Pamela Sharples, Baroness Sharples (; 11 February 1923 – 19 May 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 ...

of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

who was elevated to the

peerage A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted noble ranks. Peerages include: Australia * Australian peers Belgium * Belgi ...

in 1973 after the assassination of her husband, Sir Richard Sharples,

Governor of Bermuda The Governor of Bermuda (fully the ''Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Somers Isles (alias the Islands of Bermuda)'') is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Bermuda. For the purposes of this a ...

Early life and education

She was the daughter of Lt.-Cdr. Keith William Newall and wife Violet Ruby Ashton (who later married Lord Claud Hamilton, son of the 2nd Duke of Abercorn). She was educated at Southover Manor School in

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...

,'Sharples, Baroness', in ''Who's Who 2009'' (London: A. & C. Black, 2008). and 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 ...

, from 1941 to 1946, she served in the

Women's Auxiliary Air Force The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (), was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000 at its peak strength in 1943, with over 2 ...

.The Peerage, Lady Pamela Newall, Baroness Sharples
Retrieved 24 May 2022.

Family

She was married three times. In 1946 she married Sir Richard Sharples, who was assassinated in 1973 while serving as

. They had two sons and two daughters. Her second husband, from 1977 until his death in 1980, was Patrick David de László (son of the painter

Philip de László Philip Alexius László de Lombos (born Fülöp Laub; hu, Fülöp Elek László; 30 April 1869 – 22 November 1937), known professionally as Philip de László, was an Anglo-Hungarian painter known particularly for his portraits of royal an ...

), and her third husband, from 1983 until his death in 1995, was Robert Douglas Swan.

Political and business career

Sharples was created a

on 18 June 1973 following the assassination of her husband, becoming Baroness Sharples of Chawton in the

County of Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire is ...

. She sat in 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 ...

as a member of the

. In 1995 she became the sole owner of Nunswell Investments Limited, an offshore investment company in

The Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

. In 2000 she became a director of Nunswell, which was registered in the United Kingdom the same year and, as of 2016, paid taxes to the

British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

. In April 2016 she was named in the

Panama Papers The Panama Papers ( es, Papeles de Panamá) are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) that were published beginning on April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 ...

, leaked documents related to offshore banking. Her law firm wrote that the House of Lords "has been notified of Baroness Sharples' oversight in registering her interest as a Director of Nunswell Investments Limited" and that she receives "no remuneration ... nor any income or capital from that company". As of December 2015, her son was a director and shareholder of the company, "not on a personal basis". Sharples retired from the House of Lords on 18 December 2017. She died on 19 May 2022 at the age of 99.

Arms

Notes

1923 births 2022 deaths People from Chawton People educated at Southover Manor School Women's Auxiliary Air Force airwomen Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Conservative Party (UK) life peers People named in the Panama Papers {{life-peer-stub