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Isobel, Lady Barnett | |
|---|---|
| Born | Isobel Morag Marshall 30 June 1918 Aberdeen, Scotland |
| Died | 28 October 1980 (aged 62) Cossington, Leicestershire, England |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Occupation | Radio and television personality |
| Years active | 1953–1977 |
| Known for | Broadcasting career |
| Notable work | What's My Line |
| Spouse(s) |
Geoffrey Barnett
(m. 1941; "his death" is deprecated; use "died" instead. 1970) |
| Children | 1 |
Isobel, Lady Barnett, known as Lady Isobel Barnett, (30 June 1918–20 October 1980) was a Scottish radio and television personality.
Biography
editIsobel Morag Barnett, née Marshall, was born on 30 June 1918 in Aberdeen, Scotland into a middle class family.[1][2] Her father, Robert MacNab Marshall, was an eminent neurologist who was serving in the army in France during World War I.[1][3] The family home was in Glasgow but Isobel's mother returned to her parents' home in Aberdeen to give birth, going back to Glasgow with the baby some weeks later.[1][4] She was brought up in a strict Scottish Presbyterian household, which revolved around her father's neurology practice for which he demanded calm for the benefit of his patients.[5] She had a disabled brother, born when she was six, who died in childhood.[6]
Her father's influence enabled her to start school at the young age of three.[7] She was a bright pupil and when she was eleven, she joined a private girls school in Glasgow.[6] When she was 13, she was sent away from the febrile atmosphere of early 1930s Glasgow to boarding school, The Mount School in York, where she did well academically and learnt social skills.[8] During her first year in 1932, her father suffered a stroke and later died, leading to financial difficulties for her mother.[9] Unable to stay at the Mount School and determined to follow in her father’s footsteps, it was arranged for 17 year old Isobel to return to the family home and study medicine at Glasgow University.[3][4][10] She started at the university in October 1935 and applied herself to her studies while enjoying the social life and sporting side of university life, obtaining a blue in diving, and graduated with an MB ChB degree in 1940.[3][11]
During her final year at university, Isobel worked as a houseman in a local hospital and met Captain Geoffrey Barnett for the first time while staying with an old school friend.[4][12] He was 16 years older than her, a lawyer and member of Leicester City Council before the war, and a serving officer.[13] They married in January 1941 and the couple settled into married life in Salisbury in Wiltshire.[3][4][14] Isobel found work as an assistant pathologist at a nearby laboratory and then as a locum GP at the local doctors surgery.[4][15] In January 1944, Isobel gave birth to a son, Alastair.[16] She continued to work as a family doctor with a nanny employed to care for Alastair but gave up her job to care for Alastair after he contracted a mild form of meningitis and after Geoffrey was released from the army in 1945, the family moved to Leicestershire where Geoffrey resumed his career as a lawyer and his interest in politics.[4][17]
Geoffrey was re-elected to Leicester City Council and as alderman while Isobel was persuaded to stand and was elected to the rural district council.[3][18] She worked as a locum for local GPs until the creation of the National Health Service in 1948, which ruled out part-time work, and took on a role as a Justice of the Peace.[3][4][19] In 1951, Geoffrey was elected leader of the Conservative group that controlled the council and in May 1952, he and Isobel became Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Leicester.[3][20] The mayoral year was an enjoyable and successful year for the couple with a highlight being, in addition to civic duties, the setting up of a Lord Mayor's appeal that raised £56,000 for victims of flooding following heavy storms.[21] In 1953, Geoffrey was knighted for services to local government and the successful flood victims appeal, and Isobel became Lady Barnett.[22][23]
In the early 1950s, Isobel was invited by the BBC to appear on local radio and television programmes and in 1953, she joined the panel of the British television show What's My Line, a game show in which panelists question and determine the occupation of guests, staying with the programme for ten years and becoming a popular television personality.[4]
Citations
edit- ^ a b c Gallagher 1982, p. 11.
- ^ Turner 1981, p. 630.
- ^ a b c d e f g Turner 1981, p. 631.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Br Med J 1979.
- ^ Gallagher 1982, p. 11-12.
- ^ a b Gallagher 1982, p. 16.
- ^ Gallagher 1982, p. 14.
- ^ Gallagher 1982, p. 19, 20-21, 25.
- ^ Gallagher 1982, p. 23-24.
- ^ Gallagher 1982, p. 26.
- ^ Gallagher 1982, p. 28-42.
- ^ Gallagher 1982, p. 44.
- ^ Gallagher 1982, p. 45.
- ^ Gallagher 1982, p. 48-50.
- ^ Gallagher 1982, p. 51, 53.
- ^ Gallagher 1982, p. 55.
- ^ Gallagher 1982, p. 56-59.
- ^ Gallagher 1982, p. 59.
- ^ Gallagher 1982, p. 60.
- ^ Gallagher 1982, p. 61.
- ^ Gallagher 1982, p. 61-64.
- ^ "No. 39904". The London Gazette. 3 July 1953. p. 3676.
- ^ Gallagher 1982, p. 64-65.
References
edit- Barnett, Lady Isobel (1956). My Life Line. London: Hutchinson.
- Br Med J (27 October 1979), "Lady of questions and answers", British Medical Journal, In and out of medicine, 2 (6197): 1050, doi:10.1136/bmj.2.6197.1050
- Turner, Roland, ed. (1981). "Lady Isobel (Morag) Barnett". The Annual Obituary 1980 (1st ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 630–632. ISBN 0-312-03875-5.
- Gallagher, Jock (1982). Isobel Barnett : Portrait of a lady. London: Methuen. ISBN 0-413-51320-3.
- Kilday, AM; Nash, D.S. (2017), "Lady Isobel Barnett: Shoplifting and Sympathy—The Last Gasp of Presumptive Shame?", Shame and Modernity in Britain, London: Palgrave Macmillan, doi:10.1057/978-1-137-31919-7_7
- Ewan, Elizabeth, ed. (2018). The new biographical dictionary of Scottish women. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1474436281.
Other sources
edit- Hartley, Cathy (2013), "Barnett, Lady Isobel (Morag) (1918-1980)", A Historical Dictionary of British Women, London: Routledge
- "Peeress elects jury trial". Aberdeen Evening Express. Aberdeenshire, Scotland. 20 August 1980. p. 9 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- "Lady Isobel fined in shoplifting case". Belfast Telegraph. Antrim, Northern Ireland. 17 October 1980. p. 5 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- Gibson, David (20 October 1980), "The lady with the calm line", Evening Times, p. 8
- "Lady Isobel Barnett, Personality On British TV, Found Dead at 62". The New York Times. 23 October 1980. p. 18. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
- "Lady Isobel Barnett, British TV personality", St. Petersburg Times, p. 11B, 21 October 1980
- "Behavior: Pilfering Urges", TIME, vol. 116, no. 20, 17 May 1980, retrieved 31 August 2021
- "A coroner's inquest ruled that Lady Isobel Barnett, one..." UPI Archive: International, 7 Nov. 1980. Gale OneFile: News, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A443238469/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=9526310d. Accessed 31 Aug. 2021.
- Palmer, Frank (7 November 1980). "TV star took painkillers after 'traumatic' court case". Daily Mirror. London. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- "Lady Isobel Barnett". Reading Evening Post. Berkshire, England. 7 November 1980. p. 11 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- Evans,, Peter. "Call to ban private shoplifting writs." Times, 13 Dec. 1983, p. 3. The Times Digital Archive, link-gale-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/CS51613069/TTDA?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=f5804bff. Accessed 31 Aug. 2021.
- "Amendment would have saved life of Lady Isobel Barnett, says Hailsnam." Times, 20 Nov. 1987, p. 4. The Times Digital Archive, link-gale-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/IF0503140568/TTDA?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=8020406b. Accessed 31 Aug. 2021.