Elizabeth May Vallance, Baroness Vallance of Tummel, (''

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

'' MacGonnigal; 8 April 1945 – 9 July 2020) was a British philosopher, magistrate and policy maker. She held non-executive roles on various boards, and was

High Sheriff of Greater London The office of high sheriff, as the monarch's representative in a county, is over 1,000 years old, with its establishment before the Norman Conquest. The office of high sheriff remained first in precedence in each county until the reign of Edward ...

in 2009.

Early life and education

Vallance was born to William Henderson MacGonnigal and Jean Brown Kirkwood. She studied philosophy at the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

. She moved to the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

for her graduate studies, where she specialised in

political philosophy Political philosophy studies the theoretical and conceptual foundations of politics. It examines the nature, scope, and Political legitimacy, legitimacy of political institutions, such as State (polity), states. This field investigates different ...

and graduated in 1968. She was a

Sloan Fellow The Sloan Fellows program is a middle and senior-career master's degree program in general management and leadership offered at MIT, Stanford University, and London Business School (LBS). Initially supported by a grant from Alfred P. Sloan, fo ...

at the

London Business School London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degree, Master's degrees in management and finance, Master of B ...

. Her early research considered the role of women in society and the impact of women politicians on equality.

Career

Vallance started her career as a lecturer in philosophy at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. She moved to

Queen Mary University of London Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public university, public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University ...

, where she was promoted to Assistant Professor in Government and Politics from 1968. In 1985 she was promoted to Head of the Department of Politics, and was made an Honorary Fellow when she left in the early nineties. After leaving a full-time academic career, Vallance moved into the public sector, and was appointed Chairperson of

St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, formerly called St George's Healthcare NHS Trust, is based in Tooting in the London Borough of Wandsworth, and serves a population of 1.3 million across southwest London. A large numbe ...

. She would later become Chair of the children's charity I CAN, which looked to support children in developing their communication skills. In 2006 Vallance was appointed by

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

to the

Committee on Standards in Public Life The Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) is an advisory non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom Government, established by John Major in 1994 to advise the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister on ethical standard ...

. In 2009 Vallance was appointed

. She was awarded an honorary doctorate in civil law from the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

in 2013. She was made Chairman of Governors for

Sutton Valence School Sutton Valence School (SVS) is a private school near Maidstone in southeast England. It has 560 pupils. It is a co-educational day and boarding school, boarding school. There are three senior boarding houses: Westminster, St Margaret's and Sutto ...

in 2016. Vallance was involved with various

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

charities, serving as Chairperson of the

Centre for Mental Health The Centre for Mental Health is an independent mental health charity in the United Kingdom. It aims to inspire hope, opportunity and a fair chance in life for people of all ages with or at risk of mental ill health. The centre acts as a bridge b ...

. the National Autism Project and YoungMinds. In this capacity she oversaw the development of the YoungMinds organisational strategy, helping to implement the response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Select publications

* * *

Personal life

In 1967 Vallance married Iain Vallance, Baron Vallance of Tummel, with whom she had two children. She died in July 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vallance, Elizabeth 1945 births 2020 deaths Alumni of the University of St Andrews Alumni of the London School of Economics Academics of Queen Mary University of London 20th-century British civil servants 20th-century British women civil servants 21st-century British civil servants 21st-century British women civil servants Mental health activists British baronesses Spouses of life peers Member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life High sheriffs of Greater London