Caroline, Countess of Cranbrook

Caroline, Countess of Cranbrook, addressed as Lady Caroline, is an English aristocrat, titled by being the wife of Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 5th Earl of Cranbrook, and campaigner on food quality issues.

She was born Caroline Jarvis in Lincolnshire on 18 December 1935.[1][2] Her father was Colonel Ralph George Edward Jarvis and her mother Antonia Mary Hilda Meade.[1]

She married the Earl of Cranbrook on 9 May 1968, and took up the married name Caroline Gathorne-Hardy.[1] Their early home was in a jungle area of Malaya, where her husband worked as a zoologist.[2] After three years, they took up residence at his family seat, Great Glemham House, Great Glemham, Saxmundham, Suffolk.[2] She ran the estate farm and raised their three children.[2] When her husband inherited the Earldom of Cranbrook from his father, on 22 November 1978, she became a Countess.[2]

She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2004, for services to the red meat industry, after campaigning to save local abattoirs.[2][3] She is president of the Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival.[1][2]

She appeared as a "castaway" on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 31 May 2009,[4] and received The Oldie's 'Campaigner of the Year' Award in 2010.[2] The Prince of Wales has called her "the doughtiest fighter for good sense in agriculture".[2]

She and her husband have three children. John Jason Gathorne-Hardy, Lord Medway (born 26 October 1968) is heir apparent to the Earldom.[1] The others are Dr. Lady Flora Gathorne-Hardy (born 10 October 1971) and Hon. Angus Edward Gathorne-Hardy (born 28 May 1973).[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Person Page 5277". The Peerage. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Surman, William (26 February 2010). "Profile: Lady Caroline Cranbrook". Farmers Guardian. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  3. ↑ Hart, Carolyn (17 February 2007). "Eco hero - Telegraph". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  4. ↑ "Desert Island Discs - Castaway : Caroline, Countess of Cranbrook". BBC Online. BBC. Retrieved 18 August 2014.