Veronica Linklater, Baroness Linklater of Butterstone (born 15 April 1943), is a Liberal Democrat

Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...

 member of the House of Lords. Her career indicates her interests in children’s welfare, education and special needs, and prison reform

Prison reform

Prison reform is the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, aiming at a more effective penal system.-History:Prisons have only been used as the primary punishment for criminal acts in the last couple of centuries...

. She was created a Life peer

Life peer

In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...

 as Baroness Linklater of Butterstone, of Riemore in Perth and Kinross

Perth and Kinross

Perth and Kinross is one of 32 council areas in Scotland, and a Lieutenancy Area. It borders onto the Aberdeenshire, Angus, Dundee City, Fife, Clackmannanshire, Stirling, Argyll and Bute and Highland council areas. Perth is the administrative centre...

 in 1997.

Linklater is the daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Michael Lyle and Hon. Elizabeth Sinclair, younger daughter of the former Leader of the Liberal Party

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 Archibald Sinclair, 1st Viscount Thurso

Archibald Sinclair, 1st Viscount Thurso

Archibald Henry Macdonald Sinclair, 1st Viscount Thurso KT, CMG, PC , known as Sir Archibald Sinclair, Bt between 1912 and 1952, and often as Archie Sinclair, was a British politician and leader of the Liberal Party....

. She was educated at Cranbourne Chase School

Cranbourne Chase School

Cranborne Chase School for Girls was an independent boarding school originally opened in Crichel House in Moor Crichel, Dorset. In 1960, the school moved to the New Wardour Castle near Tisbury, Wiltshire....

 and the Universities of Sussex and London. In 1967 Linklater married the journalist Magnus Linklater

Magnus Linklater

Magnus Linklater is a Scottish journalist and former newspaper editor.-Life:Linklater was born in Orkney, and is the son of Scottish writer Eric Linklater. He was brought up in Easter Ross, attending the local school at Nigg before moving to high school in Dunbar, East Lothian, and then on to Eton...

. They have three children, two sons and one daughter.

Her first cousin, John Thurso

John Sinclair, 3rd Viscount Thurso

John Archibald Sinclair, 3rd Viscount Thurso , known as John Thurso, is a Scottish businessman and Liberal Democrat politician...

, 3rd Viscount Thurso

Viscount Thurso

Viscount Thurso, of Ulbster in the County of Caithness, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1952 for the Scottish Liberal politician and former Secretary of State for Air, Sir Archibald Sinclair, 4th Baronet. His son, the second Viscount, served as Lord Lieutenant of...

 is an elected Liberal Democrat

Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...

 MP

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,...

 for the seat of Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross

Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (UK Parliament constituency)

Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election.-Boundaries:...

.

In 1967, she became a Child Care Officer for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets

London Borough of Tower Hamlets

The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough to the east of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It is in the eastern part of London and covers much of the traditional East End. It also includes much of the redeveloped Docklands region of London, including West India Docks...

, and between 1970 and 1985, she became Governor to three Islington

Islington

Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...

 schools. From 1971 to 1977, she co-founded the Visitors’ Centre at Pentonville Prison, and her continuing interest in this field led to her involvement with the Winchester Prison Project, Prison Reform Trust

Prison Reform Trust

The Prison Reform Trust was founded in 1981 in London, England by a small group of prison reform campaigners who were unhappy with the direction in which the Howard League for Penal Reform was heading, concentrating more on community punishments than on traditional prison reform issues...

from 1981 to 1982.

Sources

• http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/people/ms-veronica-linklater
• Biography - UK Parliament