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 1 March 1945[1] – 11 November 1999 | |
| Preceded by | The 3rd Viscount Colville of Culross |
| Succeeded by | Seat abolished |
| as an elected hereditary peer 11 November 1999 – 8 April 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Seat established |
| Succeeded by | The 9th Earl of Clancarty |
| Minister of State for Home Affairs | |
| In office 21 April 1972 – 4 March 1974 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Prime Minister | Edward Heath |
| Preceded by | The Lord Windlesham |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Harris of Greenwich |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 19 July 1933 |
| Died | 8 April 2010 (aged 76) |
| Political party | Crossbench |
| Alma mater | New 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.
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.
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.
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]
References
- ↑ "Prayers (1954)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Lords. 26 July 1954.
- ↑ "Death of Viscount Colville of Culross". parliament.uk. UK Parliament. 5 May 2010. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
- ↑ "DodOnline - Political Biographies, Constituency & MP Profiles, News, Online Bookshop". Archived from the original on 8 February 2007. Retrieved 3 January 2007.
- ↑ "COLVILLE OF CULROSS - Deaths Announcements". The Daily Telegraph. 14 April 2010. Archived from the original on 9 August 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2012.