Myrtle Robertson, 11th Baroness Wharton

Myrtle Olive Felix Robertson, 11th Baroness Wharton ( February 20, 1934 - May 15, 2000 ) was a British peeress and politician .

Life

Myrtle Olive Felix Robertson was born under the name Myrtle Arbuthnot to David George Arbuthnot (1905–1985) and Dorothy Elizabeth Kemeys-Tynte, 10th Baroness Wharton (1906–1974).

She grew up in South Africa . She attended the Herschel School for Girls in Clarement, a suburb of Cape Town , in the Cape Province . She came to the UK as a teenager. Under her stage name Ziki Arnot , she worked as an actress and model from 1957 , later as a photographer .

In November 1958 she married the film composer Henry MacLeod Robertson (1932-1996). Her husband came from Elgin in the county of Morayshire . She took the family name Robertson . The marriage resulted in four children, three sons (including twins, * 1969) and a daughter. Her interests included photography, animal welfare , skiing and opera .

In 1997, she was Vice President ( Vice-Pres ) of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA).

Robertson died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease . The title heir to the Barony is Myles Christopher David Robertson, 12th Baron Wharton (* 1964).

Membership in the House of Lords

Robertson's mother, Dorothy Elizabeth Kemeys-Tynte, 10th Baroness Wharton died in 1974; the barony fell first in Abeyance . This limbo was ended in 1990 in favor of Myrtle Robertson and she inherited the title of Baroness Wharton . She officially became a member of the House of Lords in April 1990 . There she sat as a crossbencher . She gave her inaugural address on January 22, 1991. In Hansard , Robertson's contributions from the years 1991 to 2000 are documented. In March 2000, shortly before her death, she last spoke up in the House of Lords.

In the House of Lords she spoke regularly on the subject of animal welfare ; she was considered a passionate animal rights activist. In May 1991 she spoke in the House of Lords about the need for the hygienic disposal of horse and animal carcasses; For fear of the disease BSE , horse carcasses were often simply left lying on fallow fields. In 1993 she supported the Dog Control and Welfare Bill introduced by Douglas Houghton, Baron Houghton of Sowerby . She sharply criticized dog breeding farms in Wales that did not meet the required standards. She called for dogs to be bought only from reputable breeders, or to take dogs from animal shelters , and to give them a dignified existence.

In February 1994 she turned against the law initiated by Lord Harmar-Nicholls , which was supposed to restrict the rights of photographers and paparazzi . Robertson warned against excessive restrictions and penalties; Instead, it is necessary to take stronger action against photo agencies , press agencies and publishers than against individual photographers.

In 1994, she was together with the Labor Party -Abgeordneten Austin Mitchell Vice-Chair ( co-vice-chairman ) of the House of Lords All Party Media Group. She was also Assistant Secretary ( Joint Secretary ) of the cross-party group on animal welfare ( all-party parliamentary group for animal welfare ).

With the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999 , Robertson lost, along with all other Hereditary Peers, the automatic seat in the House of Lords. However, she was elected in 1999 as one of the 92 hereditary peers to remain in the House of Lords after the reform.

Web links

• Myrtle Robertson at Hansard (English)
• Baroness Wharton - Obituary in The Guardian, May 17, 2000

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Baroness Wharton obituary in: The Guardian, May 17, 2000.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Myrtle Olive Felix Arbuthnot, Baroness Wharton on thepeerage.com , accessed September 18, 2016.
3. ^ Horses: Export for Slaughter Text of the speech of January 22, 1991.

predecessor	Office	successor
Dorothy Elizabeth Kemeys-Tynte	Baroness Wharton 1990-2000	Myles Christopher David Robertson