Margaret of Mar, 31st Countess of Mar

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable

| name = The Countess of Mar

| image = 90px File:Arms of Mar, Countess of Mar.svg

| image_size = 150px

| office1 = Member of the House of Lords

| status1 = Lord Temporal

| term_label1 = as a hereditary peer

| term_start1 = 11 September 1975

| predecessor1 = The 30th Earl of Mar

| term_end1 = 11 November 1999

| successor1 = Seat abolished

| term_label2 = as an elected hereditary peer

| term_start2 = 11 November 1999

| predecessor2 = Seat established

| term_end2 = 1 May 2020

| successor2 = The 9th Baron Londesborough

| heir =

| caption =

| birth_name = Margaret Alison Lane

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1940|9|19|df=y}}

| birth_place =

| party = Crossbench

| alma_mater =

| spouse = {{Plainlist|

{{marriage|Edwin Noel Artiss|1959|1976|end=div}}
{{marriage|John Salton|1976|1981|end=div}}
{{marriage|John Jenkin|1982}}

}}

| children = Susan of Mar, Mistress of Mar

| parents = {{Plainlist|

James of Mar, 30th Earl of Mar
Millicent Mary Salton

}}

Margaret Alison of Mar, 31st Countess of Mar (born 19 September 1940), is a Scottish hereditary peer and politician. She was a crossbench member of the House of Lords from 1975 to 2020 and was one of 92 hereditary peers elected to remain in the Lords in 1999. She is the holder of the original earldom of Mar, the oldest peerage title in the United Kingdom. She is the only suo jure countess and was the only female hereditary peer in the House of Lords from 2014 to 2020. She is also a farmer and former specialist goats cheesemaker in Great Witley, Worcestershire.

Early life

She was born Margaret Alison Lane, the daughter of Millicent Mary Salton and James Clifton Lane, later James of Mar, 30th Earl of Mar, the heir presumptive of Lionel Erskine-Young, 29th Earl of Mar, his first cousin once removed (both were descended from a sister of John Goodeve-Erskine, 27th Earl of Mar).

Margaret had two younger siblings: David of Mar, Master of Mar, and Lady Janet of Mar. In 1959, her father was officially recognised in the style of Mar,{{cite web|url=http://www.farmersguardian.com/home/the-%E2%80%98sheep-dip-lady%E2%80%99-vows-to-keep-up-the-fight-on-organophosphates/30774.article |title=The 'sheep dip lady' vows to keep up the fight on organophosphates |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100901090959/http://www.farmersguardian.com/home/the-%E2%80%98sheep-dip-lady%E2%80%99-vows-to-keep-up-the-fight-on-organophosphates/30774.article |archive-date=1 September 2010 }} and from that year his three children were also styled of Mar, the name Lane being abandoned.{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}

Career

From 1959 to 1962, she was a civil servant with the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance, before taking a position as a nursing auxiliary at the Bromsgrove Cottage Hospital from 1964 to 1969. She was a sales superintendent for British Telecom between 1969 and 1982, after which she took up farming.{{cite web | url=https://members.parliament.uk/member/1861/experience | title=Experience for the Countess of Mar - MPS and Lords - UK Parliament }}The Nouveau Pauvres: A Guide to Downward Nobility, Nicholas Monson and Debra Scott, Quartet Books, 1984, p. 149.

Mistress of Mar

When Margaret's father succeeded as 30th Earl of Mar in 1965 she became Lady Margaret of Mar, and her brother became The Master of Mar, Lord Garioch. When Lord Garioch died in 1967, Margaret became The Mistress of Mar as the elder heir-portioner presumptive in general of her father.{{cite web |url=http://hereditarypeerage.com/margaret-mar-31st-countess-of-mar/ |title=Margaret Mar, 31st Countess of Mar |work=Peers, the UK Peerage Magazine |date=22 December 2013 |access-date=11 May 2016 |author=Nizinskyj, Paul |archive-date=24 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210824111456/http://hereditarypeerage.com/margaret-mar-31st-countess-of-mar/ |url-status=dead }}

Countess of Mar

When in 1975 her father the 30th Earl died, Lady Margaret became the 31st holder of the Mar earldom, the premier earldom of Scotland, and entered the House of Lords,{{cite Hansard |title=THE LORD BISHOP OF NORWICH |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1975/oct/28/the-lord-bishop-of-norwich#S5LV0365P0_19751028_HOL_4 |house=House of Lords |date=28 October 1975 |column=141}} making her maiden speech in April 1976.{{cite Hansard |title=TRAINING FACILITIES FOR INDUSTRY |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1976/apr/07/training-facilities-for-industry#S5LV0369P0_19760407_HOL_98 |house=House of Lords |date=7 April 1976 |column=1684}} After the passing of House of Lords Act 1999, Lady Mar was elected to serve as one of the ninety-two hereditary peers retained in the House, receiving the highest number of votes of all peers.{{cite Hansard |title=Lords Hansard text for 29 Oct 1999 (191029-02) |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199899/ldhansrd/vo991029/text/91029-02.htm#91029-02_head0 |house=House of Lords |date=29 October 1999 |column=510}} She sat as a crossbencher, meaning she was not aligned with any particular political party. She retired from the House on 1 May 2020.{{cite web|url=https://members.parliament.uk/member/1861/career|title=The Countess of Mar|publisher=UK Parliament|access-date=1 May 2020}}

Lady Mar held a number of positions within the House of Lords:

Deputy Chair of Committees 1997–2007
Select Committee on European Communities Sub-Committee C (Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection) 1997–1999
Deputy Speaker 1999–2007, 2009–2012 and 2014–2020
Select Committee on European Union Sub-Committee D (Environment, Agriculture, Public Health and Consumer Protection / Environment and Agriculture) 2001–2005

Lady Mar was also a member of the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments,{{cite web|title=Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments |url=http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/joint_committee_on_statutory_instruments/joint_committee_on_statutory_instruments_members.cfm |publisher=UK Parliament website |access-date=7 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071025065605/http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/joint_committee_on_statutory_instruments/joint_committee_on_statutory_instruments_members.cfm |archive-date=25 October 2007 }} a member of the Lords Refreshment Committee,{{cite web|title=House of Lords Refreshment Committee |url=http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/ldrefresh/ldrefresh_members.cfm |publisher=UK Parliament website |access-date=7 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061121024607/http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/ldrefresh/ldrefresh_members.cfm |archive-date=21 November 2006 }} and a member of the panel of Deputy Chairmen of Committees.{{cite Hansard |title=Lords Hansard text for 6 Jul 200906 July 2009 (pt 0002) |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldhansrd/text/90706-0002.htm#0907064000454 |house=House of Lords |date=6 July 2009 |column=450}}

Lady Mar was also secretary of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Pesticides and Organophosphates.{{cite web|title=House of Commons – Register of All-Party Groups |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/register/memi437.htm |publisher=UK Parliament website |access-date=31 August 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071119033911/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/register/memi437.htm |archive-date=19 November 2007 }}

Lady Mar has also held a variety of non-political offices:

Member of the Immigration Appeal Tribunal 1985–2006
Chairman, Honest Food 2000–2005
Chairman, Environmental Medicine Foundation 1997–2003
President, Guild of Agricultural Journalists 2007–2010
Patron, Dispensing Doctors' Association 1985–1986
Patron, Worcestor Mobile Disabled Group 1991–2003
Patron, Gulf Veterans' Association
President, Elderly Accommodation Counsel, 1994–present
Honorary Associate of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons 2006–present{{cite web|url=http://www.rcvs.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=95151 |title=Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011174449/http://www.rcvs.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=95151 |archive-date=11 October 2007 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.earldomofmar.co.uk/content/About.html |title=The Earldom of Mar, The Premier Earldom of Scotland |author=Laurence of Mar |year=2016 |access-date=11 May 2016}}
Honorary Associate of the British Veterinary Association 2007–present{{cite web|url=http://www.bva.co.uk/about_us/list_of_honorary_members.aspx |title=British Veterinary Association |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100518204336/http://www.bva.co.uk/about_us/List_of_honorary_members.aspx |archive-date=18 May 2010 }}

Illness

In the summer of 1989, while dipping her sheep through a tank of organophosphorous chemicals, Lady Mar was subjected to a splash of chemicals on her foot, and three weeks later developed headaches and muscular pains. She was eventually diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome.{{cite journal |last=Booker |first=Christopher | author-link=Christopher Booker |date=December 1995 |title=Poisoned by Order: Plight of Our Sheep Farmers |journal=Reader's Digest |location=UK |volume=147 |issue=884 |pages=88}}{{cite Hansard |title=Lords Hansard text for 17 Jun 200917 Jun 2009 (pt 0010) |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldhansrd/text/90617-0010.htm#090617108000019 | house=House of Lords |date=17 June 2009 |column=1126}}{{cite web |first=Julia |last=Hinde |title=Sick countess rounds on 'impartial' advisers |url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=103449§ioncode=26 |work=Times Higher Education |location=UK |date=25 July 1997 |access-date=19 July 2009}}

Since then Lady Mar used her seat in the House of Lords almost exclusively to press the government to provide suitable care and support for patients with similar long-term and poorly understood medical conditions, and to better regulate the use of organophosphates. This also led to her membership on the EU sub-committees listed above.

As a consequence of her illness, Lady Mar founded the organisation Forward-ME to co-ordinate the activities of a fairly broad spectrum of charities and voluntary organisations working with patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, which is also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).

Family

Lady Mar has married three times: first to Edwin Noel Artiss, then to John Salton, and finally to John Jenkin. From the first marriage she had a daughter: Susan Helen of Mar, Mistress of Mar (born 1963), the heir presumptive to her mother's peerage. Lady Susan is married to Bruce Alexander Wyllie, and has two daughters, Isabel and Frances.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

Arms

{{Emblem table

|image = Coat of arms of the Earl of Mar.png

|crest = Upon a Chapeau Gules faced Ermine two Wings each of ten Pen Feathers erected and addorsed both blazoned as the Shield

|coronet = A Coronet of an Earl

|escutcheon = Azure a Bend between six Cross Crosslets fitchée Or

|supporters = On either side a Griffin Argent armed beaked and winged Or

|motto = Pans Plus (Think more)

|badge = A Demi-Nobleman bearded proper in robe Gules furred Ermine with a Conical Hat Gules furred Ermine embellished with a Tall Feather Or quilled Azure all within an oval Chaplet of Scots Fir banded of Ribbands Azure and Or and ensigned with the Comital Coronet of Mar

}}

References

Bibliography

Burke's Peerage
Debrett's Peerage
Extracts of Matriculations of Arms
[https://web.archive.org/web/20071010082500/http://www.dodonline.co.uk/engine.asp?lev1=4&lev2=38&menu=81&biog=y&id=27017&group=5&Page=Countess%20of%20Mar%20:%20Political%20Biography dodonline.co.uk]
[https://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/countess_of_mar Lady Mar's record in the House of Lords]
[http://www.forward-me.org.uk/ Forward-ME] of which Lady Mar is chairman
[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldhansrd/ldallfiles/peers/lord_hansard_1684_home.html Parliamentary contributions] by Lady Mar