Margaret of Mar, 31st Countess of Mar

Margaret Alison of Mar, 31st Countess of Mar, 24th Lady Garioch ( born September 19, 1940) is a British politician and Peeress.

Life

Origin and family

Margaret of Mar was as Margaret Alison Lane, the daughter of Millicent Mary Salton, and James Clifton Lane, later James of Mar, 30th Earl of Mar ( 1914-1975 ) was born, the Heir presumptive his cousin Lionel Erskine -Young, 29th Earl of Mar. She attended the Kenya high School for Girls in Nairobi, Kenya and the Lewes County Grammar School for Girls, in Lewes in Sussex.

She has two younger siblings: David of Mar, Master of Mar and Lady Janet of Mar. 1959, her father officially recognized under the title " of Mar ". His three children also were given the name " of Mar "; the old name Lane was abandoned.

Title

When her father in 1965 inherited the title of Earl of Mar, she was awarded the title "Lady Margaret of Mar " and her brother the title of " The Master of Mar, Lord Garioch ". Her brother died in 1967 and she became " The Mistress of Mar" than older heiress of her father. When her father, the 30th Earl died in 1975, was Margaret of Mar 31, the winner of the title Earl of Mar, the highest ranking title Earls of Scotland.

Professional activity and disease

Margaret of Mar worked until 1982 as a department manager sales ( "Sales Superintendent " ) at British Telecom. Mainly, however, she has worked as a farmer. It operates livestock, especially sheep, and one of major producer of specialty cheese in the county of Worcestershire.

In summer 1989 she was while they treated their sheep in a container filled with disinfectant Organsophosphat pesticides, exposed at the foot of a small amount of chemicals. You got three weeks later headache and muscle pain. When you finally chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis was known found. She then founded the charity Forward -ME, with the aim of pooling the activities of charities and voluntary organizations and channeling. Their membership in the House of Lords she sat for this purpose a. They called on the government to anchor better medical care of patients with similar diseases by law. In particular, joined the use of organophosphates for precise control.

Membership in the House of Lords

With her ​​father's death was Margaret of Mar formally on April 21, 1975 Member of the House of Lords. It is the only Countess with a separate title as Countess (title in her own right; suo jure ) in the House of Lords. In the House of Lords she sits as a cross Bencher. On October 28, 1975, it was the first time in attendance at a meeting. She held on April 7, 1976 her inaugural speech. She is among the 92 selected Hereditary peers who retained their seat in the House of Lords after the House of Lords Act 1999.

As subjects of political interest, they are on the official website of the House of Lords. Social security, agriculture, environment, pesticides and food safety and public health is at.

She has held various positions in the House of Lords. From 1997 to 1999 it belonged to the Special Committee " Select Committee on European Communities Sub-Committee C" (Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection) and from 2001 to 2005 the Special Committee " Select Committee on the European Union Sub-Committee D" (Environment, Agriculture, Public Health and Consumer Protection / Environment and Agriculture ) to. From 1997 to 2007 she was Deputy Chairman of Committees of the House of Lords ( Deputy Chair of Committees ) and Deputy Chairman ( Deputy Speaker). In 2006, she joined unsuccessfully for the post of Lord Speaker. Since 2010 she is Deputy Chair of Committees again; In 2011 she was Deputy Speaker again.

Currently (as of December 2012) belongs to the Joint Committee for Mar statutory authorizations and regulations ( Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments ) at. She was a member of the Lords Refreshment Committee and is a member of the Presidium of the Deputy Chairmen of Committees. She is also secretary of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Pesticides and Organophoshates.

Margaret of Mar is active on a regular basis and with a very high average number of sitting days in the House of Lords.

Other offices and honors

Margaret of Mar held a number of other non - political offices and honorary positions.

She was a lay member ( Lay Member) of the Immigration Appeal Tribunal ( 1985-2006). She was president ( chairman ) of Honest Food ( 2000-2005) and Chair of the Environmental Medicine Foundation (1997-2003).

She is since 2007 President (President) of the Guild of Agricultural Journalists; furthermore she is a member of the Specialist Cheese Makers Association. She is a member of the Ethics Committee of Micropathology Ltd., a medical company in the field of nuclear diagnostics. In addition, she is a member of the Academy of Nutritional Medicine Research Ethics Committee.

She was also the patron of several organizational and Associations ( Dispensing Doctors ' Association from 1985 to 1986; Worcestor Mobile Disabled Group from 1991 to 2003, Gulf Veterans' Association).

She is an honorary member ( Honorary Associate) of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (since 2006) and the British Veterinary Association ( since 2007).

Private

Mar was married three times. In her first marriage she was first married to Edwin Noel Artiss; They were divorced in 1976. In her second marriage she was with John Salton and eventually married his third wife with John Jenkin. From the first marriage she had a daughter, Susan Helen of Mar, Mistress of Mar ( b. 1963 ), the presumed heir title ( Heiress presumptive ) of her mother's title. Her hobbies it is one of gardening, painting and drawing, interior decoration and interior design and reading.