Priscilla Buchan, Baroness Tweedsmuir of Belhelvie

The Right Honourable
The Baroness Tweedsmuir of Belhelvie
PC
Member of Parliament for Aberdeen South
In office
26 November 1946 – 30 March 1966
Prime Minister Clement Attlee
Preceded by Sir Douglas Thomson, Bt
Succeeded by Donald Dewar
Personal details
Born 25 January 1915
Died 11 March 1978 (aged 63)
Political party Scottish Conservative Party
Other political
affiliations		 Unionist Party (until 1965)
Spouse(s) Maj. Sir Arthur Lindsay Grant
(d.1944)
The Lord Tweedsmuir
(m.1948)

Priscilla Jean Fortescue Buchan, Baroness Tweedsmuir of Belhelvie, PC (née Thomson; 25 January 1915 – 11 March 1978)[1] was a Unionist and Conservative politician.

Early life

The daughter of Brigadier Alan F. Thomson DSO, she married Major Sir Arthur Lindsay Grant, 11th Baronet, Grenadier Guards in 1934. He was killed in action in 1944. She subsequently married the author and politician, the 2nd Baron Tweedsmuir, in 1948.

House of Commons

Lady Tweedsmuir was an unsuccessful parliamentary candidate for Aberdeen North in July 1945, and was elected for Aberdeen South in 1946, holding the seat until 1966.

She was a delegate to the Council of Europe from 1950–1953, a UK Delegate to the General Assembly of the United Nations, 1960–1961; Joint Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland from 1962–1964.

House of Lords

On 1 July 1970 she was created a life peer as Baroness Tweedsmuir of Belhelvie, of Potterton in the County of Aberdeen.[2]

Tweedsmuir was Minister of State at the Scottish Office from 1970–1972 and at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1972–1974 and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1974.[3] In the House of Lords she served as Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees, 1974–1977 and as Chairman of the Select Committee on European Communities, 1974–1977. She was also a Deputy Speaker.

She died of cancer in 1978, aged 63.

Styles of address

  • 1915–1934: Miss Priscilla Thomson
  • 1934–1944: Lady Grant[lower-alpha 1]
  • 1944–1946: Dowager Lady Grant[lower-alpha 2]
  • 1946–1948: Dowager Lady Grant MP
  • 1948–1966: The Rt Hon. The Lady Tweedsmuir MP[lower-alpha 3]
  • 1966–1970: The Rt Hon. The Lady Tweedsmuir
  • 1970–1974: The Rt Hon. The Baroness Tweedsmuir of Belhelvie[lower-alpha 4]
  • 1974–1978: The Rt Hon. The Baroness Tweedsmuir of Belhelvie PC
  1. ↑ She married Sir Arthur Grant Bt and was styled as the wife of a baronet.
  2. ↑ After Sir Arthur died, she was styled as the widow of a baronet.
  3. ↑ Tweedsmuir married The Lord Tweedsmuir and was styled as such.
  4. ↑ Tweedsmuir was raised to the peerage suo jure in 1970.

Legacy

She was mentioned several times in the 2014 Loyal Address to Parliament on 4 June in the House of Commons by Penny Mordaunt.

In 1983 the veteran Labour politician, Emanuel Shinwell stated Tweedsmuir was 'the best' female MP Britain had had.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "A" (part 1)
  2. ↑ "No. 45142". The London Gazette. 3 July 1970. p. 7377.
  3. ↑ "No. 46254". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 April 1974. p. 4395.
  4. ↑ Kenneth Baxter (2011). "Chapter Nine: Identity, Scottish Women and Parliament 1918-1979". In Campbell, Jodi A; Ewan, Elizabeth; Parker, Heather. The Shaping of Scottish Identities: Family, Nation and the Worlds Beyond. Guelph, Ontario: Centre for Scottish Studies, University of Guelph. p. 151. ISBN 978-0-88955-589-1.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Sir Douglas Thomson, Bt		 Member of Parliament for Aberdeen South
1946–1966		 Succeeded by
Donald Dewar


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