Prison reformer and Liberal peer, Baroness Veronica Linklater of Butterstone, has died aged 79.
Born near Dunkeld into a family steeped in Liberal tradition, Veronica’s early working life was as a social worker in London where she became known for standing up for the homeless, single mothers and drug users.
She campaigned for improved facilities for prisoners and prison visitors and was appointed the first administrator of the Butler Trust, named after former Home Secretary Rab Butler, which worked to improve conditions for prisoners.
During the course of her work, it is said Veronica visited almost every prison in the United Kingdom.
Perthshire school founder
In later life she became a member of the Children’s Panel in Scotland, founded New Butterstone School for vulnerable children and sat as a Liberal peer in the House of Lords.
Her first experience of prison life came when she was just 16 when she went with her mother, Elizabeth, a prison visitor, to play guitar for Perth inmates.
So terrified was she of performing in a men’s prison that she cut her nails so she would not be able to pick the strings. But she found the inner strength to perform, picked with the flesh of her fingers and sang and played traditional Scottish songs.
Veronica was the eldest daughter of Colonel Michael Lyle and his wife Elizabeth. The Lyle family business had been in shipping and a previous generation had established the Tate & Lyle sugar company.
Her grandfather, Sir Archibald Sinclair, later Lord Thurso, had been leader of the Liberal Party and served as air minister in the wartime Churchill government.
Education
She was brought up near Dunkeld where she attended Butterstone School before going on to Cranborne Chase school in Dorset.
Veronica gained her degree in social work from the University of Sussex before beginning work in the London borough of Tower Hamlets where she advocated strongly for the disenfranchised, single mothers in particular.
She took on the local authority which was attempted to remove a child from its mother, a prostitute, and the case was made into a documentary in the BBC’s series, Cause for Concern.
Compassion
Veronica had witnessed prisoners’ loved ones queuing outside Pentonville prison in all weathers and managed to open a visitor centre serving refreshments.
It was shut down by the authorities but the idea was soon adopted by prisons across the country. It was her work on behalf of prisoners and their families that led to her appointment to the Butler Trust.
In London during the 1960s, Veronica had met journalist Magnus Linklater, son of the novelist, Eric, and the couple married at Dunkeld Cathedral in 1967.
They continued to live in London where children, Alexander, Archie and Freya were born.
When Magnus was appointed editor of The Scotsman in 1988, the family moved to Edinburgh.
Veronica stood as the Liberal-Democrat candidate in the 1995 Perth and Kinross by-election where she secured 11% of the vote and increased the party’s share of the vote by 2%.
Two years later she was invited to sit in the Lords as a Liberal-Democrat peer by party leader at the time, Paddy Ashdown.
Tribute
In his eulogy at his mother’s funeral, Alexander, said: “When my sister Freya was born with difficulties that would haunt her in schools where she was bullied and rejected, Veronica created a new school in place of the old school that Elizabeth (her mother) had first established in Butterstone.
“The New School was for children failed by the system.
“For nearly 30 years, the school took these children whom she called – not disabled or disordered – but just educationally fragile and brought together the teachers and carers with the skills and humanity to understand who they really were: valuable, interesting, capable, loved.
“A few years ago, that school was engulfed by crisis, just as my mother was engulfed by Alzheimer’s.
“She didn’t know exactly what was happening, but she told me what had to happen. ‘You have to save the school,’ she said.
“I didn’t save the school. I just met the people who did.”
Veronica played an active part in the life of the Perthshire community and was chairman of the Friends of Dunkeld Cathedral.
Baroness Linklater, who died at home, is survived by Magnus, Alexander, Archie and Freya. Her funeral service took place at Dunkeld Cathedral on Friday, December 23, 2022.
You can read the family’s announcement here.
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