Elspeth Howe

Elspeth Rosamund Morton Howe, Baroness Howe of Idlicote, CBE (née Shand; born 8 February 1932) is a British life peer and former crossbench member of the House of Lords who has 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.

The Right Honourable The Baroness Howe of Idlicote CBE
Official portrait, 2019
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
In office 29 June 2001 – 2 June 2020 Life Peerage
Personal details
Born	Elspeth Rosamund Morton Shand 8 February 1932
Nationality	British
Political party	Crossbench
Spouse(s)	Geoffrey Howe ​ ​ (m. 1953; died 2015)​
Children	3
Parents	Philip Morton Shand Sybil Mary Shand
Education	Wycombe Abbey London School of Economics

Personal life

Howe is the daughter of the writer Philip Morton Shand by his fourth wife, Sybil Mary Shand (née Sissons, previously Mrs. Slee). As such, she is a half-aunt to Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (née Shand, formerly Parker Bowles), whose father, Bruce Shand, was son of P. Morton Shand by a previous marriage. Elspeth Shand was educated at Wycombe Abbey, a leading private school for girls, and at the London School of Economics.[1] She married the rising politician Geoffrey Howe in 1953, and had three children, Caroline (Cary), and twins, Amanda and Alec.[2]

Career

Elspeth Howe served as deputy chairman of the Equal Opportunities Commission from 1975 to 1979, and in various other capacities from 1980. She was later made Chair of the Broadcasting Standards Commission. In the 1999 New Year's Honours she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).[3] 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,[4] 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".[5]

Howe retired from Parliament on 2 June 2020.[6]

References

1. "Elspeth Rosamund Morton Shand, Baroness Howe of Idlicote". The Peerage. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
2. Langdon, Julia (10 October 2015). "Lord Howe of Aberavon obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
3. "No. 55354". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1998. p. 8.
4. "No. 56274". The London Gazette. 13 July 2001. p. 8309.
5. Hoggart, Simon (5 February 2003). "So much to discuss, so little time". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
6. "Baroness Howe of Idlicote". UK Parliament. Retrieved 2 June 2020.

External links

• "Baroness Howe of Idlicote". parliament.uk.
• Leapman, Michael (8 June 1993). "Media: A Tory feminist for TV's watchdog: Michael Leapman profiles Lady Elspeth Howe, the incoming chair of the Broadcasting Standards Council". The Independent.