Priscilla Buchan, Baroness Tweedsmuir of Belhelvie explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Right Honourable
The Baroness Tweedsmuir of Belhelvie
Office1:Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Primeminister1:Edward Heath
Term Start1:7 April 1972
Term End1:4 March 1974
Office2:Minister of State for Scotland
Primeminister2:Edward Heath
Term Start2:23 June 1970
Term End2:7 April 1972
Office3:Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland
Primeminister3:Harold Macmillan
Alec Douglas-Home
Term Start3:3 December 1962
Term End3:16 October 1964
Office5:Member of Parliament for
Aberdeen South
Term Start5:26 November 1946
Term End5:10 March 1966
Predecessor5:Sir Douglas Thomson, Bt
Successor5:Donald Dewar
Office4:Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Term Start4:1 July 1970
Term End4:11 March 1978
Life peerage
Birth Name:Priscilla Thomson
Birth Date:25 January 1915
Death Place:Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Party:Scottish Conservative Party
Otherparty:Unionist Party (until 1965)
Spouse:

    Priscilla Jean Fortescue Buchan, Baroness Tweedsmuir of Belhelvie (née Thomson; 25 January 1915 – 11 March 1978), styled as Priscilla, Lady Grant between 1934 and 1944, and as Lady Tweedsmuir between 1948 and 1970, 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 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 consistently polled at least 50% of the vote with the exception of her defeat in 1966, a feat never achieved by any succeeding candidates in the constituency.

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

    Tweedsmuir was Minister of State at the Scottish Office from 1970 to 1972 and at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1972 to 1974 and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1974. 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.

    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.[1]

    Notes and References

    1. Book: Kenneth Baxter. Campbell. Jodi A. Ewan. Elizabeth. Parker. Heather. The Shaping of Scottish Identities: Family, Nation and the Worlds Beyond. 2011. Centre for Scottish Studies, University of Guelph. Guelph, Ontario. 978-0-88955-589-1. 151. Chapter Nine: Identity, Scottish Women and Parliament 1918-1979.