Jean Fforde

Lady Jean Sybil Violet Fforde (née Graham; 7 November 1920 – 13 October 2017), between 1954 and 1995 the 20th Countess of Arran, was a Scottish aristocrat and Arran landowner who worked as a codebreaker at Bletchley Park during the Second World War. She is known for her 1994 auction of the feudal Earldom of Arran and 1,000 acres of farmland to pay for central heating in her island cottage.

Early life

Lady Jean was born at 8, Atholl Crescent, Edinburgh, She was born in Edinburgh and spent much of her childhood at Castle Buchanan on Loch Lomond. In the summer she would spend a lot of time with the royalty of Monaco, including Prince Rainier III of Monaco, husband of Grace Kelly and Princess Antoinette. In this book she wrote about her personal experiences, travels and adventures. She also described her experience at Bletchley Park as a "rather dull chapter in an otherwise colourful life" and she goes on to say that "it was excessively boring. It was not as glamorous as subsequent books and films have made it appear".

Countess of Arran In 1960, following the deaths of her father in 1954 and her mother in 1957, Lady Jean was forced to give up her family seat, Brodick Castle, to the National Trust for Scotland in lieu of death duties, and she relocated to an island cottage. "The castle and all its contents were taken from me and it was like losing my whole life," she said. The sale fell through, however, and the title was purchased by Swiss businessman Willi Ernst Sturzenegger in 1995.

Five years later, feudal tenure was formally abolished by the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000, which came into force in 2004. In 2006, Sturzenegger filed an unsuccessful petition with the Lord Lyon King of Arms to be styled as the Earl of Arran.

Personal life In 1947, Lady Jean married Colonel John Fforde, whom she later divorced in 1957. They had a son together called Charles Fforde. They spent a lot of time travelling, and they lived in Palestine, Sierra Leone and Northern Rhodesia.

Ancestry