Ralph Palmer, 12th Baron Lucas

Lady Florence Amabel Cowper, daughter of George Cowper, 6th Earl Cowper married Auberon Herbert and inherited the Barony of Lucas of Crudwell (from her grandfather, Thomas de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey), and the Lordship of Dingwall (from her uncle Francis Cowper, 7th Earl Cowper). They were the parents of four children, including Nan Ino Cooper, 10th Baroness Lucas (Ralph Lucas's maternal grandmother), and her elder daughter, Anne Rosemary, married Major the Hon Robert Jocelyn Palmer MC (son of Roundell Palmer, 3rd Earl of Selborne).

Lucas is the son of the Anne Palmer, 11th Baroness Lucas and 7th Lady Dingwall and Major the Hon Robert Jocelyn Palmer (fifth child and third son of the 3rd Earl of Selborne). He attended Twyford School and Eton College.

During his gap year in 1969, he accompanied Professor Thomas Frederick Hewer and Brigadier Brian Mortimer Archibald across Afghanistan and Iran, collecting plants for Kew Gardens and the Royal Horticultural Society as a private expedition.{{cite news | title = Obituary: Professor Tom Hewer | publisher = Independent | date= 19 March 1994 | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-professor-tom-hewer-1430216.html}} He returned to study physics at Balliol College, Oxford.{{cite web | url=http://www.motoristslegalchallenge.co.uk/lord-lucas.html | title=Lord Lucas | publisher=The Motorists' Legal Challenge Fund, UK | accessdate=29 September 2011 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101225230324/http://www.motoristslegalchallenge.co.uk/lord-lucas.html | archivedate=25 December 2010 | df=dmy-all }}

He took articles as a chartered accountant with Farrow, Bersey, Gain, Vincent & Co and successor firms, and worked at S. G. Warburg & Co. Ltd. from 1976 to 1988.{{cite web | url=http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/browse/l/2463/Ralph+Matthew.aspx | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130121194825/http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/browse/l/2463/Ralph+Matthew.aspx | url-status=dead | archive-date=21 January 2013 | title=The Lord Lucas of Crudwell and Dingwall | work=Debrett's | accessdate=29 September 2011 }}

On the death of his mother in 1991, he succeeded her as 12th Baron Lucas and 8th Lord Dingwall. He was a Lord in Waiting (Government Whip in the House of Lords) during 1994–97, and the shadow Lords minister for International Development during 1997–98.{{cite web | url=http://www.ovguide.com/ralph-palmer,-12th-baron-lucas-of-crudwell-9202a8c04000641f8000000000df7ee4# | title=Ralph Palmer, 12th Baron Lucas Of Crudwell Video Interviews | publisher=ovguide | accessdate=25 June 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304222921/http://www.ovguide.com/ralph-palmer,-12th-baron-lucas-of-crudwell-9202a8c04000641f8000000000df7ee4 | archive-date=4 March 2016 | url-status=dead | df=dmy-all }} He remains an active backbencher, taking a particular interest in education, liberty, electronic government, planning, finance and parking regulation.{{cite web | url=http://www.motoristslegalchallenge.co.uk/lord-lucas.html | title=Lord Lucas | publisher=The Motorists' Legal Challenge Fund, UK | accessdate=29 September 2011 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101225230324/http://www.motoristslegalchallenge.co.uk/lord-lucas.html | archivedate=25 December 2010 | df=dmy-all }}

In 1995, Ralph Lucas married Amanda Atha, the co-founder with Sarah Drummond of The Good Schools Guide, became owner, publisher and editor of the guide in 2000; he added international schools overseas to the guide in 2006.{{cite news | title = International schools: check what it says on the tin | work = Financial Times | date = 21 October 2007 | url = https://www.ft.com/content/6f2d0ade-6690-11dc-a218-0000779fd2ac }}

As editor of The Good Schools Guide, Ralph Lucas has highlighted the continued improvement of state and Special Education Needs schools: the first edition of The Good Schools Guide in 1986 listed just ten state schools – 4 per cent of the total; by the 2016 edition, more than 300 state schools were reviewed, a quarter of the 1,200 schools reviewed that year.{{cite news | title = Massively improved state schools threaten private sector| work = The Guardian | date = 5 February 2005|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/feb/05/massively-improved-state-schools-threaten-private-sector}} In the 2019 edition, nearly 400 of the 1,297 schools selected for review were state schools and 140 were SEN schools.[http://www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/ The Good Schools Guide], UK.

Ralph Lucas has commented on state schools as strong competitors for the most talented students,{{cite news | title = Massively improved state schools threaten private sector| work = The Guardian | date = 5 February 2005|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/feb/05/massively-improved-state-schools-threaten-private-sector}} saying, 'Many prep schools are facing a "slow and gentle good night" as a result of rapidly improving state primaries and private tutors'.{{cite news | title=Gentle Goodbye for prep schools as state primaries are flourishing |work=The Times | date=1 June 2019| url= https://www.thetimes.com/article/gentle-goodbye-for-prep-schools-as-state-primaries-are-flourishing-ckr9cxgt0 | access-date= 18 October 2020}} He has expressed his concerns over the dangers of charlatan tutors for very young children {{cite news | title=Parents warned of charlatan private tutors who teach very young children |work=Evening Standard | date=17 February 2014| url= https://www.standard.co.uk/news/education/parents-warned-of-charlatan-private-tutors-who-teach-very-young-children-9133362.html

| accessdate= 18 October 2020}} and rung warning bells over the ever rising fees of independent schools.{{cite news | title=Increase in private education fees is driving out middleclass families |work=Evening Standard | date=5 May 2016| url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/education/increase-in-private-education-fees-is-driving-out-middleclass-families-a3240636.html | accessdate= 18 October 2020}}{{cite news | title= Coming soon: the £1m school fees |work=The Times | date=6 October 2019| url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/coming-soon-the-1m-school-fees-qrbjcrh38| access-date= 18 October 2020}}

Asked by a journalist why historians make the best school leaders, he replied, 'The subject combines a fascination with humanity (pretty essential to running a school well), a disciplined way with words and stories, and a deep study of how to succeed as a dictator.'{{cite news | title= Why historians make the best school leaders |work=The Times | date=23 December 2019| url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/why-historians-make-the-best-school-leaders-mdkf6fm6zsh }}

Since inheriting his title and remaining through election by his peers, Ralph Lucas continues to be active in the House of Lords. He has served on committees that addressed digital skills, the regeneration of seaside towns,{{cite web | url=https://old.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/regenerating-seaside-towns/membership/ | title=Parliamentary business | accessdate= 18 October 2020}} and digital technology & democracy.{{cite web | url=https://old.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/democ-digital-committee/membership | title=Parliamentary business | accessdate= 18 October 2020}} He chairs the Enforcement Law Reform Group. He was instrumental in adding what became known as the Lucas amendment, 'An apology, an offer of treatment or other redress, shall not of itself amount to an admission of negligence or breach of statutory duty' to the Compensation Act 2006, allowing people to apologise to victims without legal penalty.{{cite web | url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/ldhansrd/vo060307/text/60307-08.htm#:~:text=An%20apology%2C%20an%20offer%20of%20treatment%20or%20other,trying%20to%20bring%20about%20a%20change%20of%20culture | title=Parliamentary business: publications & records | accessdate= 18 October 2020}}

He met his third wife, Antonia Rubenstein, when serving as a patron on the prison reform charity, Safe Ground, and was instrumental in establishing the Family Man and Fathers Inside family relationships project.{{cite web | url=http://www.safeground.org.uk/about-us/our-patrons/ | title=About us |publisher=Safe Ground | accessdate=18 October 2020}}

Ralph Lucas has been involved in encouraging a relationship between The Eden Project and Eastbourne.{{cite web | url= https://www.edenproject.com/media/2020/02/the-eden-project-eastbourne-borough-council-embark-on-exploratory-talks | title=Eden Project: media | accessdate=18 October 2020}} With Lady Lucas, he set up the Making Natural History project, using creative works to highlight environmental issues in and beyond Eastbourne.{{cite web |title=Making Natural History |url=https://www.makingnaturalhistory.co.uk/ |website=Making Natural History |access-date=26 October 2022}}

He became a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (FCA) in 1986 and is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Mercers.{{ cite book | title=Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage | publisher=Debrett's Ltd }}

He was a competitor on University Challenge for the 2004 "Professionals" series, when he competed on the House of Lords team.{{cite web | title=University Challenge – The Professionals – 2004 | url=https://www.blanchflower.org/uc/uc04pro.html | accessdate=18 October 2020 }}

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Lucas has been married three times. Firstly, he wed Clarissa Marie Lockett on 22 July 1978. They were divorced in 1995 after having two children.

Secondly, Lucas married Amanda Atha in 1995, who died in 2000. In 2001, he married Antonia Kennedy Rubinstein, with whom he has one daughter.

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.openrightsgroup.org/orgwiki/index.php/Lord_Lucas Lord Lucas Open Rights Group]
• [http://lordlucas.blogspot.com/ Lord Lucas at Blogspot]

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{{Current barons in the Peerage of England}}

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Category:1951 births

Category:Living people

Category:People educated at Eton College

Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford

Category:Conservative Party (UK) Baronesses- and Lords-in-Waiting

Dingwall, Ralph Palmer, 8th Lord

Category:British accountants

Category:British editors

Category:British educational theorists

Category:Barons Lucas

Category:Hereditary peers elected under the House of Lords Act 1999