Helena Ann Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws, KC,

FRSA 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 ...

, HonFRSE (born 12 May 1950), is a Scottish

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

, broadcaster, and

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member of 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 ...

. She was Principal of

Mansfield College, Oxford Mansfield College, Oxford is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. The college was founded in Birmingham in 1838 as a college for Nonconformist students. It moved to Oxford in 1886 and was renamed Man ...

, from 2011 to 2018.

Early life and education

Kennedy was born on 12 May 1950 in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland, one of the four daughters of Mary Veronica (née Jones) and Joshua Patrick. Her parents were committed

activists and devoutly

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

. Her father, a printer with the '' Daily Record'', was a trade union official. She attended

Holyrood Secondary School ("By this conquer!") , established = 1936 , closed = , type = Comprehensive , religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic , president = , head_name = , head ...

, where she was appointed Head Girl. She studied law at the

Council of Legal Education The Council of Legal Education (CLE) was an English supervisory body established by the four Inns of Court to regulate and improve the legal education of barristers within England and Wales. History The Council was established in 1852 by the Inns ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Legal career

In 1972, Kennedy was called to the bar at

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...

. Among her many cases, Kennedy acted as junior counsel for child murderer

Myra Hindley The Moors murders were carried out by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley between July 1963 and October 1965, in and around Manchester, England. The victims were five children—Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey, and Edward E ...

during her 1974 trial for plotting to escape from

Holloway Prison HM Prison Holloway was a closed category prison for adult women and young offenders in Holloway, London, England, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. It was the largest women's prison in western Europe, until its closure in 2016. Histor ...

Politics

Kennedy rebels against her

party whip A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology ...

in the

more frequently than any other Labour Peer, having a dissent rate of 33.3%. She was Chair of

Charter 88 Charter 88 was a British pressure group that advocated constitutional and electoral reform and owes its origins to the lack of a written constitution. It began as a special edition of the ''New Statesman'' magazine in 1988 and it took its name ...

(1992–1997) and is closely affiliated to the educational charity

Common Purpose The doctrine of common purpose, common design, joint enterprise, joint criminal enterprise or parasitic accessory liability is a common law legal doctrine that imputes criminal liability to the participants in a criminal enterprise for all reaso ...

. In 2020, she worked with the Conservative MP

Iain Duncan Smith Sir George Iain Duncan Smith (born George Ian Duncan Smith; 9 April 1954), often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003. He was ...

and democracy activist

Luke de Pulford Luke John de Pulford () is a human rights campaigner, particularly in the areas of modern slavery and human rights abuses in China. De Pulford is director and co-Founder of the London-based anti-slavery charityArise He coordinates the Inter-Parl ...

to create the global pressure group

Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) is an international, cross-party alliance of parliamentarians from democratic countries focused on relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC), and specifically, the Chinese Communist Party ...

. In March 2021, China placed sanctions on her. The sanctions were condemned by the Prime Minister and led the Foreign Secretary to summon the Chinese ambassador.

Academia

Kennedy became the first Chancellor of

Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic (United Kingdom), Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and High ...

, serving from 1994 to 2001. Kennedy was elected principal of Mansfield College,

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in July 2010 and served from September 2011. She retired in 2018 and became Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University on 26 July 2018.

Personal life

From 1978 to 1984 she lived with the actor Iain Mitchell, and together they had a son. In 1986, Kennedy married Iain Louis Hutchison, a

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

, with whom she has a daughter and a son. Kennedy regularly attends Mass and professes that her Roman Catholicism "remains very much part of who I am", even though she eschews its more traditional values.

Honours

She has received numerous academic awards, including: *

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the Royal Society of Arts (

) * Fellow of the

City and Guilds of London Institute The City and Guilds of London Institute is an educational organisation in the United Kingdom. Founded on 11 November 1878 by the City of London and 16 livery companies – to develop a national system of technical education, the institute has ...

(FCGI) * Member of the (

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

) * Honorary Fellow, Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2005 * Honorary Fellow, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, 2005 * Honorary Fellow, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies * Honorary Fellow,

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, 2010 * Honorary Fellow,

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...

(SOAS), 2011 * Honorary Doctorate of Law,

Plymouth University The University of Plymouth is a public research university based predominantly in Plymouth, England, where the main campus is located, but the university has campuses and affiliated colleges across South West England. With students, it is the ...

, 2012 * Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (HonFRSE), 2014 * She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2021.

Broadcasting

Helena Kennedy hosting After Dark on 13 September 1997

* Creator: ''Blind Justice'', BBC TV, 1987 * Presenter: ''Heart of the Matter'', BBC TV, 1987 * '' After Dark'', Channel 4 and BBC4, 1987–2003 ** She presented many editions of this series, including the "drunk Oliver Reed" episode, where the actor verbally insulted and attempted to kiss feminist

Kate Millett Katherine Murray Millett (September 14, 1934 – September 6, 2017) was an American feminist writer, educator, artist, and activist. She attended Oxford University and was the first American woman to be awarded a degree with first-class honor ...

* Presenter: ''Raw Deal on Medical Negligence'', BBC TV, 1989 * Presenter: ''The Trial of 'Lady Chatterley's Lover, BBC Radio 4, 1990 * Presenter: ''Time Gentlemen, Please'', BBC Scotland, 1994 (Winner, Television Programme Award category, 1994 Industrial Journalism Awards) * Commissioner, BAFTA Inquiry into the future of the BBC, 1990

Appointments

Helena Kennedy -London, England-15Jan2010

* President, Helena Kennedy Foundation * President of the Board the Governors of the

(SOAS) * President,

Women of the Year Lunch The Women of the Year Lunch, later known as the Women of the Year Lunch and Awards (WOYLA), is an annual charity lunch for women achievers. The inaugural lunch was held on 29 September 1955 at the Savoy Hotel, and raised money for the Greater Lo ...

(2010–2015) * Chair,

JUSTICE Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

* Chair of the Board of Governors for the

United World College of the Atlantic Atlantic College (formally the United World College of the Atlantic; alternatively styled UWC Atlantic College, UWCAC, or UWCA) is an independent boarding school in the Vale of Glamorgan in south Wales. Founded in 1962, it was the first of t ...

* President,

Medical Aid for Palestinians Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) is a British charity that offers medical services in the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon, and advocates for Palestinians' rights to health and dignity. It is in special consultative status with ECOSOC since 2002. A ...

* Patron,

Burma Campaign UK Burma Campaign UK (BCUK) founded in 1991 is a London-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) that aims to achieve the restoration of basic human rights and democracy in Burma (also known as Myanmar). BCUK campaigns on behalf of the Burmese pr ...

, the London-based group campaigning for human rights and democracy in

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

* Member of the Board of

Independent News and Media Mediahuis Ireland (formally Independent News and Media (INM) )) is a media organisation that is based in Dublin and publishes national daily newspapers, Sunday newspapers, regional newspapers and operates multiple websites including Independent. ...

* Trustee,

KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...

Foundation * Chancellor of

(1994–2001) * Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University (appointed in 2018) * Chair,

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

(1998–2004) * Chair,

Human Genetics Commission The Human Genetics Commission (HGC) was an advisory non-departmental public body that advised the UK government on the ethical and social aspects of genetics. This included genetic testing, cloning and other aspects of molecular medicine. The Comm ...

(1998–2007) * President of the

National Children's Bureau The National Children’s Bureau works collaboratively across the issues affecting children to influence policy and get services working together to deliver a better childhood. Established in 1963, they have been at the forefront of campaigning f ...

(1998–2005) * Kennedy chaired the

Power Commission The POWER Inquiry was established in 2004 to explore how political participation and involvement can be increased and deepened in UK, Britain. Its work is based on the primary belief that a healthy democracy requires the active participation of it ...

(November 2005 – March 2006), which examined the problem of democratic disengagement in 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 ...

. A report was produced which highlighted the "Myth of Apathy" and the lack of political engagement * Chair of

Power 2010 Power 2010 was a campaign to reform the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The campaign first aimed to identify five key reforms to the parliamentary system that the public most wanted to see enacted. The aim was then to ensure that every candidat ...

, which aimed to carry forward the concepts behind the

into the

UK 2010 General Election The 2010 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 6 May 2010, with 45,597,461 registered voters entitled to vote to elect members to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom unde ...

* Member of the World Bank Institute's External Advisory Council * Member of the board of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

* Member of the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom *Vice-president of the Haldane Society * Vice-president of the Association of Women Barristers * Patron,

London International Festival of Theatre The London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT) is a biennial festival of theatre, performance and cultural events. The organisation also supports year-round activity in London. The organisation was founded by Rose Fenton and Lucy Neal, ...

br>liftfestival.com
* Patron, Institute for Learning (IfL) http://www.ifl.ac.uk * Patron,

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

* Patron, UNLOCK, The National Association of Ex-Offenders * Patron, Debt Doctors Foundation UK (DD-UK) * Patron,

Tower Hamlets Summer University Tower Hamlets Summer University (THSU) is a British charity in the Tower Hamlets area of London which offers independent learning programs for people from 11 to 25 years of age. It rebranded to the name Futureversity in 2010. Projects Holid ...

* Patron
Rights Watch (UK)
* Patron of SafeHands for Mothers, a UK-based charity whose mission is to improve maternal and newborn health by harnessing the power of the visual, through the production of films. * Chair,

Howard League The Howard League for Penal Reform is a registered charity in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest penal reform organisation in the world, named after John Howard. It was founded as the Howard Association in 1866 and changed its name in 1921, ...

's Commission of Inquiry into Violence in Penal Institutions for Young People (the final report, ''Banged Up, Beaten Up, Cutting Up'', published in 1995) * Chair,

Reading Borough Council Reading Borough Council is the local authority for the Borough of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. Berkshire is purely a ceremonia ...

's Commission of Inquiry into the health, environmental and safety aspects of the Atomic Weapons Establishment at

Aldermaston Aldermaston is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. In the 2011 Census, the parish had a population of 1015. The village is in the Kennet Valley and bounds Hampshire to the south. It is approximately from Newbury, Basingsto ...

(final report ''Secrecy versus Safety'', published in 1994) * Chair, Royal Colleges of Pathologists' and of Pædiatrics' Inquiry into Sudden Infant Death (producing a protocol for the investigation of such deaths in 2004) * Member of the

Foreign Policy Centre The Foreign Policy Centre (FPC) is a British think tank specialising in foreign policy. It was founded in 1998 by Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and his colleagues. It was launched at an event with Prime Minister Tony Blair, with the aim of develo ...

's Advisory Council * Formerly UK member of the

International Bar Association The International Bar Association (IBA), founded in 1947, is a bar association of international legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies. The IBA currently has a membership of more than 80,000 individual lawyers and 190 bar associa ...

's Task Force on Terrorism * As Commissioner of the National Commission for Education, she chaired a committee on widening participation in further education and the commission's report, ''Learning Works'', published in 1997. * Chair, Booker Prize Foundation (2015–2020) * Vice President of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (from 2017)

Civic honours

* Created 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 Kennedy of The Shaws, of

Cathcart Cathcart ( sco, Kithcart, gd, Coille Chart)
is an are ...

in the City of

on 27 October 1997. * ITA OMRI 2001 GC BAR

Grand Cross Grand Cross is the highest class in many orders, and manifested in its insignia. Exceptionally, the highest class may be referred to as Grand Cordon or equivalent. In other cases, there may exist a rank even higher than Grand Cross, e.g. Grand ...

of the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking ...

on 23 March 2004.Sitio web del Quirinal
/ref> * Palmes academiques Commandeur ribbon

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

of the Order of Academic Palms (2006).

Bibliography

* ''Eve was Framed: Women and British Justice'', 1993; * ''Just Law: The changing face of justice and why it matters to us'', 2004; *''Eve Was Shamed: How British Justice Is Failing Women,'' 2018; *''Misjustice: How British Law is Failing Women,'' 2019;

References

External links

''Debrett's People of Today''Helena Kennedy's home pagePower Commission

Helena Kennedy Foundation
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Helena 1950 births Living people Scottish people of Irish descent Lawyers from Glasgow Scottish Roman Catholics Labour Party (UK) life peers Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II People associated with Oxford Brookes University People associated with SOAS University of London Commandeurs of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques Trustees of the British Museum BBC television presenters People educated at Holyrood Secondary School Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic British King's Counsel British legal writers Women academic administrators People of the British Council Chancellors of Sheffield Hallam University Principals of Mansfield College, Oxford Scottish women lawyers Honorary Fellows of the British Academy BBC 100 Women