Peter Francis Walter Kerr, 12th Marquess of Lothian, (8 September 1922 – 11 October 2004) was a British peer,

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and landowner. He was the son of Captain Andrew William Kerr by his wife, Marie Kerr. Both of his parents were male-line descendants of William Kerr, 5th Marquess of Lothian.

Life and career

His father, Andrew Kerr, and grandfather, Lord Walter Kerr, the son of the 7th Marquess of Lothian, were officers in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. He was educated at Ampleforth College and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

, and joined the

Scots Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot guards#United Kingdom, Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642 in the Ki ...

. He succeeded his cousin,

Philip Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian Philip Henry Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian, (18 April 1882 – 12 December 1940) was a British politician, British Ambassador to the United States and editor of various journals. He was private secretary to Prime Minister David Lloyd George ...

, in 1940, and married a distant cousin, Antonella Newland (d. 2007), daughter of Major General Sir Foster Newland, on 30 April 1943. Lord and Lady Lothian had six children: two sons and four daughters. His wife pursued her own career as a journalist, and founded the Women of the Year Lunch. The family were mainly based at their estates in the Borders, at Newbattle Abbey and Monteviot. The 11th Marquess had left Blickling Hall in Norfolk to the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

. Another family house at

Melbourne Hall Melbourne Hall is a Georgian style country house in Melbourne, Derbyshire, previously owned by the 2nd Viscount Melbourne, British Prime Minister from 1835 to 1841. The house is now owned by the 14th Marquess of Lothian and is open to the pu ...

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 ...

was opened to the paying public in 1952.Melbourne Hall was inherited via his great-great-grandmother Emily Cowper, sister of the 2nd Viscount Melbourne and mistress of Palmerston whom she later married. Se
obituary
(2004) by James Stourton for details. Lothian took part in the Wolfenden inquiry into the UK's laws on

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

and

prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...

from 1954. He joined the UK's delegation to the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...

during the

Suez crisis The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...

in 1956, and was later sent as a delegate to the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

in 1959 and the

Western European Union The Western European Union (WEU; , UEO; , WEU) was the international organisation and military alliance that succeeded the Western Union (alliance) , Western Union (WU) after the 1954 amendment of the 1948 Treaty of Brussels. The WEU implement ...

. He served as parliamentary private secretary to the foreign secretary, Lord Home, from 1960, and was also a whip in the House of Lords. He served as a junior minister at the Ministry of Health during the short period of Lord Home's term as

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

in 1964. He returned to the Foreign Office with Alec Douglas-Home (then formerly Lord Home) in 1970, serving as parliamentary under-secretary for two years. He was nominated as a

member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

in 1973, when the UK joined the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

. Lord Lothian retired from politics in 1977, after which he served as

Lord Warden of the Stannaries The Lord Warden of the Stannaries (from for Tin, Tin, Sn) used to exercise judicial and military functions in Cornwall, England, UK, and is still the official who, upon the commission of the British monarchy, monarch or Duke of Cornwall for the ...

, Keeper of the Privy Purse to the Duke of Cornwall, and Chairman of the Prince's Council for the

Duchy of Cornwall A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a country, territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or queen in Western European tradition. There once existed an important difference between "sovereign ...

. He was appointed KCVO in 1983. He was also a member of the Royal Company of Archers, commandant of the Special Constabulary in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the we ...

, and a Knight of Malta. He returned the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

monastery of San Damiano, near

Assisi Assisi (, also ; ; from ; Central Italian: ''Ascesi'') is a town and comune of Italy in the Province of Perugia in the Umbria region, on the western flank of Monte Subasio. It is generally regarded as the birthplace of the Latin poet Prope ...

, to the Franciscan Friars Minor in 1979, and he ceded control of Monteviot and Melbourne House to his elder and younger son, respectively, in the 1980s, to take on the restoration of

Ferniehirst Castle Ferniehirst Castle (sometimes spelled Ferniehurst) is an L-plan castle, L-shaped construction on the east bank of the Jed Water, about a mile and a half south of Jedburgh, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, and in the former county of Ro ...

Roxburghshire Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh () is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the northwest, and Berwickshire to the north. T ...

Family

The 12th Marquess married Antonella Newland on 30 April 1943. They had five children: *Lady Mary Marianne Anne Kerr (20 March 1944), who married Charles Freiherr von Westenholz (17 March 1945 – 9 March 2006) on 6 April 1971. They had three sons and six grandchildren. * Michael Andrew Foster Jude Kerr, 13th Marquess of Lothian (1945–2024), known as Michael Ancram. He married Lady Jane Fitzalan-Howard, later 16th Lady Herries of Terregles, on 7 June 1975. They had three daughters and two grandchildren. *Lady Cecil Nennella Therese Kerr (22 April 1948), who married Donald Angus Cameron of Lochiel, 27th Chief of Clan Cameron on 1 June 1974. They have four children and five grandchildren. * Lady Clare Amabel Margaret Kerr (15 April 1951), who married James FitzRoy, Earl of Euston, on 16 September 1972. They have five children and three grandchildren. * Lady Elizabeth Marion Frances Kerr (1954–2023) she married Richard Scott, 10th Duke of Buccleuch on 31 October 1981. They had four children. *Ralph William Francis Joseph Kerr, 14th Marquess of Lothian (b. 1957), who married Lady Virginia FitzRoy on 6 September 1980; they were divorced in 1987. He married Marie-Claire Black in 1988. They have six children. His elder son, the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

politician

Michael Ancram Michael Andrew Foster Jude Kerr, 13th Marquess of Lothian, Baron Kerr of Monteviot, (7 July 1945 – 1 October 2024), commonly known as Michael Ancram, was a British politician and peer who served as Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party fr ...

, succeeded to the marquessate on his death.

Notes

References

Obituary
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', 12 October 2004
Obituary
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 19 October 2004

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lothian, Peter Kerr, 12th Marquess of Lothian, Peter Kerr, 12th Marquess of Lothian, Peter Kerr, 12th Marquess of Nobility from the Scottish Borders Lothian, Peter Kerr, 12th Marquess of Scottish Roman Catholics Lothian, Peter Kerr, 12th Marquess of Lothian, Peter Kerr, 12th Marquess Conservative Party (UK) MEPs MEPs for the United Kingdom 1973–1979 20th-century Scottish landowners Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Members of the Royal Company of Archers 12

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

Ministers in the Macmillan and Douglas-Home governments, 1957–1964 20th-century Scottish businesspeople

Lothian Lothian (; ; ) is a region of the Scottish Lowlands, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills and the Moorfoot Hills. The principal settlement is the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, while other signific ...