Irene Tordoff Fritchie, Baroness Fritchie, DBE (née Fennell; born 29 April 1942 in

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

), known as Rennie Fritchie, is a British crossbench peer.

Life/career

Irene Tordoff Fennell, daughter of Mr and Mrs Charles Frederick Fennell, was educated at

Ribston Hall Ribston Hall is a privately owned 17th-century country mansion situated on the banks of the River Nidd, at Great Ribston, near Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. The two-storey mansion presents an impress ...

Grammar School for Girls in

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

and has had a long career specialising in training and development. Now described as a "portfolio" worker, she has held various positions including

Commissioner for Public Appointments The Commissioner for Public Appointments is a British public servant, appointed by The King, whose primary role is to provide independent assurance that ministerial public appointments across the United Kingdom by HM Government Ministers (and devol ...

from 1999 to 2005, and President of the Pennell Initiative for Women's Health in Later Life. In the 1970s, she was one of the first full-time women's training advisers and pioneered the training of staff in the then new Equal Opportunities Commission. Using a German Marshall Fellowship awarded in 1985, she drew lessons from the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

for the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

for programmes to improve the status of women. She has published extensively on these topics and contributes regularly on them to programmes on television and radio. She became Chairman of

Nominet Nominet UK is currently delegated by IANA to be the manager of the .uk domain name. Nominet directly manages registrations directly under .uk, and some of the second level domains .co.uk, .org.uk, .sch.uk, .me.uk, .net.uk, .ltd.uk and .plc.uk. ...

in 2010.

Affiliations

She holds a number of positions outside government. She holds an honorary Professorship in Creative Leadership at York University and is Pro-Chancellor at

Southampton University , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

, a Civil Service Commissioner and Vice-Chair of the

Stroud and Swindon Building Society Stroud & Swindon Building Society was the 10th largest building society in the United Kingdom, with headquarters in Stroud, Gloucestershire and total assets of £2.7 billion as at 31 December 2009. It was a member of the Building Societies Associ ...

. Active in a number of charities, Fritchie has been awarded

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

s by a number of academic institutions. Fritchie is Chair of the 2gether NHS Foundation Trust in Gloucestershire, and in 2012 was appointed as the new chancellor of the

University of Gloucestershire , mottoeng = In Spirit and Truth , established = , type = Public , endowment = £2.4 m (2015) , chancellor = Rennie Fritchie, Baroness Fritchie , vice_chancellor ...

Family

In 1960 she married Don Jamie Fritchie with whom she had two children, the elder dying in 1991. She was widowed in 1992.

Honours

Fritchie became a

Dame 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 o ...

in the 1996 New Year Honours. On 31 May 2005 she was made a

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 ...

as Baroness Fritchie, of

in the County of Gloucestershire, and she sits as a

crossbencher 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 ...

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 ...

Arms

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fritchie, Rennie 1942 births Living people Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II People from Fife People's peers Academics of the University of Southampton People associated with the University of Gloucestershire Crossbench life peers Commissioners for Public Appointments