Jump to content

Mark Colville, 4th Viscount Colville of Culross

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Viscount Colville of Culross
Colville's last speech in the Lords, two months before his death.
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
as a hereditary peer
14 March 1945[a] – 11 November 1999
Preceded byThe 3rd Viscount Colville of Culross
Succeeded bySeat abolished[b]
as an elected hereditary peer
11 November 1999 – 8 April 2010
Preceded bySeat established[b]
Succeeded byThe 9th Earl of Clancarty
Minister of State for Home Affairs
In office
21 April 1972 – 4 March 1974
MonarchElizabeth II
Prime MinisterEdward Heath
Preceded byThe Lord Windlesham
Succeeded byThe Lord Harris of Greenwich
Personal details
Born19 July 1933
Died8 April 2010(2010-04-08) (aged 76)
Political partyCrossbench
Alma materNew College, Oxford

John Mark Alexander Colville, 4th Viscount Colville of Culross, QC (19 July 1933 – 8 April 2010[2]), was a British judge and politician. He was one of the 92 hereditary peers elected to remain in the House of Lords after the House of Lords Act 1999.

Background

[edit]

The son of Charles Colville, 3rd Viscount Colville of Culross, he succeeded to his father's title in 1945, at the age of twelve. He was educated at Rugby School and New College, Oxford, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in law in 1957, and with a Master of Arts in 1963.

Colville served in the Grenadier Guards, reaching the rank of Lieutenant. Called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1960, he became a Queen's Counsel in 1978 and a Bencher in 1986.

Career

[edit]

Between 1980 and 1983, he was the representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Between 1983 and 1987, Colville was the United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Guatemala. He also served in the British government as chair of the Mental Health Act Commission. He was chairman of the Parole Board for England and Wales from 1988 to 1992, Recorder from 1990 to 1993, and Judge of the South Eastern Circuit from 1993 to 1999. From 1996 to 2000, he was a member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee. From 2001 he served as Assistant Surveillance Commissioner.

Private life

[edit]

Colville was married twice, first to Mary Elizabeth Webb-Bowen in 1958, and, after being divorced in 1973, to Margaret Birgitta Norton, in the following year. He had four sons, including his heir Charles, by his first wife, and one son by his second wife.[3]

He died at age 76 in 2010. His funeral was held at St Nicholas' Church, West Lexham.[4]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ He took his seat on 26 July 1954.[1]
  2. ^ a b Under the House of Lords Act 1999.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Prayers (1954)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Lords. 26 July 1954.
  2. ^ "Death of Viscount Colville of Culross". parliament.uk. UK Parliament. 5 May 2010. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  3. ^ "DodOnline - Political Biographies, Constituency & MP Profiles, News, Online Bookshop". Archived from the original on 8 February 2007. Retrieved 3 January 2007.
  4. ^ "COLVILLE OF CULROSS - Deaths Announcements". The Daily Telegraph. 14 April 2010. Archived from the original on 9 August 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
[edit]
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Viscount Colville of Culross
1945–2010
Member of the House of Lords
(1945–1999)
Succeeded by
Baron Colville of Culross
1945–2010
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by Lord Colville of Culross
1945–2010
Succeeded by
Parliament of the United Kingdom
New office
Elected hereditary peer to the House of Lords
under the House of Lords Act 1999
1999–2010
Succeeded by