Kathleen Richardson, Baroness Richardson of Calow

Kathleen Margaret Richardson, Baroness Richardson of Calow, (born 24 February 1938 ) is a British Methodist minister who was the first woman to serve as president of the Methodist Conference. Created a life peer in 1998, she served as a crossbench member of the House of Lords until 2018.

Early life and education Richardson was born on 24 February 1938 to Francis and Margaret Fountain. She was educated at St Helena School, an all-girls secondary school in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. She then attended Stockwell College of Education, where she completed a Certificate in Education. She trained for ordained ministry at the Deaconess College in Ilkley and at Wesley House in Cambridge.

Richardson was the first woman to become a chair of district within the British Methodist Church. Later she became the first female President of the Methodist Conference (leader of the British Methodist Church and successor to John Wesley), serving a one-year term from 1992 to 1993. She was the moderator of the Free Churches Federal Council from 1995 to 1999.

She is a patron of Methodist Homes (MHA). Richardson is also a patron of a right to die organization, My Death, My Decision. It wants to see a more compassionate approach to dying in the UK, including giving people the legal right to a medically assisted death if that is their persistent wish

Personal life In 1964, she married Ian David Godfrey Richardson. Together they have had three daughters. On 3 August 1998 she was made a life peer as Baroness Richardson of Calow, of Calow in the County of Derbyshire.