Mary Donaldson, Baroness Donaldson of Lymington

Mary Donaldson, Baroness Donaldson of Lymington

Dorothy Mary Warwick, Baroness Donaldson of Lymington, GBE DStJ (29 August 1921–4 October 2003), better known as Dame Mary Donaldson, was the first, and to date the only, female Lord Mayor of London (serving in that office in 1983–1984).

The daughter of an ironmonger and a school teacher, Donaldson worked as a nurse. She was elected a member of the City of London Court of Common Council in 1966, and became the first female alderman in 1975, the first female Sheriff of the City of London in 1981 and in 1983 the first female Lord Mayor.

Donaldson chaired the Interim Licensing Authority for Human In Vitro Fertilisation and Embryology (see Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority) and was a member of the Press Complaints Commission 1991-95.

Donaldson was the wife of John Donaldson, Baron Donaldson of Lymington, who was Master of the Rolls from 1982 to 1992. They married in 1945 and had two daughters and a son. They met at Middlesex Hospital, where she was working as a nurse and he was visiting a sick relative.

Civic offices
Preceded by
Anthony Jolliffe
Lord Mayor of London
1983–1984
Succeeded by
Alan Traill