Margaret Laird was responsible for the housing of bishops and clergy as the Third Church Estates Commissioner, a post to which she was appointed by Archbishop Robert Runcie. The appointment came very much out of the blue, as she had been a teacher of religious education up to that point.
However, she had also served as one of the lay representatives on the General Synod for the Diocese of St Albans for ten years and it was this, as well as her experience as one of the clergy wives, which attracted Runcie’s attention. In one celebrated incident the Pastoral Committee, visiting a rural parish, found themselves confronted by a squire brandishing a shotgun. Laird advanced to meet him and persuaded him to take a more reasonable position.
Born into a Cornish family with traditions of church and chapel, she was educated at Truro High School and read medieval history at Westfield College, London. Teaching followed at Grey Coat Hospital in London, at Newquay and then Dame Alice Harpur School in Bedford. She published a book of addresses for school assemblies, From Now to Eternity (2001). She was a supporter of Women against the Ordination of Women and contributed a number of pieces to the public debate. She is survived by her husband, Canon John Laird, and their two sons, Stephen, chaplain of the University of Kent, and Andrew, professor of classics at Warwick University.
Margaret Laird, OBE, was born on January 29, 1933. She died on May 11, 2014, aged 81
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