Dame Christian Howard, a tireless campaigner for the ordination of women, has died at the age of 82.

Dame Christian, of Coneysthorpe near Malton, was born at Castle Howard, one of England's greatest stately homes. She was the eldest of five children, and spent her young days partly at Castle Howard and partly in London after her father, Geoffrey Howard, inherited the great house.

Her education included time at finishing school in Florence, as well as a year at a boys' prep school attended by her brother, Mark.

She went on to become an important lay worker in the Church of England, and at one stage considered following her father, who had been a Liberal MP, into politics.

His death in 1935 led to her becoming involved in the running of the family estate, though that was later taken on by her brother, the late George Howard. Castle Howard is now owned by her nephew, Simon Howard.

Dame Christian gained a Lambeth Diploma in Theology in 1943, when one of her tutors was Michael Ramsey, who went on to become first Archbishop of York and later Archbishop of Canterbury.

She taught Divinity for a time at Chichester High School for Girls, but returned home after the Second World War in which two of her brothers were killed.

She held a number of lay positions in the Church of England, becoming a member of the General Synod of the Church of England, and a lay Canon Provincial of York Minster.

A strong supporter of women priests, she wrote a report entitled The Ordination Of Women To Priesthood in 1972.

In 1979, the same year she retired from the lay ministry, she was a founder member of the Movement for the Ordination of Women.

She gave 15 years of service to this cause, until the 1,000-strong York Diocesan branch disbanded in 1994 after its campaign succeeded.

She was also involved in the Guide movement.

Dame Christian, who suffered from osteopondylitis when in her 70s, was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1986. She never married.

She is remembered as "a great character, a great Christian woman and a formidable person" by the Archdeacon of York, the Ven George Austin, who was one of her staunchest opponents on the ordination of women.

He said: "I have always said she was the only person who could put both sides of the argument fairly and adequately." Dame Christian was very much an intellectual, who could hold her own with anyone in the General Synod, he added.

"I have seen bishops quake when she launched into attacks on what they had said."

He said she also practised carpentry. He once went to her home when she showed him a "beautiful" corner cupboard she had made.

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