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Ann Forbes-Sempill, 20th Lady Sempill

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The Right Honourable
The Lady Sempill
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
30 December 1965 – 6 July 1995
Hereditary Peerage
Preceded byThe 19th Lord Sempill
Succeeded byThe 21st Lord Sempill
Personal details
Born
Ann Moira Sempill

(1920-03-19)19 March 1920
Died6 July 1995(1995-07-06) (aged 75)
Spouses
  • Eric Holt
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1941; div. 1946)​
  • Stuart Chant-Sempill
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1948; died 1995)​
Children3
Parent
RelativesJohn Lavery (grandfather)
Military service
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Branch/serviceWomen's Royal Naval Service
RankPetty officer

Ann Moira Forbes-Sempill, 20th Lady Sempill (19 March 1920 – 6 July 1995) was a Scottish politician, aristocrat, and pilot. As the holder of a hereditary peerage, she was a member of the House of Lords.

Early life

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Ann Moira Sempill was born on 19 March 1920.[1] Her father, William Forbes-Sempill, 19th Lord Sempill, was an air pioneer and spy for the Empire of Japan.[2]

Sir John Lavery – Anne Moira and the Honourable Mrs Forbes-Sempill

She and her mother, Eileen (née Lavery), Lady Sempill, are depicted in a 1923 painting by her maternal grandfather John Lavery.[3] Her mother was a horsewoman and pilot, who had an older daughter Diana by her first marriage in Tangiers. Eileen Lady Semphill died of tuberculosis in 1935.[4] Semphill's younger sister June died age 18 on 11 May 1941 during the last day of the London Blitz, working for the W.V.S. Mobile Canteen Service.[5]

Sempill was educated in Austrian, German and English Convents.[6] She and her sister had been passengers in aircraft since they were toddlers. She became interested in flying and decided to apply for a pilot's A licence to become a qualified pilot,[7] eventually succeeding and becoming proficient by 1941.[8] She offered the First Fruits at the 1938 Gorsedh Kernow bard initiation ceremony.[9] During World War II, she was a Women's Royal Naval Service petty officer between 1939 and 1942.[1] She joined the Anglo Austrian Society's committee in 1966.[6]

Personal life

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She was married to Eric Holt, a member of the Manchester Regiment from Oxford, from 25 October 1941 until their divorce in 1945;[1] they had one daughter.[2] On 28 October 1948, she later married Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart Whitemore Chant OBE MC, who served in the Gordon Highlanders and the No. 5 Commando.[1] In 1966 he assumed the additional surname of Sempill by decree of the Lord Lyon.[6] They had two children: James Sempill, 21st Lord Sempill, and Lieutenant-Colonel Ian Chant-Sempill (1951-2017).[2]

Peerage

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On her father's death on 30 December 1965, she succeeded to the title of Lord Sempill and, by extension, his seat in the House of Lords, remaining until her death.[10] She became a Conservative peer on 19 July 1966.[10] Her maiden speech at the House was on 7 February 1967, in which she asked the government to address the issue of juvenile delinquency.[11]

Forbes-Sempill died on 6 July 1995.[12]

Coat of arms

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Coat of arms of Ann Forbes-Sempill, 20th Lady Sempill
Coronet
A coronet of a Baron
Crest
1st, a stag’s head argent, attired with ten tynes azure, collared with a prince’s crown or; 2nd, A cock proper.
Escutcheon
Quarterly: 1st and 4th argent, a chevron cheeky gules and of the field, between three hunting horns sable, garnished and stringed of the second, (Sempill); 2nd and 4rd azure, a cross patée fitchée or, between three bear’s heads couped argent, muzzled gules, (Forbes of Craigievar).
Supporters
Two greyhounds argent, collared gules.
Motto
1st Keep Tryst; 2nd Watch.[13]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage. Vol. 3 (107th, 3 volumes ed.). p. 3569.
  2. ^ a b c Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage (107th, 3 volumes ed.).
  3. ^ "Anne Moira and the Honourable Mrs Forbes-Sempill". Art UK. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  4. ^ "Sir John Lavery, R.H.A., R.A., R.S.A. (1856-1941) Eileen in Green (Portrait of Eileen Lavery, later Lady Sempill)". 2007.
  5. ^ CWGC. "Civilian The Hon. June Mary Forbes-Sempill | War Casualty Details 3126922". CWGC. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  6. ^ a b c "Sempill, Lady Ann Moira Sempill (Née Forbes-Sempill)". Who's Who & Who Was Who (September 2023 online ed.). A & C Black. Retrieved 10 September 2023. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  7. ^ "TRAVELLED BY AIR SINCE BABIES". Singleton Argus. 5 April 1937. p. 3. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  8. ^ "Society Romance". Leicester Evening Mail. 29 August 1941. p. 10. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  9. ^ "Gorsedd Link of South Wales and Cornwall". Western Mail. 22 August 1938. p. 6. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  10. ^ a b "Parliamentary career for The Lady Sempill". UK Parliament. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  11. ^ "AFTER-CARE AND THE TREATMENT OF OFFENDERS (Hansard, 7 February 1967)". api.parliament.uk. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  12. ^ "Ms Anne Sempill (Hansard)". api.parliament.uk. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  13. ^ Debrett's peerage & baronetage 1903. London: Macmillan. 1903. p. 738.
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by Lord Sempill
1965–1995 		Succeeded by
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