Margaret Kidd

Dame Margaret Henderson Kidd, Mrs MacDonald, (14 March 1900 – 22 March 1989) was a Scottish legal advocate, editor and politician. She was the first woman to become a member of the Faculty of Advocates, the first woman advocate to appear before the House of Lords and before a parliamentary select committee and in 1948, the first British woman King's counsel.

Early life Kidd was born on 14 March 1900 in Carriden, near Bo'ness in West Lothian, Scotland. She was the elder daughter of nine children to Janet Gardner Kidd (née Turnbull, 1872–1930), a schoolteacher, and James Kidd (1872–1928), solicitor and Unionist MP for Linlithgowshire.

Career Kidd had hoped to pursue a diplomatic career however this was not considered possible despite the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919. She undertook her professional legal training at Mitchell and Baxter, Writers to the Signet in Edinburgh, and in July 1923 qualified as an Advocate becoming the Faculty of Advocates first female member. and from 1966 to her retirement in 1974 Sheriff Principal of Perth and Angus. She was the editor of the Court of Session law reports of the Scots Law Times from 1942 to 1976.

Kidd served as Keeper of the Advocates Library 1956–1969.

Apart from her legal work she maintained an active public and charitable role. She was a founder member of the Stair Society and a vice-president of the Federation of University Women and the Electrical Association for Women. She had then become the vice-president of the Federation of University Women

Awards She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1975 Birthday Honours. She received an honorary LLD from the University of Dundee in 1982 and the University of Edinburgh in 1984.

Personal life In 1930, she married Donald Somerled MacDonald, WS. They had a daughter, Anne. Her husband died in 1958. Margaret had a number of interests beyond the law, including politics. She supported Scotland remaining in the United Kingdom, and believed that trade would grow worse if Scotland became independent.

Death The grave site of Margaret Kidd and her husband at Carriden old church, Bo'ness. She died on 22 March 1989 in Cambridge, England, aged 89. A funeral service was held at the Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh. A eulogy by Lord Hope of Craighead concluded: "Her success was won by strength of character, courage and integrity and it is a mark of her true qualities that, despite what might seem to be the revolutionary nature of her achievements, she always held the affection and respect of others."