Mark Paul Lindley-Highfield of Ballumbie Castle

Mark Paul Lindley-Highfield of Ballumbie Castle, commonly called Mark Lindley-Highfield and born Mark Paul Highfield, is a British Anthropologist who has written on religious identity in Latin America. From 2006–2007, he spent a year's fieldwork studying religious conversion to Islam in Mexico and also conversion to Anglican Christianity.

Mark Lindley-Highfield of Ballumbie Castle first came to the attention of the national media when, as a student, his campaign for freedom of speech and the editorial independence of the Gaudie newspaper gained the support of then MPs Alex Salmond (First Minister of Scotland), Lord Jones of Cheltenham, Alistair Carmichael, Angus Robertson and Mike Weir, who backed an Early Day Motion relating to the matter in the Westminster Parliament. From 2008 to 2010, he was the 14th Baron of Cartsburn. In April 2013, he received national media attention following the inquest held into the [...] of three children by their father, Ceri Fuller, where it was revealed that Ceri Fuller's wife, Ruth Fuller, a 34-year-old mature student, had had a reported "crush" on Lindley-Highfield, who was her tutor with the Open University at the time. The inquest heard that there was nothing to suggest that she had started a relationship with her humanities lecturer, Lindley-Highfield had responded reminding her of the boundaries between a tutor and student, and he had not encouraged her and she had no expectations of a relationship.

Biography

Mark Lindley-Highfield of Ballumbie Castle was educated at the universities of Oxford, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and the Open University. He was awarded the Lumsden and Sachs Fellowship for his undergraduate performance at the University of Aberdeen and an Economic and Social Research Council studentship for his research into religious conversion in Mexico. He holds two undergraduate degrees with first-class honours (a BA and MA) and three further master's degrees.

On 1 December 2009 he was officially recognised in the name (including territorial designation) of Mark Paul Lindley-Highfield of Ballumbie Castle by Warrant of the Lord Lyon King of Arms, Her Majesty's representative in Scotland. The Lord Lyon has a legal jurisdiction to determine how names are recorded in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland. This was followed by Letters Patent of the Lord Lyon dated 26 April 2010, which were later registered in the records of the College of Arms, London, rendering the Letters Patent also effective in England. This constitutes royal permission for the party to use the name. From 2008 to 2010, he was the 14th Baron of Cartsburn and he remains the lord of Wilmington.

Academic work

Mark Lindley-Highfield of Ballumbie Castle has published on religious identity in Latin America in various sources. Of note is his work on Muslimization, which is a process through which he describes how newly converted individuals adopt stereotypically Muslim characteristics to earn the social acceptance of their peers.

He is also interested in the writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes stories and the ardent spiritualist.

Media attention

Freedom of the press campaign

Mark Lindley-Highfield of Ballumbie Castle first came to the attention of the national media in 2003, when editor of Gaudie, the student newspaper of the University of Aberdeen, when he and his editorial team resigned in protest at editorial interference by the University's Students' Association. His campaign for free speech and the freedom of the press gained the support of then MPs Alex Salmond (First Minister of Scotland), Lord Jones of Cheltenham, Alistair Carmichael, Angus Robertson and Mike Weir, who supported an Early Day Motion in the Westminster Parliament calling on the Students' Association to reconsider their "ill-advised move".

Ceri Fuller Inquest

In April 2013 a statement by Mark Lindley-Highfield of Ballumbie Castle was read at an inquest held into the [...] of three children by their father, Ceri Fuller, where it was revealed that Ceri Fuller's wife, Ruth Fuller, a 34-year-old mature student, had had a reported "crush" on Lindley-Highfield, who was her tutor with the Open University at the time. While it was reported that Ruth Fuller had sent Lindley-Highfield "flirty" text messages, the inquest revealed that 'there was nothing to suggest [she] had started a relationship with her humanities lecturer', 'Lindley-Highfield responded reminding her of the boundaries between a tutor and student' and he 'had not encouraged her and she had no expectations of a relationship.' The Press Complaints Commission has since published details of resolutions to complaints about some of the reporting of this issue.

See also

Debrett's Forms of Address: How to address a Chief, Chieftain, or Laird