Carole Souter is the current Interim Chair of

Historic Royal Palaces Historic Royal Palaces is an independent charity that manages some of the United Kingdom's unoccupied royal palaces. These are: * Tower of London * Hampton Court Palace * Kensington Palace (State Apartments and Orangery) * The Banqueting Hous ...

and former Master of

St Cross College, Oxford St Cross College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1965, St Cross is an all-graduate college with gothic and traditional-style buildings on a central site in St Giles', just south of Pusey Street. It a ...

, and Chief Executive of the

National Heritage Memorial Fund The National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) was set up in 1980 to save the most outstanding parts of the British national heritage, in memory of those who have given their lives for the UK. It replaced the National Land Fund which had fulfilled the ...

and

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

Biography

Born in May 1957, Souter obtained a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degrees in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

between 1975 - 1978, and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in Victorian Studies from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

between 1981 - 1982. By 2016, her career had spanned "over 30 years of policy development and operational management in the public sector", including work in the civil service in the

Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their ow ...

, the

Department of Social Security The Department of Social Security (DSS) was a governmental agency in the United Kingdom from 1988 to 2001. The old abbreviation is still often used informally. Advertisements for rented accommodation used to describe prospective tenants who wou ...

and the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government objecti ...

. Souter joined the National Heritage Memorial Fund and Heritage Lottery Fund in 2003, having previously been Director of Planning and Development at

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

. Her other board appointments have included the boards of

Creativity, Culture and Education Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE) is a UK-based international foundation dedicated to unlocking the creativity of children and young people in and out of formal education. This is done primarily through designing and implementing programmes ...

, the

Kent Wildlife Trust Kent Wildlife Trust (KWT) is a conservation charity in the United Kingdom that was founded in 1958, previously known as the Kent Trust for Nature Conservation. It aims to "work with people to restore, save and improve our natural spaces" and t ...

, and the National Communities Resource Centre (at

Trafford Hall Trafford Hall is an 18th-century country house standing to the east of the village of Wimbolds Trafford in Cheshire, England, about northeast of the city of Chester. It is owned by The Regenda Group and operated as a youth hostel and training ce ...

). She is also a member of the Academy of Urbanism, a trustee of Horniman Mus

eum and Gardens, and a

lay canon A canon (from the Latin , itself derived from the Greek , , "relating to a rule", "regular") is a member of certain bodies in subject to an ecclesiastical rule. Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house or, later, i ...

Salisbury Cathedral Salisbury Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral in Salisbury, England. The cathedral is the mother church of the Diocese of Salisbury and is the seat of the Bishop of Salisbury. The buildi ...

. In March 2016, Souter was appointed as a trustee of

. In May 2016, it was announced that the Fellows of St Cross College, Oxford, had elected Souter as the next Master of the College. In September 2016, she succeeded Sir Mark Jones, who had been Master of St Cross since 2011. In June 2020, it was announced by the Governing Body of

Oriel College Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, wh ...

, Oxford, UK, that Souter would chair an 'Independent Commission of Inquiry' into the intended removal of the

Cecil Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his Br ...

statue and plaque at Oriel College, as well as related matters such as "how to improve access and attendance of

BAME A number of different systems of classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom exist. These schemata have been the subject of debate, including about the nature of ethnicity, how or whether it can be categorised, and the relationship betwe ...

undergraduate, graduate students and faculty". This inquiry arose in response to immense pressure from the Rhodes Must Fall movement in Oxford, and from the wider

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

movement. The Commission was due to report by the end of 2020 but the report was delayed a couple of times. The final report for the commission set up to examine the figure's future said the "majority" of its members supported its removal but

said it would not seek to move the statue due to costs and "complex" planning processes. Portrait_of_Souter_at_StX

As of Sep. 2022, and after 6 years, Souter retired her duties as

. She took the role of Interim Chair of

Awards and honours

Souter was made 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 o ...

(CBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours list for services to conservation. In 2014, she was elected a Fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societ ...

. Souter is also a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

(FRSA). She was made an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford in 2011.

Personal life

Souter is married with two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Souter, Carole Living people Masters of St Cross College, Oxford Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)