Davina Ingrams, 18th Baroness Darcy de Knayth
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Davina Marcia Herbert Ingrams, 18th Baroness Darcy de Knayth, DBE (10 July 1938 – 24 February 2008) was a crossbench member of the House of Lords, continuing to sit after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999 as an elected peer.
Ingrams was the daughter of Mervyn Herbert, 17th Baron Darcy de Knayth (also known as Viscount Clive, his courtesy title as son of the Earl of Powis). The barony had been created in 1332 for John Darcy, and revived twice after falling into abeyance. Through her grandfather, George Herbert, 4th Earl of Powis, she was descended from Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive. She inherited the barony in 1943, when her father was killed in action during the Second World War, flying a Mosquito as a squadron leader in the RAF.
She was educated at St Mary's School, Wantage, and later in Florence and the Sorbonne. She married publisher Rupert Ingrams (brother of the Private Eye editor Richard Ingrams) in 1960. They had three children.
She and her husband were involved in a serious accident in 1964, returning from a dance, when their car hit a tree. Her husband was killed outright, and she was paralysed from the neck down. She was treated at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, and later recovered some movement in her upper body. She became a wheelchair user, and took up table tennis and archery. She was leading voice in the campaign that led to the creation of the Paralympic Games. She won a gold medal in swimming at the Paralympic Games in Israel, and a bronze for table tennis in West Germany. She was one of the first 16 hereditary peeresses admitted to the House of Lords in 1963, and spoke frequently on disability matters after taking up her seat in 1969. She was made a Dame (DBE) for her services to disabled people in 1996.
After the House of Lords Act 1999 removed most of the hereditary peers from the House of Lords, she was selected as one of the 90 representative elected peers, coming top of the ballot of top of crossbench peers.
She was survived by her son and two daughters. Her son succeeded as 19th Baron Darcy de Knayth.
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| Peerage of England | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Mervyn Herbert |
Baroness Darcy de Knayth 1943 – 2008 |
Succeeded by Caspar David Ingrams |
