Former deputy leader of the Conservative Party died at the age of 79 after a brief illness
Clan Kerr Chief Michael Andrew Foster Jude Kerr, 13th Marquis of Lothian, died on Tuesday, October 1, 2024, after a brief illness. Former deputy leader of the Conservative Party, he was formally known as the 13th Marquess of Lothian but was known as Michael Ancram until he inherited the marquessate in 2004. He was the only Marquis currently sitting in the House of Lords.
Born in 1945, he was educated at Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire, a Catholic boarding school. At Christ Church at the University of Oxford he earned a BA and MA in History, He went on to receive a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Edinburgh. He was called to the Scottish Bar in 1970 and appointed a Queen’s Counsel (QC) in 1996. He was first elected to Parliament in 1974 and was in and out of Parliament for the next 20 years. He served as Chairman of the Conservative Party from October 1998 to September 2001.
Ancram became Marquis of Lothian upon his father’s death in 2004. After John Sinclair, 3rd Viscount Thurso and Douglas Hogg, 3rd Viscount Hailsham, he was the third person to have sat in the House of Commons while simultaneously being a hereditary peer. He was created a Life Peer on 22 November 2010 as Baron Kerr of Monteviot, of Monteviot in Roxburghshire, and was introduced in the House of Lords the same day.
During Lord Lothian’s visit to the 2019 Central Florida Highland Games, when Clan Kerr was the Honored Clan, he was honored with an appointment as an associate member of the Templar order, the Sovereign Military Organization of the Temple of Jerusalem in their Preceptory of the Holy Land in Jerusalem.
Lord Lothian is survived by his wife, Lady Jane Fitzalan-Howard, whom he married in 1975. The couple had three daughters: Lady Sarah Margaret, who died at birth in 1976, Lady Clare and Lady Mary. He also had three grandchildren and five step-grandchildren.
(Photo by John Giles/PA)
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Oct 1, 2024