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Sheila Lochhead

British prison visitor (1910-1994)

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 14, 2026
Entity authorityQ19325484 ↗
Source-derived summary

Sheila Ramsay Lochhead (née MacDonald; 7 December 1910 – 22 July 1994) was a hostess, prison visitor and writer. In 1924 her widowed father, Ramsay MacDonald, became Britain's Prime Minister. Her sister Ishbel MacDonald became his political hostess, and then Sheila took on the role. Sheila later became a prison visitor, leading the National Association of Official Prison Visitors for three years.

Biography

Lochhead was born Sheila MacDonald in 1910. She was one of six children of Ramsay MacDonald, the future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and his wife Margaret MacDonald (née Gladstone), a social reformer and women's rights activist.

MacDonald was head girl at the North London Collegiate School. She then studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Somerville College, Oxford where she won a hockey blue and graduated with a 2:1. She reportedly hoped, at one time, to enter politics.

In 1924, her widowed father became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Sheila Lochhead” as british prison visitor (1910-1994). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Sheila, Lochhead and British.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1910, 1994, 1924—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1910-12-07. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Sheila, Lochhead and British providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Sheila Lochhead”, the useful work is to connect “british prison visitor (1910-1994)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q19325484. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1910, 1994 and 1924.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  2. Expand the search: follow Sheila Lochhead primary sources, Sheila Lochhead archive and Sheila research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Sheila Lochhead” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.