Dame Margaret Henderson Kidd, Mistress MacDonald Queen's Counsel was a Scottish legal advocate, editor and politician.
Background
The elder daughter of James Kidd, solicitor and Unionist Member of Parliament for Linlithgowshire, and Janet Gardner Kidd (née Turnbull), a schoolteacher, Margaret Kidd was educated at Linlithgow Academy and graduated with an Master of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Edinburgh in 1922.
Career
She was called in 1923 to the Faculty of Advocates, the Scottish bar, becoming its first female member, and its only one until 1948. In 1928, upon the death of her father, she contested his parliamentary seat, also as a Unionist, but was defeated by Emanuel Shinwell. She was the first lady advocate to appear before the House of Lords and before a parliamentary select committee.
And in 1948 became the first British woman King"s Counsel in Britain.
She was appointed Sheriff Principal (the first woman to occupy this post) for Dumfries and Galloway in 1960, and Sheriff Principal of Perth and Angus from 1966 to her retirement in 1975. She was the editor of the Court of Session law reports of the Scots Law Times from 1942-1976.
Apart from her legal work she maintained an active public and charitable role. She chaired the Queen"s Nursing Institute.
She died in 1989, aged 89.