Robert Lindsay, 29th Earl of Crawford

The Right Honourable The Earl of Crawford KT, GCVO, PC, DL
Born	(1927-03-05) 5 March 1927
Education	Eton College
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge
Political party	Conservative
Parent(s)	David Lindsay, Mary Katherine Cavendish

Robert Alexander Lindsay, 29th Earl of Crawford and 12th Earl of Balcarres KT, GCVO, PC, DL (born 5 March 1927), styled Lord Balniel between 1940 and 1975, is a Scottish hereditary peer and Conservative politician. The elder son of the 28th Earl of Crawford and 11th Earl of Balcarres, he succeeded to the titles in 1975. He is Premier Earl of Scotland and the hereditary Clan Chief of Clan Lindsay.

Early years

Eton College

Lindsay was educated at Eton College and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He served with the Grenadier Guards from 1945 to 1949, including in the Middle East towards the end of the British Mandate. He was honorary attaché at the British Embassy in Paris, later joining the Conservative Research Department where he served as secretary to several Conservative parliamentary committees.

Political career

Lord Balniel was Conservative Member of Parliament for Hertford from 1955 to 1974, and for Welwyn and Hatfield from February to September 1974. He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury from 1955 to 1957, and to the Minister of Housing and Local Government from 1957 to 1960. He was opposition front-bench spokesman on health and social security from 1967 to 1970. In the Heath government, he served as Minister of State for Defence from 1970 to 1972 and for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 1972 to 1974.

In the October 1974 general election, Lord Balniel lost his seat to Labour's Helene Hayman. On 24 January 1975 he was created a life peer as Baron Balniel, of Pitcorthie in the County of Fife, and so entered the House of Lords. He inherited the earldoms from his father on 13 December 1975. Following the House of Lords Act 1999, which expelled most hereditary peers from the upper house, the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres has been able to continue sitting in the House of Lords by virtue of his life peerage.

Appointments

Crawford was appointed First Crown Estate Commissioner from 1980 to 1985, and served as Chairman of the National Association for Mental Health from 1963 to 1970, of the Historic Buildings Council for Scotland from 1976 to 1983, of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland from 1985 to 1995, and of the National Library of Scotland from 1990 until 2000.

He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1972 and a Knight of the Thistle in 1996. After the death of Simon Ramsay, 16th Earl of Dalhousie in 1992, he became Lord Chamberlain to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, serving in the role until her 2002 death. He was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in the special honours list published after the Queen Mother's death.^[1]

Personal life

Crawford married Ruth Meyer-Bechtler on 27 December 1949: they have four children including Anthony, Lord Balniel, the heir to the Earldom, Lady Bettina, Alexander, and Lady Iona.

Crawford held a number of business appointments, including as a Director of the National Westminster Bank from 1975 to 1988.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

• Master of Lindsay (1927–1940)
• Lord Balniel (1940–1972)
• Lord Balniel MP (1955–1972)
• The Rt Hon Lord Balniel MP (1972–1974)
• The Rt Hon Lord Balniel (1974–1975)
• The Rt Hon The Lord Balniel, PC (January 1975 – December 1975)
• The Rt Hon The Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, PC (1975–1996)
• The Rt Hon The Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, KT, PC (1996–2002)
• The Rt Hon The Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, KT, GCVO, PC (2002– )
• Chief of Clan Lindsay (1975– )

Honours

• Knight of the Thistle, 1996
• Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, 2002
• Privy Counsellor, 4 February 1972^[2]

Ancestry

References

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Crawford

Current members of the Order of the Thistle The Sovereign Elizabeth II Knights and Ladies Companion The Earl of Elgin and Kincardine The Earl of Airlie The Earl of Crawford and Balcarres Lady Marion Fraser The Lord Macfarlane of Bearsden The Lord Mackay of Clashfern The Lord Wilson of Tillyorn The Lord Sutherland of Houndwood Sir Eric Anderson The Lord Steel of Aikwood The Lord Robertson of Port Ellen The Lord Cullen of Whitekirk The Lord Hope of Craighead The Lord Patel The Earl of Home The Lord Smith of Kelvin Extra Knights The Duke of Edinburgh The Duke of Rothesay The Princess Royal The Earl of Strathearn Officers Gilleasbuig Macmillan (Dean) The Earl of Airlie (Chancellor) Rear Admiral Christopher Hope Laymann (Green Rod) Dr Joseph Morrow (King of Arms) Elizabeth Roads (Secretary)