Peter Kerr, 12th Marquess of Lothian

Peter Francis Walter Kerr, 12th Marquess of Lothian , KCVO (* 8. September 1922 in Melbourne , Derbyshire ; † 11. October 2004 in Roxburghshire ) was a British peer , politician of the Conservative Party and landowners.

life and career

Family crest of the Marquesses of Lothian

He was born to Captain Andrew William Kerr and his wife Marie Kerr. Both parents were descendants in the male line of William Kerr, 5th Marquess of Lothian .

Kerr's father, Andrew Kerr, and grandfather, Lord Walter Kerr , were officers in the Royal Navy . He himself attended Ampleforth College and Christ Church College at the University of Oxford , and joined the Scots Guards .

In 1940 Kerr inherited the title from his cousin Philip Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian and the then associated seat in the House of Lords . He married a distant cousin Antonella Newland († 2007), daughter of Major General Sir Foster Newland, on April 30, 1943.

Lord and Lady Lothian had six children: two sons and four daughters. Kerr's wife pursued her own career as a journalist and founded the Women of the Year Lunch. The family lived mainly on their estates in the Scottish Borders , Newbattle Abbey and Monteviot. The 11th Marquess bequeathed Blickling Hall in Norfolk to the National Trust . Another family estate, Melbourne Hall, in Derbyshire, opened to the public in 1952.

In 1954, Kerr took part in the Wolfenden Inquiry into British laws on homosexuality and prostitution . During the Suez Crisis in 1956 he joined the British delegation to the General Assembly of the United Nations and in 1959 became a delegate to the Council of Europe and the Western European Union . From 1960 he was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary, Lord Home and was also Whip in the House of Lords. During Douglas Home's brief tenure as Prime Minister, Kerr was junior minister at the Department of Health in 1964. In 1970 he returned with Lord Home to the State Department, where he served two years as Parliamentary Under-secretary. In 1973 he was nominated to the European Parliament when Great Britain joined the EC .

In 1977 Kerr retired from politics and was Lord Warden of the Stannaries from 1977 to 1983, Keeper of the Privy Purse at the Duke of Cornwall , as well as its Chairman of the Prince's Council. In 1983 he became Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order . He was also a member of the Royal Company of Archers , in command of the Special Constabulary of the Scottish Borders and Knight of Malta .

In 1979, Kerr returned the Franciscan monastery of San Damiano near Assisi to the Franciscan Order and in the 1980s gave control of Monteviot and Melbourne House to his eldest and youngest son, respectively, to continue the restoration of Ferniehirst Castle in Roxburghshire .

With the entry into force of the House of Lords Act 1999 , Kerr left the House of Lords. He did not run for election for one of the remaining seats.

Title and salutation

• Peter Kerr Esq (1922-1940)
• The Most Hon. The Marquess of Lothian (1940–1973)
• The Most Hon. The Marquess of Lothian MEP (1973–1975)
• The Most Hon. The Marquess of Lothian (1975-1983)
• The Most Hon. The Marquess of Lothian KCVO (1983-2004)

family

The 12th Marquess married Antonella Newland on April 30, 1943. They had the following children:

• Mary (* 1944), ⚭ Charles Freiherr von Westenholz , has children;
• Michael (* 1945), 13th Marquess of Lothian , ⚭ Lady Theresa Fitzalan-Howard (daughter of Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk ), has children;
• Cecil (* 1948), ⚭ Donald Cameron (XXVII. Chief of the Clan Cameron ), has children;
• Claire (* 1951), ⚭ James Fitzroy, Earl of Grafton, has children, including Henry FitzRoy, 12th Duke of Grafton ;
• Elizabeth (* 1954), ⚭ Richard Scott, 10th Duke of Buccleuch , has children;
• Ralph (* 1957), ⚭ I Lady Virginia Fitzroy (daughter of 11th Duke of Grafton ), divorced in 1987, no children; ⚭ II Marie-Clare Black, has six children.

His eldest son, the conservative politician Michael Ancram, inherited the title after his death. With the departure of most of the hereditary peers from the House of Lords and since he no longer received the seat automatically when he inherited the title, the current Lord Lothian was able to continue his successful career in the House of Commons until he retired in 2010 .

Web links

• Peter Kerr at Hansard (English)
• The Marquis of Lothian obituary in: The Telegraph, October 12, 2004.
• The Marquess of Lothian obituary in: The Independent, October 19, 2004.
• The Marquis of Lothian Nobleman who undertook the restoration of Ferniehurst Castle. on heraldscotland.com

Individual evidence

1. ^ Marquess of Lothian KCVO, DL, Head of ancient Kerr family on scotsman.com
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} The Marquess of Lothian. In: Independent. dated October 19, 2004.
3. ↑ According to his wife's obituary, they reaped each other as teenagers. Tony, Lady Lothian In: The Telegraph, April 12, 2008.
4. ^ House of Lords Act: Hereditary Peers Elections website Election Demon , accessed January 24, 2015.
5. ↑ Peter Francis Walter [Kerr], 12th Marquess of Lothian, KCVO on cracroftspeerage.co.uk

predecessor	Office	successor
Geoffrey Waldegrave, 12th Earl Waldegrave	Lord Warden of the Stannaries 1977-1983	Nicholas Henderson
Philip Kerr	Marquess of Lothian 1940-2004	Michael Ancram