Bridget Helen Monckton, 11th Lady Ruthven of Freeland, Dowager Viscountess Monckton of Brenchley, CBE (27 July 1896 – 17 April 1982) was a British peeress and Conservative member of 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 Westminst ...

best remembered as the wartime commander of women's services in India.

Early life

The Honourable ''The Honourable'' (British English) or ''The Honorable'' ( American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of certa ...

Bridget Hore-Ruthven was born in 1896, the eldest of the four daughters of Major-General Walter Hore-Ruthven, 10th Lord Ruthven of Freeland, and the former Jean Lampson. Among her sisters were Hon. Jean Elisabeth St Loe Hore-Ruthven (wife of Don Francisco Larios, only son of Don Ernesto Larios) and Hon. Alison Mary Hore-Ruthven (wife of Sir John Leighton Barran, 3rd Baronet) and Hon.

Margaret Leslie Hore-Ruthven Hon. Margaret Leslie Hore-Ruthven (12 June 1901 – 30 April 1970) was a British socialite, one of the "Bright Young Things" of the 1920s. She and her twin sister Alison were included in '' The Book of Beauty'' by Cecil Beaton. Biography Margar ...

(wife of

Peter Llewelyn Davies Peter Llewelyn Davies MC (25 February 1897 – 5 April 1960) was the middle of five sons of Arthur and Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, one of the Llewelyn Davies boys befriended and later informally adopted by J. M. Barrie. Barrie publicly identi ...

). Her paternal grandparents were Walter James Hore-Ruthven, 9th Lord Ruthven of Freeland and Lady Caroline Annesley Gore (a daughter of

Philip Gore, 4th Earl of Arran Philip Yorke Gore, 4th Earl of Arran (23 November 1801 – 25 June 1884), known as Philip Gore until 1837, was an Anglo-Irish peer and diplomat. Born at Dublin Castle, Arran was the eldest son of Colonel the Hon. William John Gore, second son ...

). Her maternal grandfather was Norman George Lampson, JP, DL, younger son of

Sir Curtis Lampson, 1st Baronet Sir Curtis Miranda Lampson, 1st Baronet (21 September 1806 – 12 March 1885) was an Anglo-American fur merchant, best remembered for his promotion of the transatlantic telegraph cable. Life Born New Haven, Vermont, to American Revolutio ...

. Bridget was therefore the niece both of Miles Lampson, 1st Baron Killearn, and of Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie.

Career

At the beginning of 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 opposi ...

, Lady Carlisle was a Senior Controller of the Auxiliary Territorial Service. The Countess of Carlisle was then promoted to become the Director of the Women's Auxiliary Corps (India) - the Indian counterpart of the ATS - and of the Women's Royal Indian Naval Service (WRINS). For her work in command, she was appointed a CBE (military division) in 1947. From 1962 to 1974, Lady Monckton was the Chairman of the charity Attend: the National Association of Leagues of Hospital Friends. From 1977 to 1978, she returned to office at the charity when elected to be the President of Attend.

Peerage

Her father's title dated back to 1651 and was in the

peerage of Scotland The Peerage of Scotland ( gd, Moraireachd na h-Alba, sco, Peerage o Scotland) is one of the five divisions of peerages in the United Kingdom and for those peers created by the King of Scots before 1707. Following that year's Treaty of Unio ...

, hence the form: the ''Lord'' Ruthven, rather than ''Baron'' Ruthven, which meant that, unlike most

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

, Irish, British and UK titles, it could be inherited, as a matter of course, by a daughter. Therefore, upon the death of her father in 1956, Lady Monckton inherited the lordship of Ruthven of Freeland. She was now, '' suo jure'', the Lady Ruthven of Freeland. In 1957, her husband received a peerage too, when he was created the first

Viscount Monckton of Brenchley Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, of Brenchley in the County of Kent, is a hereditary title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 11 February 1957 for the lawyer, Conservative politician and former Minister of Defence, Sir Wal ...

. Lady Ruthven of Freeland's marital title was now: the Viscountess Monckton of Brenchley. Although entitled to a Scottish peerage, Bridget was not initially entitled to membership of the legislature. However, from 1963 she did take her seat in the

, after the new Peerage Act 1963 gave all Scottish peers and all female holders of hereditary peerages the right to sit in the upper chamber of parliament.Bridget Helen Hore-Ruthven, Lady Ruthven of Freeland profile
thepeerage.com; accessed 2 April 2016. Unusually, she sat concurrently with her son and with her second husband, plus her cousins mentioned above.

Personal life

On 17 January 1918 she married

George Howard, 11th Earl of Carlisle Lieutenant-Commander George Josslyn L'Estrange Howard, 11th Earl of Carlisle (6 January 1895 – 17 February 1963), styled Viscount Morpeth from 1911 to 1912, was a British nobleman, politician, and peer. Early life George Josslyn L'Estrange Howa ...

, becoming the Countess of Carlisle. They had two children: * ''Lady'' Carolyn Bridget Dacre Howard (b. 18 August 1919). * Charles James Ruthven Howard (1923–1994), styled ''Viscount Morpeth'', until he succeeded as the 12th Earl of Carlisle in 1963. In 1947, Lord and Lady Carlisle divorced. Lady Carlisle then married Sir Walter Monckton on 13 August 1947, becoming Lady Monckton. Sir Walter was previously married to Mary Adelaide Somes Colyer-Fergusson (the eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Colyer-Fergusson, 3rd Baronet). The couple had no children together, but both had offspring from their previous marriages. Lady Monckton of Brenchley died in April 1982, aged 85, and was succeeded in her own title by her son, who was already the Earl of Carlisle.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruthven of Freeland, Bridget Monckton, 11th Lady Bridget Monckton, 11th Lady Ruthven of Freeland *11

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...

Monckton Hereditary women peers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Conservative Party (UK) hereditary peers 1896 births 1982 deaths 20th-century British women politicians 20th-century English nobility British people in colonial India Wives of knights