| The Baroness Coussins | |
| Honorific-Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
| Office: | Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal |
| Term Start: | 23 March 2007 Life Peerage |
| Birth Date: | 26 October 1950 |
| Party: | Crossbench |
| Nationality: | British |
Jean Elizabeth Coussins, Baroness Coussins, (born 26 October 1950) is a British parliamentarian and an adviser on corporate responsibility.
Lady Coussins is a member of the Advertising Standards Authority, a member of the Better Regulation Commission, and was formerly Chief Executive of the Portman Group. She also served as the Vice-President of the Chartered Institute of Linguists.[1]
Jean Coussins was educated at Godolphin and Latymer School, London, and Newnham College, Cambridge, where she graduated with a degree in Modern and Medieval Languages in 1973. She married Roger J. Hamilton in 1976, with whom she has two children; their marriage was dissolved in 1985. Jean has one child with Trevor Carter.[2]
In February 2007, the House of Lords Appointments Commission recommended she should be conferred with a Life Peerage as a Crossbencher in Parliament; her title was gazetted as Baroness Coussins, of Whitehall Park in the London Borough of Islington on 23 March 2007. She has been conferred Honorary Fellowship of the Chartered Institute of Linguists[3] and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
In 2013, she was awarded the President's Medal by the British Academy.[4]
Lady Coussins' coat of arms is blazoned as follows:
| Year Granted: | 2007 |
| Escutcheon: | Gules on each of two pallets Argent between three goblets in fess Or a pallet Purpure.[5] |
| Supporters: | On either side a heraldic dolphin Argent finned Or holding in the beak a quill Argent spined Or. |
| Badge: | A chef's hat Argent irradiated Or. |
| Motto: | Quicquid Facias Fac Optime |
| Symbolism: | The three goblets represent the grantee's three children. Together with the chef’s hat they reflect the family's interests and connections with food and drink. The grantee was educated at Godolphin School; hence the dolphins which are shown with quills, alluding to the grantee's academic interests. |