Margaret Jane Hope-Johnstone, Dowager Countess of Annandale and Hartfell; born November 18, 1910, died May 5, 1998

TO say that the mother of the 11th Earl of Annandale and Hartfell was a woman of many parts would be no exaggeration, given that she drove ambulances during the war, that she was a prominent Girl Guide and charity worker, that she once beat the Scottish ladies' tennis champion, that she was president of Dumfriesshire Conservative and Unionist Association, and that she loved horse-racing so much that she placed a winning bet two days before she died.

Born Margaret Jane Hunter-Arundell at the family seat north of Dumfries, whose vast library Thomas Carlyle had been allowed to use to prevent him wallowing in depression, she was a descendant of the Rev Andrew Hunter, DD, who was Professor of Divinity at Edinburgh University and a Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

Dr Hunter married the Hon Mainie Shaw, daughter of William, 6th Lord Napier, and their son, William Francis, an advocate, married Jane Arundell St Aubyn, an heiress from a distinguished Cornwall family. George VI granted liberty for William Francis Hunter to assume the surname and arms of Arundell with those of Hunter.

Margaret Jane Hunter-Arundell, who was known as Peggy throughout her life, went to school at St Monica's in Surrey, the reputed setting of the St Trinian's films, along with Grizel Ker, who married a Landale of Dalswinton.

An avid sportswoman, Peggy played cricket at school. In the 1920s and 1930s she won many trophies at the South of Scotland Tennis Championships in Moffat, her best achievement being her victory over Mollie Welsh, the Scottish champion, in 1934. She played tennis right up to the late 1960s.

In 1939 Miss Hunter-Arundell, by then an ATS corporal, was sent to barracks in Ayr, where she and others converted two furniture lorries into ambulances. In June of that year she was granted leave to marry Percy Hope-Johnstone of Annandale of that ilk, who had raced cars at Le Mans under the name of P Lochwood (Lochwood Tower is on Annandale Estate) so that his father would not know of his participation in a dangerous sport.

Major Percy Hope-Johnstone was imprisoned by the Japanese during the war and later served as a member of Dumfries County Council for 22 years. Two months before his death in 1983 he was confirmed as chief of the Johnstone Clan, hereditary steward of the Stewartry of Annandale, and keeper of Lochmaben Castle.

His attempt to claim the dormant title of Earl of Annandale and Hartfell in 1971 failed and he died a year before the House of Lords confirmed that he was de jure 10th Earl of Annandale and Hartfell.

The earldom had been dormant since 1792 when the male line had died out. James Hope-Johnstone, third Earl of Hopetoun, had succeeded to the title on the death of his great-uncle, the deranged third

Marquis of annandale. However, Hopetoun never assumed the other earldom.

The Countess was involved with the Women's Royal Voluntary Service for many years and with other charities. She was chairman of the Aberfield old folk's home in Moffat, although she was older than many residents. She was a commissioner of the Girl Guides for Dumfriesshire. She served as president of the Dumfriesshire Conservative and Unionist Association for three years, being vice-president at the time of her death.

Her son, Patrick Andrew Hope-Johnstone, the 11th Earl, has been Deputy Lieutenant, Dumfriesshire, since 1987, and lives at Raehills, St Anns. Margaret Jane Hope-Johnstone, The Dowager Countess of Annandale and Hartfell, is also survived by her daughter, Lady Eileen Duncan, and by five grandchildren.