Elspeth Howe
{{Short description|British peer (1932–2022)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable
| name = The Baroness Howe of Idlicote
| honorific-suffix = {{postnom|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}}
| image = Official portrait of Baroness Howe of Idlicote crop 2.jpg
| caption = Official portrait, 2018
| office = Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
| term_start = 29 June 2001
| term_end = 2 June 2020
Life peerage
| birth_name = {{nowrap|Elspeth Rosamund Morton Shand}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|1932|2|8|df=y}}
| birth_place = Marylebone, London, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|2022|03|22|1932|2|8|df=y}}
| death_place = Idlicote, Warwickshire, England
| spouse = {{marriage|The Lord Howe of Aberavon|1953|2015|reason=died}}
| children = 3
| father = Philip Morton Shand
| relatives = {{ubl|Bruce Shand (half-brother)|Queen Camilla (half-niece)}}
| education = {{ubl|Wycombe Abbey|London School of Economics}}
| profession =
| nationality = British
| religion =
| party = Crossbencher
| alma_mater =
}}
Elspeth Rosamund Morton Howe, Baroness Howe of Idlicote, Lady Howe of Aberavon,{{cite web |title=Parliamentary career for Baroness Howe of Idlicote |url=https://members.parliament.uk/member/3610/career |website=MPs and Lords |publisher=UK Parliament |access-date=27 March 2022 |archive-date=18 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211218191201/https://members.parliament.uk/member/3610/career |url-status=live }} {{postnom|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}} (née Shand; 8 February 1932 – 22 March 2022) was a British life peer and crossbench member of the House of Lords (2001–2020) who served in many capacities in public life. As the widow of Geoffrey Howe, she was formerly known as Lady Howe of Aberavon before receiving a peerage in her own right. She was the paternal half-aunt of Queen Camilla.
Early life
Born Elspeth R. M. Shand in Marylebone,{{Cite web|url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=k61pG8%2BsU4e3KIw01o1DzQ&scan=1|title=Index entry|accessdate=16 April 2023|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}} London, she was the daughter of the writer Philip Morton Shand by his fourth wife, Sybil Mary Shand (née Sissons, formerly Slee).{{cite web | last=Langdon | first=Julia | title=Lady Howe of Idlicote obituary | website=The Guardian | date=23 March 2022 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/mar/23/lady-howe-of-idlicote | access-date=27 March 2022 | archive-date=25 March 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220325091436/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/mar/23/lady-howe-of-idlicote | url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Baroness Howe of Idlicote obituary |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/baroness-howe-of-idlicote-obituary-vr79r3pkw |website=The Times |access-date=17 April 2023 |date=23 Mar 2022 |url-access=subscription}} As such, she was a half-aunt to Queen Camilla (née Shand, formerly Parker Bowles), whose father, Bruce Shand, was son of Philip Morton Shand by a previous marriage. She grew up in Bath, Somerset, and was educated at Wycombe Abbey, a private school for girls, and at the London School of Economics. She married the rising politician Geoffrey Howe in 1953, and had three children.{{cite news |last1=Langdon |first1=Julia |title=Lord Howe of Aberavon obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/oct/10/lord-howe-of-aberavon |work=The Guardian |date=10 October 2015 |language=en |access-date=16 October 2015 |archive-date=26 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181126173441/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/oct/10/lord-howe-of-aberavon |url-status=live }}
Career
Howe was deputy chairman of the Equal Opportunities Commission from 1975 to 1979, and worked in other capacities from 1980. She was later chair of the Broadcasting Standards Commission. In the 1999 New Year Honours she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).{{London Gazette |issue=55354 |date=31 December 1998 |page=8 |supp=y}} Lady Howe was a Justice of the Peace in Inner London from 1964 until her retirement from the Bench in 2002. She sat in the Youth Court at Camberwell where she was a bench chairman.
On 29 June 2001, at the age of 69, she was made a life peer, as Baroness Howe of Idlicote, of Shipston-on-Stour in the County of Warwickshire,{{London Gazette |issue=56274 |date=13 July 2001 |page=8309}} in her own right, becoming one of the first People's Peers. She and her husband were one of the few couples each of whom held a peerage in their own right. Having already been styled Lady Howe by dint of her husband's knighthood and then his peerage, it was quipped when she received her own peerage that she was "once, twice, three times a Lady".{{cite news|last1=Hoggart|first1=Simon|title=So much to discuss, so little time|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/feb/05/houseofcommons.constitution|access-date=1 July 2016|work=The Guardian|date=5 February 2003|archive-date=3 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603195555/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/feb/05/houseofcommons.constitution|url-status=live}}
Howe retired from Parliament on 2 June 2020. She died at her home in Idlicote, Warwickshire, on 22 March 2022, aged 90, having had cancer.{{Cite news|date=2022-03-23|title=Baroness Elspeth Howe dies aged 90|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-60849567|access-date=2023-04-17}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{commons category}}
- {{UK Peer links | parliament = lords/baroness-howe-of-idlicote/3610 | hansard = | hansardcurr = | guardian = | publicwhip = | theywork = | record = | bbc = | journalisted = }}
- [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/media-a-tory-feminist-for-tvs-watchdog-michael-leapman-profiles-lady-elspeth-howe-the-incoming-chair-1490510.html Media: A Tory feminist for TV's watchdog: Michael Leapman profiles Lady Elspeth Howe, the incoming chair of the Broadcasting Standards Council]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howe, Elspeth}}
Category:Peers recommended by the House of Lords Appointments Commission
Category:Crossbench life peers
Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Category:People educated at Wycombe Abbey
Category:Honorary Fellows of the London School of Economics
Category:Spouses of life peers
Category:Deaths from cancer in England
Category:Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II
Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II
Category:Peers retired under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014