Elspeth Rosamund Morton Howe, Baroness Howe of Idlicote, (; 8 February 1932 – 22 March 2022) was a British

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

and

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 ...

(2001–2020) who served in many capacities in public life. As the widow of

Geoffrey Howe Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, (20 December 1926 – 9 October 2015) was a British Conservative politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1989 to 1990. Howe was Margaret Thatcher ...

, she was formerly known as Lady Howe of Aberavon before receiving a peerage in her own right. She was the paternal aunt of

Queen Camilla Camilla (born Camilla Rosemary Shand, later Parker Bowles, 17 July 1947) is Queen Consort of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms as the wife of King Charles III. She became queen consort on 8 September 2022, upon the acc ...

Personal life

Howe was the daughter of the writer

Philip Morton Shand Philip Morton Shand (21 January 1888 – 30 April 1960), known as P. Morton Shand, was a British journalist, architecture critic (an early proponent of modernism), wine and food writer, entrepreneur and pomologist. He was the paternal grandfat ...

by his fourth wife, Sybil Mary Shand (née Sissons; formerly Slee). As such, she was a half-aunt to

Camilla, Queen Consort of the United Kingdom Camilla (born Camilla Rosemary Shand, later Parker Bowles, 17 July 1947) is Queen Consort of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms as the wife of King Charles III. She became queen consort on 8 September 2022, upon the acc ...

(née Shand, formerly Parker Bowles), whose father,

Bruce Shand Bruce Middleton Hope Shand (22 January 1917 – 11 June 2006) was an officer in the British Army. He is best known as the father of Queen Camilla. Early life Shand was born in London into an upper class family whose ancestors had moved t ...

, was son of P. Morton Shand by a previous marriage. Elspeth Shand grew up in

Bath, Somerset Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...

, and was educated at

Wycombe Abbey Wycombe Abbey is an independent girls' boarding and day school in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. It is consistently ranked as one of the top all-girls schools in academic results. The school was founded in 1896 by Dame Frances Dove (1847 ...

, a leading private school for girls, and at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. She married the rising politician Geoffrey Howe in 1953, and had three children, Caroline (Cary), and twins, Amanda and Alec.

Career

Howe served as deputy chairman of the Equal Opportunities Commission from 1975 to 1979, and in various other capacities from 1980. She was later made chair of the

Broadcasting Standards Commission The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers ...

. In the 1999 New Year Honours she was appointed a Commander 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 ...

(CBE). Lady Howe was a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

in Inner London from 1964 until her retirement from the Bench in 2002. She sat in the Youth Court at Camberwell where she was a bench chairman. On 29 June 2001, at the age of 69, she was made a

, as Baroness Howe of Idlicote, of

Shipston-on-Stour Shipston-on-Stour is a town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon District in Warwickshire, England. It is located on the banks of the River Stour, south-southeast of Stratford-upon-Avon, 10 miles (16 km) north-northwest of Chipping Norto ...

in the County of

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, in her own right, becoming one of the first

People's Peers The House of Lords Appointments Commission is an independent advisory non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom. It has two roles: *to recommend at least two people a year for appointment as non-party-political life peers who sit on the ...

. She and her husband were one of the few couples each of whom held a peerage in their own right. Having already been styled Lady Howe by dint of her husband's knighthood and then his peerage, it was quipped when she received her own peerage that she was " once, twice, three times a Lady". Howe retired from Parliament on 2 June 2020. She died at her home in

Idlicote Idlicote is a small settlement and civil parish in the English county of Warwickshire, about north-east of Shipston-on-Stour and south-east of Stratford-upon-Avon. Population details can be found under Honington. The best known feature is Idli ...

, Warwickshire, on 22 March 2022, aged 90, following a battle with cancer.

References

External links

*
Media: A Tory feminist for TV's watchdog: Michael Leapman profiles Lady Elspeth Howe, the incoming chair of the Broadcasting Standards Council
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howe, Elspeth Baroness Howe Of Idlicote 1932 births 2022 deaths Elspeth Howe of Idlicote, Elspeth Howe, Baroness Crossbench life peers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Wycombe Abbey Honorary Fellows of the London School of Economics Spouses of life peers Deaths from cancer in England Place of birth missing Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II

Personal life

Career

References

Further reading

External links