Rt Hon Baroness Gardner of Parkes (1927 - 2024)

[Brian Coleman]

The Daily Telegraph web site carries an obituary to Baroness Gardner of Parkes who at the time of her death was the Senior still serving Life Peer in the House of Lords. She was a former Westminster City Councillor , twice Member of the GLC and Lady Mayoress of Westminster to her late husband Kevin . 

[colinp]

(Rachel) Trixie Anne nee McGIRR was b 17 July 1927 at Parkes, New South Wales.  She m 1956 Kevin Anthony GARDNER (d 2007)  She was cr a life peer as Baroness Gardner of Parkes 1981.  She died 14 April 2024.  She last voted in the Lords 6 Apr 2022 and last spoke 31 Jan 2022

At the time of her death she was the oldest life peeress.  The oldest life peeress is now Baroness Seccombe b 3 May 1930

[colinp]

I believe the longest serving life peer in the Lords is now Baroness Cox (since 24 Jan 1983)

[Richard R]

From the Telegraph & Times of 24 April 2024: GARDNER OF PARKES Baroness Rachel Trixie Anne died peacefully at home on Sunday 14th April 2024, aged 96. Wife of the late Kevin Anthony Gardner. Hugely missed by her daughters Sarah, Rachel and Joanna and grandchildren Christopher, Victoria, Katie, Philip and Lucy. Family funeral in Oxfordshire. There will be a celebration of Trixie's life in London in the early summer - details to be announced….

Obit in the Times of 24 April 2024:

Baroness Gardner of Parkes

Dentist who was the first Australian woman to be given a life peerage and had one of the best attendance records in the Lords

When Trixie Gardner became the first Australian woman to be given a life peerage in 1981, a herald at the Office of the Garter King of Arms insisted somewhat snootily that she have a UK place name. Once described by the Sun newspaper as a “cuddly modern mum with lashings of common sense”, Gardner reminded the young man of Baroness Ryder of Warsaw and asked him to point out Warsaw to her on the map of the United Kingdom. And so she became Baroness Gardner of Parkes, after the town in New South Wales where she was born.

A dentist by trade, she held her title with dedication and brio for nearly 43 years, latterly as the eldest peer in the Lords. The Tory grandee Lord Thorneycroft, who previously served as chancellor, had first recommended her to Margaret Thatcher for a peerage after a request from the Labour leader Michael Foot for more working peers in the Lords. The Conservative Party needed good women in the Lords — “doers” — he had suggested to Mrs Thatcher. “Give me the good women and I’ll appoint them,’’ the prime minister responded. In Gardner they found a doer…

…Rachel Trixie Anne McGirr was born in 1927 in the town of Parkes in New South Wales, Australia into a family of Irish heritage – her grandfather had arrived in the mid-19th century to prospect for gold but settled on becoming a dairy farmer. She was the eighth of nine children to Greg McGirr, the former leader of the Labor Party in the New South Wales parliament and Rachel, nee Miller-Hermes…

…Her father was a socialist but at this stage Gardner did not know which political party to support. “I didn’t actually join any party until someone came and knocked on my door and asked if we would join the Conservatives — which we did,” she told The Guardian in 1983…

…Her husband had also been a member of Westminster City Council and in 1986-87 she became Lady Mayoress of Westminster, when Kevin became the first Australian to be named as its Lord Mayor. The Gardners lived in a cul-de-sac just near what Kevin called “the corner store” — Harrods. He died in 2007 and she is survived by their three daughters, Sarah, Rachel and Joanna, who was for a time Mayor of Kensington and Chelsea…

Baroness Gardner of Parkes OA, born on July 17, 1927. She died on April 14, 2024, aged 96

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/baroness-gardner-of-parkes-obituary-first-australian-woman-to-be-given-a-life-peerage-bw0rwrkgj

[Richard R]

From the Times of 26 July 2024:

Thanksgiving Services

GARDNER OF PARKES Baroness. A Service of Thanksgiving will be held at Westminster Cathedral SW1... at 2.30pm on Thursday 17th October 2024....

[colinp]

CORRECTION - the oldest life peeress at the time of Baroness Gardner of Parkes's death was Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes (died 1 Jan 2025)  - my list of life peers had her year of birth as 1930 (as per Debrett's) rather than her actual birth year of 1928

[JL]

A not uncommon trait among the lady peers, Colin.  I have older versions of Dod's Parliamentary Companion giving 1926 and 1927 as years of birth for Baroness Knight of Collingtree (instead of 1923), 1927 for Baroness Turner of Camden (instead of 1923) and 1940 for Baroness Willcox (rather than 1940).  I know some ladies are sensitive about their ages but...

It's less common in the male peers, although during 2024 it turns out that Lord Hoyle was born in 1926 rather than the 1930 listed in all official publications; Freebmd.org.uk though confirms the correctness of 1926.