Davina Marcia Herbert Ingrams, 18th Baroness Darcy de Knayth (10 July 1938 – 24 February 2008) was a

crossbench A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...

member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

, continuing to sit after the passing of the

House of Lords Act 1999 The House of Lords Act 1999 (c. 34) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. The Act was given Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. For centuries, the House of Lords ...

as an elected peer.

Biography

Ingrams was the daughter of

Mervyn Herbert, 17th Baron Darcy de Knayth Mervyn Horatio Herbert, 17th Baron Darcy de Knayth, styled Viscount Clive (7 May 1904 – 23 March 1943) was a British peer and Royal Air Force officer. Early life Styled the Honourable Mervyn Horatio Herbert from birth, he was the second son ...

(also known as

Viscount Clive A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

, his

courtesy title A courtesy title is a title that does not have legal significance but rather is used through custom or courtesy, particularly, in the context of nobility, the titles used by children of members of the nobility (cf. substantive title). In some co ...

as son of the

Earl of Powis Earl of Powis (Powys) is a title that has been created three times. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1674 in favour of William Herbert, 3rd Baron Powis, a descendant of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (c. 1501–15 ...

); and his wife Vida, née Cuthbert. The barony had been created in 1332 for John Darcy, and revived twice after falling into

abeyance Abeyance (from the Old French ''abeance'' meaning "gaping") is a state of expectancy in respect of property, titles or office, when the right to them is not vested in any one person, but awaits the appearance or determination of the true owner. ...

. Through her grandfather,

George Herbert, 4th Earl of Powis George Charles Herbert, 4th Earl of Powis GCStJ DL JP (24 June 1862 – 9 November 1952), known as George Herbert until 1891, was a British peer. Early life Herbert was born at Number 26, Bruton Street, Mayfair, London, and baptised at St Geor ...

, she was descended from

Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, (29 September 1725 – 22 November 1774), also known as Clive of India, was the first British Governor of the Bengal Presidency. Clive has been widely credited for laying the foundation of the British ...

. She inherited the barony in 1943, when her father was killed in action during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, flying a

Mosquito Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...

as a

squadron leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also ...

in the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

. In 1946, the widowed Lady Clive remarried, to Brigadier Derek Schreiber, Chief of Staff to the

Governor General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

of Australia: Lady Darcy de Knayth acted as flower girl. Lady Darcy de Knayth was educated at

St Mary's School, Wantage St Mary's School was an independent day and boarding girls' school located in Wantage, Oxfordshire, England. In 2007 it merged with Heathfield School to become Heathfield St Mary's School (later reverted to Heathfield) and the Wantage site was c ...

, and later in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

and the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

Career

She and her husband were involved in a serious accident in 1964, returning from a dance, when their car hit a tree. Her husband was killed outright, and she was paralysed from the neck down. She was treated at

Stoke Mandeville Hospital Stoke Mandeville Hospital is a large National Health Service (NHS) hospital located on the parish borders of Aylesbury and Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire, England. It is managed by Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust. It was establishe ...

, and later recovered some movement in her upper body. She became a

wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...

user and took up table tennis and archery. She won a gold medal in swimming at the

1968 Summer Paralympics The 1968 Summer Paralympics ( he, המשחקים הפאראלימפיים בקיץ 1968) were the third Paralympic Games to be held. Organised under the guidance of the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation (ISMGF), they were known as th ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, and a bronze for

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

at the 1972 Games in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. She was one of the first 16 hereditary peeresses admitted to the House of Lords in 1963, and spoke frequently on disability matters after taking up her seat in 1969. She was made a dame ( DBE) for her services to disabled people in 1996. After the

removed most of the

hereditary peer The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of September 2022, there are 807 hereditary peers: 29 dukes (including five royal dukes), 34 marquesses, 190 earls, 111 viscounts, and 443 barons (disregarding subsid ...

s from the House of Lords, she was selected as one of the select representative peers, coming top of the ballot of crossbench peers.

Personal life

She married publisher Rupert Ingrams (brother of the ''

Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satire, satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely r ...

'' editor

Richard Ingrams Richard Reid Ingrams (born 19 August 1937 in Chelsea, London, Chelsea, London) is an English journalist, a co-founder and second editor of the British satire, satirical magazine ''Private Eye (magazine), Private Eye'', and founding editor of ' ...

) in 1960. They had three children. She died on 24 February 2008, aged 69, of undisclosed causes. She was survived by her son and two daughters. Her son, Caspar, succeeded as the 19th Baron Darcy de Knayth. The day after Lady Darcy's death, the House of Lords paid her warm tribute when it passed the third reading of the Disabled Persons (Independent Living) Bill.Obituary
timesonline.co.uk; 3 March 2008; accessed 31 December 2014.

References

External links

thepeerage.com; accessed 12 November 2014.

chivalricorders.org; accessed 12 November 2014.
House of Lords: Members deceased
parliament.uk; accessed 12 November 2014. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Darcy de Knayth, Davina Ingrams, 18th Baroness 1938 births 2008 deaths Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Disability rights activists from the United Kingdom Swimmers at the 1968 Summer Paralympics Table tennis players at the 1972 Summer Paralympics Paralympic swimmers of Great Britain Paralympic table tennis players of Great Britain Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic bronze medalists for Great Britain Royalty and nobility with disabilities Wheelchair category Paralympic competitors Hereditary women peers British politicians with disabilities People educated at St Mary’s School, Wantage People educated at Heathfield School, Ascot English people with disabilities Crossbench hereditary peers Hereditary peers elected under the House of Lords Act Medalists at the 1968 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1972 Summer Paralympics Place of birth missing Place of death missing British female swimmers 20th-century British women politicians Davina Barons Darcy de Knayth Paralympic medalists in swimming Paralympic medalists in table tennis People with tetraplegia 20th-century English nobility