Dame Margaret Henderson Kidd, Mrs MacDonald (14 March 1900 – 22 March 1989) was a Scottish legal advocate, editor and politician. She was the first woman to become a member of the

Faculty of Advocates The Faculty of Advocates is an independent body of lawyers who have been admitted to practise as advocates before the courts of Scotland, especially the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary. The Faculty of Advocates is a constit ...

, the first woman advocate to appear before the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

and before a

parliamentary select committee A select committee is a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues originating in the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Select committees exist in the British Parliam ...

and in 1948, the first British woman King's counsel.

Early life

Kidd was born on 14 March 1900 in Carriden, near

Bo'ness Borrowstounness (commonly known as Bo'ness ( )) is a town and former burgh and seaport on the south bank of the Firth of Forth in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Historically part of the county of West Lothian, it is a place within the Fal ...

in West Lothian,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. She was the elder daughter of nine children to Janet Gardner Kidd (''née'' Turnbull, 1872–1930), a schoolteacher, and James Kidd (1872–1928), solicitor and Unionist MP for

Linlithgowshire West Lothian ( sco, Wast Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Iar) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and was one of its shires of Scotland, historic counties. The county was called Linlithgowshire until 1925. The historic county was bounded geogra ...

. She was educated at Linlithgow Academy and the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, graduating in 1922 with an MA and

LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

Career

Kidd had hoped to pursue a diplomatic career however this was not considered possible despite the

Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. It became law when it received Royal Assent on 23 December 1919.''Oliver & Boyd's new Edinburgh almanac and national repository for the year 1921''. p. 213 ...

. She undertook her professional legal training at Mitchell and Baxter,

Writers to the Signet The Society of Writers to His Majesty's Signet is a private society of Scottish solicitors, dating back to 1594 and part of the College of Justice. Writers to the Signet originally had special privileges in relation to the drawing up of document ...

in Edinburgh, and in July 1923 qualified as an Advocate becoming the

first female member. She remained the only female member of the Faculty until 1948. Her legal practice was varied with a focus on

family law Family law (also called matrimonial law or the law of domestic relations) is an area of the law that deals with family matters and domestic relations. Overview Subjects that commonly fall under a nation's body of family law include: * Marriage ...

. After the death of her father in 1928 she contested his parliamentary seat at the

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

, also as a Unionist, but was defeated by

Emanuel Shinwell Emanuel Shinwell, Baron Shinwell, (18 October 1884 – 8 May 1986) was a British politician who served as a government minister under Ramsay MacDonald and Clement Attlee. A member of the Labour Party, he served as a Member of Parliament (MP) f ...

. She was the first woman advocate to appear before the

and before a

. In 1948, she became the first British woman King's Counsel in Britain:

Frances Moran Frances Elizabeth Moran, (6 December 1893 – 7 October 1977) was an Irish barrister and legal scholar. She was Reid Professor of Criminal Law from 1925 to 1930, and Regius Professor of Laws from 1944 to 1963 at Trinity College, Dublin (TCD). S ...

was the first woman to take silk in the British Isles, having become an Irish

senior counsel The title of Senior Counsel or State Counsel (post-nominal letters: SC) is given to a senior lawyer in some countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. "Senior Counsel" is used in current or former Commonwealth countries or jurisdictio ...

in 1941. She was appointed Sheriff Principal, the first woman to occupy this position, for Dumfries and Galloway in 1960, and from 1966 to her retirement in 1974 Sheriff Principal of Perth and Angus. She was the editor of the Court of Session law reports of the

Scots Law Times The ''Scots Law Times'' is a commercially published law reports service and law magazine for Scotland, publishing over 1400 pages of reports each year. Published weekly during court term by W. Green, the ''Scots Law Times'' covers every Sco ...

from 1942 to 1976. Kidd served as Keeper of the

Advocates Library The Advocates Library, founded in 1682, is the law library of the Faculty of Advocates, in Edinburgh. It served as the national deposit library of Scotland until 1925, at which time through an Act of Parliament the National Library of Scotland ...

1956–1969. Apart from her legal work she maintained an active public and charitable role. She was a founder member of the

Stair Society The Stair Society is a learned society devoted to the study of Scots law. It was instituted in 1934 "to encourage the study and to advance the knowledge of the history of Scots Law," and is named for James Dalrymple, 1st Viscount of Stair, the sev ...

and a vice-president of the Federation of University Women and the

Electrical Association for Women The Electrical Association for Women (EAW) was a feminist and educational organisation founded in Great Britain in 1924 to promote the benefits of electricity in the home. History The Electrical Association for Women developed in 1924 from a p ...

. She had then become the vice-president of the Federation of University Women Queen's Nursing Institute. Kidd also championed improvements to women's access to work and promoted equal opportunities. In 1930, she made a speech at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

entitled "Law as a Profession of Women" where she commented on the difficulty of being a female advocate given they were dependent on male solicitors for work, and discussed how old lawyers were "inclined to be distrustful of women". ''The Scotsman'' reported: "she did not want them to think that she had not received fair play. She had had an easy time, but she did not think that she had been so successful as she would have been had she been a man."

Awards

She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the

1975 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1975 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were published on 6 June 1975 for ...

. She received an honorary LLD from the

University of Dundee , mottoeng = "My soul doth magnify the Lord" , established = 1967 – gained independent university status by Royal Charter1897 – Constituent college of the University of St Andrews1881 – University College , ...

in 1982 and the

in 1984.

Personal life

In 1930, she married Donald Somerled MacDonald, WS. They had a daughter, Anne. Her husband died in 1958. Margaret had a number of interests beyond the law, including politics. She supported Scotland remaining in the United Kingdom, and believed that trade would grow worse if Scotland became independent.

Death

She died on 22 March 1989 in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, aged 89. A funeral service was held at the

Canongate Kirk The Kirk of the Canongate, or Canongate Kirk, serves the Parish of Canongate in Edinburgh's Old Town, in Scotland. It is a congregation of the Church of Scotland. The parish includes the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the Scottish Parliament. It i ...

, Edinburgh. A

eulogy A eulogy (from , ''eulogia'', Classical Greek, ''eu'' for "well" or "true", ''logia'' for "words" or "text", together for "praise") is a speech or writing in praise of a person or persons, especially one who recently died or retired, or as ...

Lord Hope of Craighead James Arthur David Hope, Baron Hope of Craighead, (born 27 June 1938) is a retired Scottish judge who served as the first Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom from 2009 until his retirement in 2013, having previously b ...

concluded: "Her success was won by strength of character, courage and integrity and it is a mark of her true qualities that, despite what might seem to be the revolutionary nature of her achievements, she always held the affection and respect of others."

References