Baroness Carnegy of Lour devoted her life to many aspects of public life in Scotland.
Education, local government and agriculture were amongst the areas of interest in which Baroness Carnegy, who died on November 9, aged 85, and whose funeral is today, developed interest and far-reaching expertise, but she will be remembered by many for her lifelong involvement in the Girl Guides, from the earliest days of childhood at the family home near Forfar.
Born Elizabeth Patricia Carnegy, she was the daughter of distinguished serviceman Lieutenant-Colonel Ughtred Elliott Carnegy of Lour and Violet Henderson. She was educated at Downham School in Essex, before going to work in the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge for three years from 1943, starting out as a laboratory assistant.
Many years before, however, the first seeds of what would become her key public interest were sown when she joined the Brownie pack at Kingsmuir village, just north of Lour, going on to become a Guide and leader.
In the 1950s she travelled to the islands of the West Indies as a young Guide trainer and returned to be placed in charge of training for Scotland. She then wrote the Girl Guide training handbook which remains a key tool for today’s leaders in the movement.
Within Guiding she was both County Commissioner for Angus and Commissioner for Scotland and remained a highly respected figure in GirlGuiding throughout her life.
Generations of Guides from across the world have also been able to share the beauty of the Angus countryside through the Ladenford training centre which was established on the Lour estate many years ago.Political journeyHer political journey to the Lords began in the newly-formed Tayside Regional Council of 1974, on which she was selected to represent the Strathmore ward.
Baroness Carnegy recalled how she had been advised to “join a political party, otherwise I would be eaten up in Dundee,” adding, “I decided, on balance, that I was Conservative.”
During her eight years on the regional council she was convener of the recreation and tourism committee from 1974-76 and the education committee from 1977-81. She was also an honorary sheriff in Angus and deputy lieutenant from 1988.
Her life peerage was awarded in 1982 and, following a maiden speech on employment, Baroness Carnegy immersed herself in many and various subjects, with a particular passion for Scottish affairs, the countryside and education.
A member of various European legislation scrutiny committees between 1982 and 2000, she was also vice-chairman of the Association of Conservative Peers from 1990-94.
She also served as chairman of the Manpower Services Commission Scotland and through her interest in tertiary education held positions on the councils of both St Andrews and the Open Universities, as well as being appointed an honorary fellow of the Scottish Community Education Council in the early 1990s.
Baroness Carnegy was recognised for the contribution she made to Scotland’s universities through the award of honorary degrees from Dundee, St Andrews and the Open University.
She maintained the closest possible connection with Lour, which she inherited from her father in 1973, working with Hugh Cameron Grant, then Mike Cumming and her nephew, Bartholomew Smith, to expand it into one of Scotland’s best farmed and managed estates.
She s survived by her sister, Lady Smith, two nephews and two nieces. Her funeral service takes place at noon today in St John’s Church, Forfar.