A former High Sheriff of Cumbria has donated her outfit to be displayed at Carlisle’s Tullie House.
Marcia Reid Fotheringham made history when she was appointed the first black High Sheriff of Cumbria in 2019 – and was the only the third black person in England and Wales to hold the ceremonial role.
After the Crown, the position of High Sheriff is the oldest secular Office in the United Kingdom and comes with its own dress code.
Just over a year after the Costume Collection opened at Tullie House, Marcia’s elaborate outfit from her time as High Sheriff joins the other dresses and accessories telling the story of Cumbrian women across 300 years. Marcia’s outfit is the first new addition since the collection’s opening.
It is the second contemporary costume displayed in the gallery, joining scrubs worn during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic by Carlisle nurse Evelyn Charlotte Nakachwa.
Marcia said: “For me, having the outfit on display is a big deal. I know it may not have been such a big deal for some other people as High Sheriff, but for me to be acknowledged is fantastic. Tullie House has helped increase that acknowledgement and also helped increase the visibility of High Sheriffs. To my pleasure, and as a way of thanking Tullie, I’ve happily donated the outfit – the hat, the whole bit. For me the outfit is historic and needs to be somewhere other than my closet.”
Museum visitors can take in the black velvet outfit, with its lace neck frill and feathered hat, and learn about its creation. In addition to information presented on panels, visitors will also be able to access a short interview with Marcia, via QR code, shedding light on the role of High Sheriff and how she got her outfit made.
Marcia was born to Jamaican parents in London in 1954, moving to New York as a child, later working as a clinical psychologist in mental health care as an adult in Massachusetts. In 1997, she returned to the UK, settling in Brampton with her husband, Jim Fotheringham, a dentist, and mountaineer. Since then, Marcia has managed her husband’s dental practice, worked as a psychologist and therapist for the NHS, and was a Magistrate for almost 20 years.
