After an education at Wimbledon High School for Girls, she won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music which carried a fair amount of money with it. As she had no need of the money, she gave it to an impecunious coloured student, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, whose career thereby flourished.

In 1899 she married "Bardie" and, at Blair Castle, she was carried over the threshhold, according to ancient family tradition, by the two oldest tenants on the estate. She devoted herself to historical
research and produced "Military History of the County of Perthshire  from 1660 to 1902". Her hospital work at Blair during World War I was greatly appreciated and in 1918 she was created a Dame of the British Empire.

 "The Begum of Blair", as she was called by the House of Commons, was earnest, highly intelligent and courageous and was the first woman from Scotland to be elected to the House of Commons and the second woman to achieve ministerial rank; she was Parliamentary Secretary, 1924-1929, to the Board of Education.

A Conservative, she was outspoken against Hitler and Mussolini; because of this she became known as the "Red Duchess", although she equally condemned Soviet totalitarianism. A supporter of Winston Churchill, she was deprived of the Conservative Party Whip because of her protest at Neville Chamberlain's appeasement policy. Towards the end of the 1939-1945 war when Soviet intentions over Eastern Europe were increasingly clear, she became chairman of the British League for European Freedom which, in addition to publicizing details of Soviet oppression, helped displaced persons. She wrote "Out of the Deep" which drew attention to the plight of Germans in Russia who were starving as a result of eviction from their homes. "The Conscription of a People" dealt with Soviet Labour Laws and the labour camps while "Women and Politics" was more general.
 

Source: Leo van de Pas