Elizabeth Smith, Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill

{{Short description|British politician and arts patron (born 1940)}}

{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable

| name = The Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill

| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DL}}

| image = official portrait of Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill crop 2.jpg

| caption = Official portrait, 2018

| office = Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal

| term_start = 17 February 1995

| term_end = 28 February 2025
Life peerage

| birth_name = Elizabeth Margaret Bennett

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1940|06|04}}

| birth_place =

| death_date =

| death_place =

| alma_mater = University of Glasgow

| occupation =

| spouse = {{marriage|John Smith|1967|1994|end=d.}}

| children = 3, including Sarah and Catherine

| nationality = British

}}

Elizabeth Margaret Smith, Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill, {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DL}} ({{nee|Bennett}}; born 4 June 1940), is a British peer and patron of the arts. She is the widow of John Smith, who led the Labour Party from 1992 to 1994.

Born Elizabeth Margaret Bennett, Smith was educated at Hutchesons' Girls Grammar School and the University of Glasgow.{{cite web |url=http://www.bbk.ac.uk/about_us/fellows/smith |title=Baroness Elizabeth Smith of Gilmorehill |publisher=Birkbeck}}

Baroness Smith is the president of Scottish Opera and served as the chairman of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 1995 to 2012.{{Cite web|url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/baroness-smith-resigns-from-fringe-1-2476323|title=The Scotsman}} She is also a governor of the English-Speaking Union and a board member of the Centre for European Reform. Within a year of her husband's death, she was created a life peer as Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill, of Gilmorehill in the District of the City of Glasgow on 17 February 1995.{{London Gazette |issue=53963 |date=22 February 1995 |page=2512}} From 1998 to 2001, she served as president of Birkbeck College, University of London. In 2002, she was elected a fellow of Birkbeck, one of the college's highest honours.

Smith retired from the House of Lords in February 2025,{{cite web|url=https://lordsbusiness.parliament.uk/ItemOfBusiness?itemOfBusinessId=143264§ionId=53&businessPaperDate=2024-09-03|title=House of Lords Business|publisher=House of Lords|access-date=11 March 2025}} having not spoken in the Lords chamber since 1999.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/mar/11/silent-minority-15-peers-claimed-not-speaking-lords-debate|title=Silent minority: 15 peers claimed £585k while not speaking in a single Lords debate|last=Goodier|first=Michael|date=11 March 2025|work=The Guardian|access-date=11 March 2025}}

Smith received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 1998.{{Cite web|url=http://www1.hw.ac.uk/graduation/honorary-graduates.htm|title=Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh: Honorary Graduates|last=|website=www1.hw.ac.uk|access-date=2016-04-04|archive-date=18 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418163907/http://www1.hw.ac.uk/graduation/honorary-graduates.htm|url-status=dead}}

She has three daughters, including Sarah Smith, who is the BBC News North America Editor, and Catherine Smith, who is Advocate General for Scotland.{{cite web |title=Ministerial appointment: 29 August 2024 |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ministerial-appointment-29-august-2024 |website=Gov.UK |access-date=29 August 2024}}