The Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws | |
---|---|
Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University | |
Assumed office 26 July 2018 | |
Preceded by | Robert Winston,Baron Winston |
Principal of Mansfield College,Oxford | |
In office September 2011 –2018 | |
Preceded by | Diana Walford |
Succeeded by | Helen Mountfield |
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
Assumed office 27 October 1997 Life peerage | |
Personal details | |
Born | Helena Ann Kennedy 12 May 1950 Glasgow,Scotland |
Nationality | British |
Political party | Labour |
Spouse | Iain Louis Hutchison (m. 1986) |
Domestic partner | Iain Mitchell (1978–1984) |
Children | 3 |
Occupation | Barrister, television presenter |
Website | helenakennedy |
Helena Ann Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws (born 12 May 1950), is a Scottish barrister, broadcaster, and Labour member of the House of Lords. She was Principal of Mansfield College, Oxford, from 2011 to 2018. A Bencher of Gray's Inn, an Honorary Writer to the Signet and the recipient of 42 Honorary Degrees from many universities including those of Glasgow and Edinburgh in recognition of work on women and the law and on widening participation in higher education. She is President of Justice, the law reform think tank, and is also director of the International Bar Association's Institute of Human Rights.
Kennedy was born on 12 May 1950 in Glasgow, Scotland, one of the four daughters of Mary Veronica (née Jones) and Joshua Patrick Kennedy, nicknamed "Mae" and "Joss", respectively. [1] Her parents were committed Labour activists and devoutly Roman Catholic. [2] Her father, a printer with the Daily Record , was a trade union official. [2]
She attended Holyrood Secondary School in Glasgow, where she was appointed Head Girl. She studied law at the Council of Legal Education in London. [2]
In 1972, Kennedy was called to the bar at Gray's Inn. Among her many cases, Kennedy acted as junior counsel for child murderer Myra Hindley during her 1974 trial for plotting to escape from Holloway Prison. [3] [4] She was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 1991. [5]
Kennedy rebels against her party whip in the House of Lords more frequently than any other Labour Peer, having a dissent rate of 33.3%. [6] She was Chair of Charter 88 (1992–1997) and is closely affiliated to the educational charity Common Purpose. In 2020, she worked with the Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith and democracy activist Luke de Pulford to create the global pressure group Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China. [7] In March 2021, China placed sanctions on her. [8] The sanctions were condemned by the Prime Minister and led the Foreign Secretary to summon the Chinese ambassador. [9] [10]
Kennedy became the first Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University, serving from 1994 until 2001. She was elected principal of Mansfield College, Oxford, in July 2010 and served in the role from September 2011. [11] She retired in 2018 and became Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University on 26 July 2018. [12]
From 1978 to 1984 she lived with the actor Iain Mitchell, and together they had a son. In 1986, Kennedy married Iain Louis Hutchison, a surgeon, with whom she has a daughter and a son. [2]
Kennedy regularly attends Mass and professes that her Roman Catholicism "remains very much part of who I am", even though she eschews its more traditional values. [2]
In 2023, Kennedy took part in King Charles and Queen Camilla's coronation at Westminster Abbey, carrying the Queen Consort's Rod with Dove. [13]
She has received numerous awards, including:
Mansfield College, Oxford is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. The college was founded in Birmingham in 1838 as a college for Nonconformist students. It moved to Oxford in 1886 and was renamed Mansfield College after George Mansfield and his sister Elizabeth. In 1995 a royal charter was awarded giving the institution full college status. The college grounds are located on Mansfield Road, near the centre of Oxford.
Valerie Ann Amos, Baroness Amos is a British Labour Party politician and diplomat who served as the eighth UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. Before her appointment to the UN, she served as British High Commissioner to Australia. She was created a life peer in 1997, serving as Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council from 2003 to 2007.
Estelle Morris, Baroness Morris of Yardley,, is a British politician and life peer who served as Secretary of State for Education and Skills from 2001 to 2002. A member of the Labour Party, she was Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Yardley from 1992 to 2005.
Martha Lane Fox, Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho is a British businesswoman, philanthropist and public servant. She co-founded Last Minute during the dotcom boom of the early 2000s and has subsequently served on public service digital projects. She sits on the boards of WeTransfer and Chanel, as well as being a trustee of The Queen's Commonwealth Trust. She previously served on the board of Channel 4.
Onora Sylvia O'Neill, Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve is a British philosopher and a crossbench member of the House of Lords.
Vivien Helen Stern, Baroness Stern is a crossbench member of the House of Lords.
Brenda Marjorie Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond,, is a British judge who served as President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom from 2017 until her retirement in 2020.
Dame Katherine Jane Grainger is a Scottish former rower and current Chair of UK Sport. She is a 2012 Summer Olympics gold medallist, four-time Olympic silver medallist and six-time World Champion for Great Britain. She served as Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University between 2015 and 2020 and is currently Chancellor of the University of Glasgow.
Carys Davina Grey-Thompson, Baroness Grey-Thompson,, known as Tanni Grey-Thompson, is a Welsh life peeress, television presenter and former wheelchair racer.
Ann Elizabeth Oldfield Butler-Sloss, Baroness Butler-Sloss, GBE, PC is a retired English judge. She was the first female Lord Justice of Appeal and was the highest-ranking female judge in the United Kingdom until 2004, when Baroness Hale was appointed to the House of Lords. Until June 2007, she chaired the inquests into the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed. She stood down from that task with effect from that date, and the inquest was conducted by Lord Justice Scott Baker.
Lady Elish Frances Angiolini is a Scottish lawyer who is a Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of Oxford and has served as the Principal of St Hugh's College, Oxford since 2012; she was a candidate in the 2024 University of Oxford Chancellor election. In June 2023, she was appointed to the office of Lord Clerk Register by King Charles III, the first woman to hold the role since its creation in the 13th century.
Helen Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock, was an English philosopher of morality, education, and mind, and a writer on existentialism. She is best known for chairing an inquiry whose report formed the basis of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. She served as Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge from 1984 to 1991.
Betty Lockwood, Baroness Lockwood was a Labour Party activist. She was heavily involved in promoting equal opportunities for women on a national and international level.
Heather Carol Hallett, Baroness Hallett,, is a retired British judge of the Court of Appeal and a crossbench life peer. The first woman to chair the Bar Council and the fifth woman to sit in the Court of Appeal, Hallett led the independent inquest into the 7/7 bombings. In April 2019, she was appointed Chair of the Security Vettings Appeal Panel. In December 2021, she was announced as the chair of the public inquiry into the UK Government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. On 29 June 2022, the Government accepted Baroness Hallett's proposed terms of reference for the inquiry, with minor changes suggested by the devolved administrations.
Pauline Perry, Baroness Perry of Southwark is an educator, educationist, academic, and activist. She is a Conservative politician and was for 25 years a working member of the British House of Lords. In 1981 she became Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools in England. In 1986 she became Vice-Chancellor of South Bank Polytechnic, and serving during its transition to a university, became the first woman in history to run a British university.
Margaret Omolola Young, Baroness Young of Hornsey is a British actress, author, crossbench peer, and Chancellor of the University of Nottingham.
Joyce Brenda Gould, Baroness Gould of Potternewton is a British Labour Party politician.
Kennedy Scholarships provide full funding for up to ten British post-graduate students to study at either Harvard University or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Susan Hockfield, the sixteenth president of MIT, described the scholarship program as a way to "offer exceptional students unique opportunities to broaden their intellectual and personal horizons, in ways that are more important than ever in an era defined by global interaction.". In 2007, 163 applications were received, of which 10 were ultimately selected, for an acceptance rate of 6.1%.
Mary Jane Watkins, Baroness Watkins of Tavistock,, is a British Professor of Nursing. She currently is emeritus professor of healthcare leadership at Plymouth University and Deputy Vice Chancellor of the university.
As part of the British honours system, Special Honours are issued at the Monarch's pleasure at any given time. The Special Honours refer to the awards made within royal prerogative, operational honours, political honours and other honours awarded outside the New Years Honours and Birthday Honours.