Bridget Helen "Biddy" Monckton, 11th Lady Ruthven of Freeland, Dowager Viscountess of Monckton, CBE was a Britishpeeress and Conservative member of the House of Lords best remembered as the wartime commander of women's services in India.
At the beginning of the Second World War, Lady Carlisle was a Senior Controller of the Auxiliary Territorial Service. The Countess of Carlisle was then promoted to become the Director of the Women's Auxiliary Corps - the Indian counterpart of the ATS - and of the Women's Royal Indian Naval Service. For her work in command, she was appointed a CBE in 1947. From 1962 to 1874, Lady Monckton was the Chairman of the charity Attend: the National Association of Leagues of Hospital Friends. From 1977 to 1978, she returned to office at the charity when elected to be the President of Attend.
Peerage
Her father's title dated back to 1651 and was in the peerage of Scotland, hence the form: the Lord Ruthven, rather than Baron Ruthven, which meant that, unlike most English, Irish, British and UK titles, it could be inherited, as a matter of course, by a daughter. Therefore, upon the death of her father in 1956, Lady Monckton inherited the lordship of Ruthven of Freeland. She was now, suo jure, the Lady Ruthven of Freeland. In 1957, her husband received a peerage too, when he was created the first Viscount Monckton of Brenchley. Lady Ruthven of Freeland's marital title was now: the Viscountess Monckton of Brenchley. Although entitled to a Scottish peerage, Bridget was not initially entitled to membership of the legislature. However, from 1963 she did take her seat in the House of Lords, after the new Peerage Act 1963 gave all Scottish peers and all female holders of hereditary peerages the right to sit in the upper chamber of parliament. Unusually, she sat concurrently with her son and with her second husband, plus her cousins mentioned above.
In 1947, Lord and Lady Carlisle divorced. Lady Carlisle then married Sir Walter Monckton on 13 August 1947, becoming Lady Monckton. Sir Walter was previously married to Mary Adelaide Somes Colyer-Fergusson. The couple had no children together, but both had offspring from their previous marriages. Lady Monckton of Brenchley died in April 1982, aged 85, and was succeeded in her own title by her son, who was already the Earl of Carlisle.
