Katharine Marjory Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl
Encyclopedia
Katharine Marjory Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl, DBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (6 November 1874 – 21 October 1960), born Katharine Marjory Ramsay and known as the Marchioness of Tullibardine from 1899 to 1917, was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 noblewoman and Unionist politician.

Early life and education

She was born in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

 on 6 November 1874, the daughter of Sir James Henry Ramsay, 10th Baronet. She was educated at Wimbledon High School
Wimbledon High School
.Wimbledon High School is an independent girls' school in Wimbledon, South West London. It is run by the Girls' Day School Trust and celebrated its 130th birthday on November 9 2010, having been founded by Edith Hastings in 1880. WHS educates girls between the ages of 4 and 18.The motto is "Ex...

 and the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...

. During her school years she was known as Kitty Ramsay.
On 20 July 1899, she married John Stewart-Murray, Marquess of Tullibardine
John Stewart-Murray, 8th Duke of Atholl
Colonel John George Stewart-Murray, 8th Duke of Atholl KT GCVO CB DSO PC ADC , styled Marquess of Tullibardine until 1917, was a Scottish soldier and Conservative politician.-Early life:...

, who succeeded his father as the 8th Duke of Atholl in 1917, whereupon Katharine became known as the Duchess of Atholl.

Political career

She was active in Scottish social service and local government and in 1912 served on the hugely influential "Highlands and Islands Medical Service Committee" (Dewar Report
Dewar Report
1912 marks the publication of the or the Dewar Report, named after its chair, Sir John Dewar. The report presented a vivid description of the social landscape of the time and highlighted the desperate state of medical provision to the population, particularly in the rural areas of the Highlands...

) that has been widely credited with creating the forerunner of the NHS. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (DBE) in 1918. She was the Scottish Unionist Party Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) for Kinross and West Perthshire
Kinross and Western Perthshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Kinross and Western Perthshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until 1983, representing, at any one time, a seat for one Member of Parliament , elected by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:The constituency was...

 from 1923 to 1938, and served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education
Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education was a junior ministerial office in the United Kingdom Government. In 1899 the Board of Education Act abolished the Committee of the Privy Council which had been responsible for education matters and instituted a new Board from 1 April 1900. The...

 from 1924 to 1929, the first woman to serve in a Conservative government.
She resigned the Conservative whip first in 1935 over the India Bill and the "socialist tendency" of the government's domestic policy. Resuming the Whip she resigned it again in 1937 over the Anglo-Italian Agreement. Finally she resigned her seat in parliament in 1938 in opposition to Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain FRS was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the...

's policy of appeasement of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

. To permit her resignation (technically proscribed by law), she was named Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds on 28 November 1938. She stood in the subsequent by-election as an Independent but lost her seat.

She argued that she actively opposed totalitarian regimes and practices. In 1931 she published The Conscription of a People - a protest against the abuse of rights in the Soviet Union. According to her autobiography Working Partnership (1958) it was at the prompting of Ellen Wilkinson
Ellen Wilkinson
Ellen Cicely Wilkinson was the Labour Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough and later for Jarrow on Tyneside. She was one of the first women in Britain to be elected as a Member of Parliament .- History :...

 that in April 1937 she, Eleanor Rathbone
Eleanor Rathbone
Eleanor Florence Rathbone was an independent British Member of Parliament and long-term campaigner for women's rights. She was a member of the noted Rathbone family of Liverpool.-Life:...

, and Wilkinson, went to Spain to observe the effects of the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

. In Valencia
Valencia (city in Spain)
Valencia or València is the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third largest city in Spain, with a population of 809,267 in 2010. It is the 15th-most populous municipality in the European Union...

 , Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

 and Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

 she saw the impact of Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....

 bombing on behalf of the Nationalists, visited prisoners of war held by the Republicans and considered the impact of the conflict on women and children in particular. Her book Searchlight on Spain resulted from this involvement, and her support for the Republican side in the conflict led to her being nicknamed by some the 'Red Duchess'. However, Cowling cites her as saying that she supported the Republican government because "a government [Franco's] which used Moors could not be a national government". Her opposition to the British policy of non-intervention in Spain epitomised her attitudes and actions.

She campaigned against the Soviet control of Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary as the chairman of the British League for European Freedom from 1945. In 1958 she published a biography of her life with her husband entitled Working Partnership..

She was also a Vice-President of the Girls' Public Day School Trust
Girls' Day School Trust
The Girls' Day School Trust is a group of 26 independent schools - 24 schools and two Academies - in England and Wales, catering for pupils aged 3 to 18. It is the largest group of independent schools in the UK, and educates 20,000 girls each year...

 from 1924-1960.

She was also a keen composer, composing music to accompany the poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....

.

Military appointments

She was closely involved in her husband's Regiment the Scottish Horse
Scottish Horse
The Scottish Horse was a Yeomanry Regiment of the British Territorial Army from 1900 to 1956 when it was amalgamated with The Fife and Forfar Yeomanry....

 and composed their march "The Scottish Horse" which was designed to be played on the bagpipes.

When her husband died in 1942 she took over the appointed of Honorary Colonel a position she retained until 1952.

Publications

  • Atholl, Katharine Marjory Stewart-Murray, Duchess of, (1933) Main Facts of the Indian Problem.

Primary sources

Records relating to Atholl can be found at
  • British Library
    British Library
    The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...

     Manuscript Section – correspondence with Lord Cecil, 1936-1944, Ref Add MS 51142 ( web site)
  • Churchill Archives, Cambridge University – correspondence with Sir E L Spears, Ref SPRS( on-line catalogue).
  • British Library, Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections – correspondence and papers relating to Indian self government, 1928-1935. Ref:MSS Eur 903 ( web site)
  • National Library of Scotland
    National Library of Scotland
    The National Library of Scotland is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. It is based in a collection of buildings in Edinburgh city centre. The headquarters is on George IV Bridge, between the Old Town and the university quarter...

    , Manuscripts Collections, correspondence and papers regarding the Scottish National War Memorial, 1919-1958, Ref: Acc 4714. ( web site).
  • King's College London
    King's College London
    King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...

     Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. Ref: LIDDELL: 1/27 ( on-line catalogue).
  • Institute of Education
    Institute of Education
    The Institute of Education is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom specialised in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It is the largest education research body in the United Kingdom, with...

    Archives, Girls' Day School Trust collection 'Katherine, Duchess of Atholl', 1960. Ref: GDS/2/3/1 ( on-line catalogue).
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