Mark Birdwood, 3rd Baron Birdwood explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Right Honourable
The Lord Birdwood
Office1:Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Term Start1:5 January 1962
Term End1:11 November 1999
Hereditary Peerage
Predecessor1:Christopher Birdwood, 2nd Baron Birdwood
Successor1:Seat eliminated pursuant to the House of Lords Act 1999
Birth Date:23 November 1938
Alma Mater:Trinity College, Cambridge
Parents:The Lord Birdwood
Elizabeth Vere Drummond Ogilvile

Mark William Ogilvie Birdwood, 3rd Baron Birdwood (23 November 1938 – 11 July 2015) was a British peer and politician.[1]

Biography

Birdwood was the son of Christopher Birdwood, 2nd Baron Birdwood, and Elizabeth Vere Drummond Ogilvie. He attended Radley College in Oxfordshire.

Birdwood served with the Royal Horse Guards and reached the rank of Second Lieutenant.[2] He attended Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a Master of Arts (MA). Birdwood held leadership positions in several industrial companies. Between 1970 and 1986 he worked as director of Wrightson Wood. In 1986 he was as a business owner and president of Martlet Ltd. From 1989 to 1992 he served as Director of Scientific Generics. He was chairman of Worthington & Company from 1994 to 1998. In 2001, he was chairman of Steel Tower Ltd.

On 6 January 1962 he inherited his father's title. Between 1965 and 1999 he participated several times in debates in the House of Lords.[3] Until 11 November 1999, he was sitting in the upper house, then he lost his seat by the House of Lords Act 1999.

Personal life

Birdwood married, on 27 April 1963, Judith Helen Roberts, eldest daughter of Reginald Gordon Seymour Roberts, of Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.[4] They had one daughter born on 29 July 1964, Sophie Frederika Birdwood, who married the 3rd Earl of Woolton in 1987, and had three other daughters before divorcing in 1997. On the death of the 3rd Baron without male issue in 2015, the Birdwood barony and baronetcy became extinct.

Coat of arms

Notes:Coat of arms of the Birdwood family
Coronet:A coronet of a Baron
Crest:Out of a Mural Crown Gules a Martlet Argent between two Branches of Laurel proper
Escutcheon:Azure five Martlets two two and one within an Inescutcheon voided a representation of the Southern Cross all Argent
Supporters:Dexter: a Sergeant of the XIIth (Prince of Wales's Royal) Lancers mounted on a Bay Horse; Sinister: a Sikh Daffadar of the XIth (Prince of Wales's Own) Bengal Lancers mounted on a Chestnut Horse, both habited and accoutred proper
Motto:In Bello Quies (Calm in action)

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Lord Birdwood. telegraph.co.uk.
  2. Web site: Page 4201 - Supplement 41436, 1 July 1958 - London Gazette - The Gazette. thegazette.co.uk.
  3. Web site: The Newspaper Industry's Future. 29 April 1981. Parliamentary Debates (Hansard).
  4. Web site: Judith Helen (née Roberts), Lady Birdwood . National Portrait Gallery.