Barbara Calvert

Barbara Adamson Calvert, QC (née Parker; 30 April 1926 – 22 July 2015), known as The Lady Lowry after her second marriage, was a British barrister specialising in family law. She was the first woman to be a head of chambers when she founded 4 Brick Court in 1974.

Early life Calvert was born on 30 April 1926 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. Her father was Albert Parker CBE, a chemist. She was educated at St. Helen's School, a private all-girls school in Northwood, London. She went on to study economics at the London School of Economics.

Legal career After her first marriage in 1948, Calvert was a housewife.

On 24 November 1959, she was called to the bar at Middle Temple; at that time, only 3% of barristers were women. In 2000, the chambers merged with another to form Coram Chambers. She was the first female QC to be called in Northern Ireland. On 15 March 1982, she was elected a Bencher of the Middle Temple; She was the first woman to be appointed to this post. At the age of 75, she became chairwoman of the Grandparents' Federation (now the Grandparents' Association), a charity for grandparents' rights.

She died on 22 July 2015, aged 89.

Personal life In 1948, at the age of 21, she married John Thornton Calvert.