Kathleen Margaret Richardson, Baroness Richardson of Calow, (born 24 February 1938) is a British

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

minister. 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. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

in 1998, she served as a

crossbench A crossbencher is a minor party or independent politician, independent member of some legislatures, such as the Parliament of Australia. In the British House of Lords the term refers to members of the parliamentary group of non-political peers. ...

member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

until 2018.

Early life and education

Richardson was born on 24 February 1938 to Francis and Margaret Fountain. She was educated at St Helena School, an all-girls

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. She then attended

Stockwell College of Education Stockwell College of Education was a teacher-training college based in South London, England. It was located in Stockwell, South London from 1860 to 1935 and then relocated to the grounds of Bromley Palace, Bromley until its closure in 1980. ...

, where she completed a Certificate in Education. She trained for ordained ministry at the Deaconess College in

Ilkley Ilkley is a spa town and civil parish in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, in Northern England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Ilkley civil parish includes the adjacent village of Ben Rhydding and is a ward within ...

and at

Wesley House Wesley House was founded as a Methodist theological college in Jesus Lane, Cambridge, England. It opened in 1921 as a place for the education of Methodist ministers and today serves as a gateway to theological scholarship for students and sch ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

Ministry and activism

Richardson was made a

deaconess The ministry of a deaconess is a ministry for women in some Protestant, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Orthodox churches to provide pastoral care, especially for other women, and which may carry a liturgical role. The word comes from the Greek ...

in 1961 and ordained as a

presbyter Presbyter () is an honorific title for Christian clergy. The word derives from the Greek ''presbyteros'', which means elder or senior, although many in Christian antiquity understood ''presbyteros'' to refer to the bishop functioning as overseer ...

in 1980.'RICHARDSON OF CALOW', ''

Who's Who 2017 ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It has been published annually in the form of a hardback book since 1849, and has been published online since 1999. It has also been published on CD-ROM. It lists, and gives information on, people from around ...

'', A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2017; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2016; online edn, Nov 201
accessed 18 Sept 2017
/ref> Richardson was the first woman to become a chair of district within the

British Methodist Church The Methodist Church of Great Britain is a Protestantism, Protestant List of Christian denominations, Christian denomination in Britain, and the mother church to Methodism, Methodists worldwide. It participates in the World Methodist Council. M ...

. Later she became the first female President of the Methodist Conference (leader of the British Methodist Church and successor to

John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...

), serving a one-year term from 1992 to 1993. She was the moderator of the Free Churches Federal Council from 1995 to 1999. As a peer, Richardson was active in the

from 3 August 1998 until her retirement on 20 December 2018. She sat on the crossbenches and was a member of the Committee On Religious Offence. She is a patron of Methodist Homes (MHA). Richardson is also a patron of a

right to die The right to die is a concept rooted in the belief that individuals have the Self-ownership, autonomy to make fundamental decisions about their own lives, including the choice to Suicide, end them or undergo voluntary euthanasia, central to the b ...

organization, My Death, My Decision. It wants to see a more compassionate approach to dying in the UK, including giving people the legal right to a medically assisted death if that is their persistent wish

Personal life

In 1964, she married Ian David Godfrey Richardson. Together they have had three daughters.

Honours

In the 1996 New Year Honours, Richardson was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) "for services to the Methodist community". On 3 August 1998 she was made a

as Baroness Richardson of Calow, of Calow in the County of

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

.Announcement of her introduction at the House of Lords
House of Lords minutes of proceedings, 12 October 1998

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Kathleen 1938 births 20th-century English Methodist ministers Richardson of Calow, Kathleen Richardson, Baroness English Methodist ministers Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Life peers created by Elizabeth II Living people Richardson of Calow, Kathleen Richardson, Baroness Presidents of the Methodist Conference Officers of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of Wesley House People from Calow Peers retired under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014