Matilda Simon, 3rd Baroness Simon of Wythenshawe

Last updated

The Right Honourable
The Lady Simon of Wythenshawe
CEng MIMechE
Personal details
NationalityBritish
Political party Green Party
Parents
Education St Paul's School, London
Alma mater University of Oxford (BA), University of Manchester (PhD)
Professionacademic, engineer, politician, woodworker

Matilda Simon, 3rd Baroness Simon of Wythenshawe CEng MIMechE (born 1955) is a British peeress, retired academic, woodworker, and Green Party member. In 2002 she succeeded her father as the Baron Simon of Wythenshawe. In 2015 she came out as a transgender woman. Her claim to the barony, following her gender transition, was accepted by the Lord Chancellor in 2022, so she became the first transgender peer of the realm.

Contents

Early life, family, and education

Lady Simon was born in 1955, the second child of The Honourable Roger Simon and Anthea Daphne Simon. [1] She was assigned male at birth. [2] Her father was a solicitor, political activist, and left-wing journalist who served as secretary of the Labour Research Department. In 1960, her father inherited the Simon barony of Wythenshawe upon the death of his father, Ernest Simon, 1st Baron Simon of Wythenshawe, who was elevated to the peerage in 1947 by George VI. [2] Her grandmother, Shena Simon, Lady Simon of Wythenshawe, was a feminist educationalist and politician and the eponym of the Shena Simon Campus of The Manchester College. Matilda Simon's great-grandfather was the Prussian engineer Henry Gustav Simon.

She was educated at St Paul's School, London, and graduated from the University of Oxford's Balliol College with a Bachelor of Arts degree. [3] In 1983, she earned a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Manchester. [3] [2]

Career

From 1983 to 2013 she worked as a senior lecturer at Manchester Polytechnic and Sheffeld Hallam University. [3] She was registered as a chartered engineer and as a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1991. [3] She is now a woodworker and furniture maker. [4]

In March 2014, she and her partner founded Rollins Wood, a 7-acre community woodland in Marple Bridge, planting 1,200 trees the following year. [5]

Peerage

As Lady Simon was assigned male at birth, later coming out as a transgender woman in 2015, she inherited the Simon barony of Wythenshawe in 2002 after the death of her father, which only passes to the heirs male of the body of the first Baron. Her claim to the peerage was approved by the Lord Chancellor, Dominic Raab, in 2022 after she had changed her gender identity. [6] According to the Gender Recognition Act 2004, a person changing gender does not affect the descent of any peerage or dignity or title of honour. [7] In 2022, she successfully applied to be added to the "Register of Hereditary Peers", the list of "eligible hereditary peers who have indicated their wish to stand in by-elections for the House". [6] However, she was removed from that list around May 2023. [8]

The Daily Telegraph suggested she could stand in the by-election for the House of Lords in 2023 to replace Lucius Cary, 15th Viscount Falkland, [2] but she did not do so. (Cary had been elected to the House as a Liberal Democrat in 1999, but switched to Crossbencher in 2011. By convention, he would be replaced by a Liberal Democrat, but peers from any party were allowed to stand for the by-election.) Had she succeeded Lord Falkland, she would have been the first transgender woman to join the House of Lords as one of the ninety-two hereditary peers. [9] She would have become the first woman with a hereditary peerage to sit in the House of Lords since the retirement of Margaret of Mar, 31st Countess of Mar and the second transgender person in Parliament, after Jamie Wallis. [10]

Most British peerages (including the Simon barony) can only be inherited by men under the system of agnatic primogeniture. No female hereditary peers have entered the House of Lords through the by-election process yet, [6] since no woman has ever stood as a candidate for a by-election. [11] Conservative politician Anne Jenkin, Baroness Jenkin of Kennington, and Charlotte Carew Pole, the daughter-in-law of Sir Richard Carew Pole, 13th Baronet, both called into question the validity of Lady Simon's peerage, [2] since she is only able to hold the peerage due to being assigned male at birth. [12] Carew Pole discussed Lady Simon's situation with The Daily Telegraph , saying, "Lady Matilda, Baron of Wythenshawe, has helped highlight several issues around inheritance and gender laws, where we now find ourselves in the absurd position of a younger son inheriting a title but identifying as a woman to stand in the hereditary peers by-elections, so keeping her new identity of a woman and the rights of a man to inherit." [2] Carew Pole went on to question challenge the validity of Lady Simon's title, as she is not the eldest child of the 2nd Baron Simon of Wythenshawe and therefore, as she is also a woman, the title should go to her elder sister, The Hon. Margaret Simon. [2] However, Margaret Simon could not have succeeded to the barony even if Matilda had been born female, as the barony can only be inherited by "heirs male of the body"; [12] it would have passed to a male-line cousin of Margaret and Matilda instead.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peerages in the United Kingdom</span> Noble titles in the United Kingdom

Peerages in the United Kingdom form a legal system comprising both hereditary and lifetime titles, composed of various ranks, and within the framework of the Constitution of the United Kingdom form a constituent part of the legislative process and the British honours system. The British monarch is considered the fount of honour and is notionally the only person who can grant peerages, though there are many conventions about how this power is used, especially at the request of the British government. The term peerage can be used both collectively to refer to the entire body of titled nobility, and individually to refer to a specific title. British peerage title holders are termed peers of the Realm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baron</span> Title of nobility in Europe

Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knight, but lower than a viscount or count. Often, barons hold their fief – their lands and income – directly from the monarch. Barons are less often the vassals of other nobles. In many kingdoms, they were entitled to wear a smaller form of a crown called a coronet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peerage Act 1963</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Peerage Act 1963 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that permits female hereditary peers and all Scottish hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords and allows newly inherited hereditary peerages to be disclaimed.

The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five Peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great Britain. New peers continued to be created in the Peerage of Ireland until 1898

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baron Strange</span> Title in the Peerage of England

Baron Strange is a title which has been created four times in the Peerage of England. Two creations, one in 1295 and another in 1326, had only one holder each, upon whose deaths they became extinct. Two of the creations, that of 1299 and that of 1628, are extant. The surname Le Strange was Latinized as Extraneus. The arms of Le Strange of Knockin Castle in Shropshire were: Gules, two lions passant argent.

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.

Baron Simon of Wythenshawe, of Didsbury in the City of Manchester, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1947 for Ernest Simon, an industrialist and politician, and his heirs male. He had previously served as a member of the Manchester City Council and as Lord Mayor of Manchester and is chiefly remembered for the slum clearances and housing projects he initiated in the city, notably the Wythenshawe estate. Simon also sat as a Liberal Member of Parliament for Manchester Withington, but joined the Labour Party in 1946. As of 2022 the title is held by his granddaughter Matilda Simon, the third Baron, who succeeded her father in 2002, and came out in 2015 as the first openly transgender peer in the United Kingdom.

The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of November 2024, there are 801 hereditary peers: 30 dukes, 34 marquesses, 189 earls, 109 viscounts, and 439 barons.

The history of the British peerage, a system of nobility found in the United Kingdom, stretches over the last thousand years. The current form of the British peerage has been a process of development. While the ranks of baron and earl predate the British peerage itself, the ranks of duke and marquess were introduced to England in the 14th century. The rank of viscount came later, in the mid-15th century. Peers were summoned to Parliament, forming the House of Lords.

In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the Dukedom of Edinburgh awarded for life to Prince Edward in 2023, all life peerages conferred since 2009 have been created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 with the rank of baron and entitle their holders to sit and vote in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as age and citizenship. The legitimate children of a life peer appointed under the Life Peerages Act 1958 are entitled to style themselves with the prefix "The Honourable", although they cannot inherit the peerage itself. Prior to 2009, life peers of baronial rank could also be so created under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 for senior judges.

Jennifer Jane Forwood, 11th Baroness Arlington, is the daughter of General Sir John Nelson and Lady Margaret Jane Fitzroy, sister of the 9th Duke of Grafton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Lytton Cobbold, 2nd Baron Cobbold</span> British peer (1937–2022)

David Antony Fromanteel Lytton Cobbold, 2nd Baron Cobbold,, was a British hereditary peer and member of the House of Lords.

Elizabeth Frances Philipps, Viscountess St Davids was a British peeress. Following the passing of the Peerage Act 1963, she became the first woman to take her seat in the House of Lords by virtue of an hereditary peerage as 14th Baroness Strange of Knokin.

By-elections to the House of Lords occur when vacancies arise among seats assigned to hereditary peers due to death, resignation, or disqualification. Candidates for these by-elections are limited to holders of hereditary peerages, and their electorates are made up of sitting Lords; in most cases the electorate are those sitting hereditary peers of the same party affiliation as the departed peer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Jenkin, Baroness Jenkin of Kennington</span> British life peer (born 1955)

Anne Caroline Jenkin, Baroness Jenkin of Kennington is a Conservative member of the House of Lords.

Nancy Jane Marie Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 28th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, is a British aristocratic landowner related to the Astor family and former member of the House of Lords.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Boyle, 15th Earl of Cork</span> British hereditary peer and member of the House of Lords (born 1945)

John Richard Boyle, 15th Earl of Cork and 15th Earl of Orrery is a British hereditary peer and a member of the House of Lords, where he sits as a Crossbencher. Boyle was an officer in the Royal Navy and then had a career in the sugar industry before inheriting his titles in 2003.

The first women in the House of Lords took their seats in 1958, forty years after women were granted the right to stand as MPs in the House of Commons. These were life peeresses appointed by the Prime Minister, although countesses had appeared in medieval times.

Patrick Thomas Conolly-Carew, 7th Baron Carew, in an Irish equestrian and hereditary peer. He competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics.

Charlotte Louise Campbell Carew Pole is a British women's rights advocate and Conservative political activist. She is the founder and director of Daughters' Rights, a political campaign advocating for the end of male primogeniture in the British peerage and baronetage and for women to have hereditary seats in the House of Lords. Carew Pole is also the director of Women2Win, which campaigns for increasing the number of women Conservative members of parliament in the House of Commons.

References

  1. ↑ Leith, Sam (23 May 2022). "Should a trans woman inherit a peerage over their older sister?". The Spectator. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Somerville, Ewan (13 May 2023). "Daughters excluded from peerage due to gender outraged by trans woman standing for Lords seat". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. p. volume 3, page 3625.
  4. ↑ "Matilda Simon, Chapel-en-le-Frith / Woodcraft and furniture". Derbyshire Open Arts 2017. 27 May 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  5. ↑ "Rollins Wood Marple Bridge Community Woodland". Marple Bridge. 2015. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 "Barony of Simon of Wythenshawe in the Peerage of the United Kingdom The". House of Lords Business. 18 May 2023. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  7. ↑ "Women, hereditary peerages and gender inequality in the line of succession". National Review. 3 October 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  8. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20220801000000*/https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/house-of-lords-publications/records-of-activities-and-membership/register-of-all-hereditary-peers/register-of-hereditary-peers-running-list/ She was listed in August 2022 and February 2023, but no longer appeared in the May 2023 version.
  9. ↑ Bodkin, Henry (20 May 2022). "First trans peer a step closer as hereditary candidate claims seat". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  10. ↑ "The House of Lord's Only 'Female' Hereditary Member". National Review. 23 May 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  11. ↑ See the candidate lists By-elections to the House of Lords.
  12. 1 2 "No. 37872". The London Gazette . 4 February 1947. p. 613.
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Baron Simon of Wythenshawe
2002–present		Incumbent
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.