbrook from his father, on 22 November 1978, she became a

Countess Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility.L. G. Pine, Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty'' ...

. She was made an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in 2004, for services to the red

meat industry The meat industry are the people and companies engaged in modern industrialized livestock agriculture for the production, packing, preservation and marketing of meat (in contrast to dairy products, wool, etc.). In economics, the meat industry is ...

, after campaigning to save local

abattoirs A slaughterhouse, also called abattoir (), is a facility where animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a packaging facility. Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is no ...

. She is president of the Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival. Lady Cranbrook appeared as a castaway on the

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

programme ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usu ...

'' on 31 May 2009, and received

The Oldie ''The Oldie'' is a British monthly magazine written for older people "as a light-hearted alternative to a press obsessed with youth and celebrity", according to its website. The magazine was launched in 1992 by Richard Ingrams, who was its edi ...

's 'Campaigner of the Year' Award in 2010. The then

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

called her "the doughtiest fighter for good sense in agriculture". She and her husband have three children: *John Jason Gathorne-Hardy, Lord Medway (born 26 October 1968), heir apparent to the Earldom, born in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

*Dr. Lady Flora Gathorne-Hardy (born 10 October 1971) *Hon. Argus Edward Gathorne-Hardy (born 28 May 1973)

References

1935 births Living people Nobility from Lincolnshire People from Suffolk Coastal (district) British countesses 21st-century English farmers 20th-century English farmers Food activists Officers of the Order of the British Empire Caroline 21st-century British women farmers 20th-century women farmers 20th-century British farmers English women farmers {{nobility-stub