Jennifer Lonsdale (born 17 July 1953 in Gosport, Hampshire) is a retired British television actress and public official. She appeared as a series regular in The Cedar Tree and That's My Boy . She also starred in the Doctor Who serial Nightmare of Eden. [1] .
In 2015 she became High Sheriff of Dorset. [2] In 2016 she was awarded a Doctor of Arts by Bournemouth University and became a Pro-chancellor of the University in 2017. [3] As of 2023 she is a Deputy Lieutenant of Dorset. [4]
She was married to Conservative politician and businessman Derek Coombs (1931-2014) with whom she had two sons.
Dame Penelope Anne Constance Keith, is an English actress and presenter, active in film, radio, stage and television and primarily known for her roles in the British sitcoms The Good Life and To the Manor Born. She succeeded Lord Olivier as president of the Actors' Benevolent Fund after his death in 1989, and was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to the arts and to charity.
The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purposes of lieutenancy; the 84 metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties for local government; and the 39 historic counties which were used for administration until 1974.
Ceremonial counties, formally known as counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies, are areas of England to which lord-lieutenants are appointed. They are one of the two main legal definitions of the counties of England in modern usage, the other being the counties for the purposes of local government legislation. A lord-lieutenant is the monarch's representative in an area. Shrieval counties have the same boundaries and serve a similar purpose, being the areas to which high sheriffs are appointed. High sheriffs are the monarch's judicial representative in an area.
Alexander Martin Clunes is an English actor, director and television presenter. He is best known for portraying Dr Martin Ellingham in the ITV comedy-drama series Doc Martin, Gary Strang in Men Behaving Badly, and William Shawcross in William and Mary. Clunes has narrated a number of documentaries for ITV, the first of which was Islands of Britain in 2009. He has since presented a number of documentaries centred on animals. He has also voiced Kipper the Dog in the animated series Kipper.
Baron de Mauley, of Canford in the County of Dorset, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 10 July 1838 for the Whig politician the Hon. William Ponsonby, who had earlier represented Poole, Knaresborough and Dorset in the House of Commons. He was the third son of the 3rd Earl of Bessborough, an Anglo-Irish peer, and his wife Lady Henrietta Spencer, daughter of the 1st Earl Spencer. He married Lady Barbara Ashley-Cooper, the daughter of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 5th Earl of Shaftesbury. She was one of the co-heirs to the ancient barony by writ of Mauley, which superseded the feudal barony the caput of which was at Mulgrave Castle, Yorkshire, which barony by writ had become extinct in 1415.
Kathryn Adie is an English journalist. She was Chief News Correspondent for BBC News between 1989 and 2003, during which time she reported from war zones around the world.
Dame Kathleen Lonsdale was a British crystallographer, pacifist, and prison reform activist. She proved, in 1929, that the benzene ring is flat by using X-ray diffraction methods to elucidate the structure of hexamethylbenzene. She was the first to use Fourier spectral methods while solving the structure of hexachlorobenzene in 1931. During her career she attained several firsts for female scientists, including being one of the first two women elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1945, first female professor at University College London, first woman president of the International Union of Crystallography, and first woman president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
Admiral Sir James Michael Burnell-Nugent, is a retired Royal Navy officer who served as Commander-in-Chief Fleet from 2005 to 2007.
Lauren Holly is an American–Canadian actress. She has played the roles of Deputy Sheriff Maxine Stewart in the television series Picket Fences, NCIS Director Jenny Shepard in the series NCIS, and Dr. Betty Rogers on Motive. In film, she portrayed Mary Swanson in Dumb and Dumber (1994), Bruce Lee's wife Linda Lee in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993), Darian Smalls in Beautiful Girls (1996), and Gigi in What Women Want (2000).
The Lord Lieutenant of Belfast is the official representative of The King for the 'County Borough of Belfast', Northern Ireland. The current Lord Lieutenant is Dame Fionnuala Mary Jay-O'Boyle, DBE, who was appointed in July 2014. The position was first created in 1900 and was held by The 6th Marquess of Londonderry. The role is largely honorary with the few formal duties relating to liaising with the King's private office in the lead up to visits to the City regarding issues of local concern and the presentation of awards on behalf of the King. The High Sheriff of Belfast is theoretically the King's judicial representative in the city, while the Lord Lieutenant is the Sovereign's personal representative.
Jennifer Ann Gretton, Baroness Gretton, is a former Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire, serving for over 15 years between 2003 and 2018.
Derek Michael Coombs was a British Conservative politician. He was Member of Parliament for Birmingham Yardley from 1970 to 1974, he won a marginal seat which was later recovered by Labour's Sydney Tierney. Whilst an MP he supported the UK’s joining of the then EEC. Additionally he passed a private members bill which relaxed the earnings rule for pensioners, and assisted the peace process in Northern Ireland which led to the Sunningdale Agreement. Derek Coombs was also briefly an officer in the Royal Artillery, a successful businessman, supporter of the arts and the founding chairman of Prospect magazine.
Lieutenant General Arthur Nugent Floyer-Acland, was a senior officer of the British Army who served in both the First and Second World Wars. He was Military Secretary from 1940 to 1942. In later life, he was High Sheriff and Deputy Lieutenant of Dorset.
Anthony Edward Lowther, Viscount Lowther was an English courtier and soldier.
The Greenwell Baronetcy, of Marden Park in Godstone in the County of Surrey and Greenwell in Wolsingham in the County of Durham, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 19 July 1906 as part of the King's Birthday Honours for the stockbroker Walpole Greenwell. The Greenwell family has owned the Gedgrave estate in Suffolk since the 1930s, and has land in Inverness-shire. The baronetical Greenwells were a junior line of a family of Durham gentry, and were for generations resident at Corbridge, Northumberland; in 1890, Sir Walpole Lloyd Greenwell, 1st Baronet purchased the Greenwell property granted to the family before 1183 from a daughter of the senior line of the Greenwell family.
Rupert Philip Lonsdale was a British submarine commander, prisoner of war and Anglican clergyman. He was forced to surrender his boat in World War II after he had succeeded in rescuing her and her crew from the sea bed after she struck a mine. He then spent five years as a prisoner of war. In 1946, he was court-martialed for the loss of the submarine and was honourably acquitted.
This is a list of High Sheriffs of Merseyside. The High Sheriff is the King's judicial representative in Merseyside, serving a one year term starting in recent years in April.
Sir Thomas Freke was an English merchant adventurer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1584 and 1626.
Colonel Sir Joseph William Weld, OBE, TD (1909-1992), was Lord Lieutenant of Dorset, a British army officer and landowner. A direct descendant of Sir Humphrey Weld, and member of a noted recusant family, he became owner of the Lulworth Estate and Lulworth Castle in Dorset, in 1935 after the death of his cousin, Herbert Weld Blundell. He volunteered for the Territorial Army.
Judith Josa Duckworth, also known as Judy Duckworth, was a British government officer and philanthropist. In 1994, she became the first woman to serve as High Sheriff of Lancashire, having been appointed by Elizabeth II. In 2005, she became the first woman to serve as Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Lancashire, having been appointed by Charles Kay-Shuttleworth, 5th Baron Shuttleworth. Duckworth also served as president of the Lune Valley chapter of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and as Chairman of the Garstang chapter of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.