Bridget Plowden

Bridget Horatia Plowden, Baroness Plowden, (née Richmond; 5 May 1910 – 29 September 2000) was a British educational reformer and influential figure in primary education, broadcasting and the rights of Romani people. She chaired the group which authored and published the 1967 Plowden Report on primary education in Britain, and was chair of the Independent Broadcasting Authority from 1975–80.

Early life and family Plowden was born Bridget Horatia Richmond at Rounton Grange, East Rounton, Yorkshire, the second daughter and second child of the five children of Admiral Sir Herbert William Richmond (1871–1946), naval officer, and later master of Downing College, Cambridge, and his wife, Florence Elsa (1879/80–1971).

She married the British industrialist and politician Edwin Plowden in 1933. Her husband received several knighthoods and was created a life peer in 1959; consequently, she became Baroness Plowden through her husband. The couple had four children: William (1935–2010), Anna (1938–1997), Penelope (b. 1941), and Francis (b. 1945). In 1947 the couple bought Martels Manor, a medieval farmhouse in Great Dunmow, Essex.

Career Plowden held roles in numerous charitable organisations, particularly those involving children. In the 1930s she worked as a leader for the Brownies, and as a children's court magistrate. From 1961 to 1972 she was also a director of Trust House Forte.

In August 1963 Plowden was asked by Sir Edward Boyle, the Minister of Education, to chair the Central Advisory Council for Education (England) enquiry into primary schools. The Children and their Primary Schools report was published in 1967 and is popularly known as the Plowden Report. The report promoted a child-centred approach to primary education and became influential in shaping education policy.

Following the publication of the report, Plowden became a co-opted Conservative member of the inner London education authority from 1967 to 1973 and was involved in several later inquiries, committees and organisations relating to education.

Later years and death Plowden remained active into her 80s, but by the 1990s her husband's ill health necessitated a move to live full-time at Martels Manor in Barnston, Essex. She died at home on 29 September 2000.