The Right Honourable
Robin Dixon, 3rd Baron Glentoran
CBE
Member of the House of Lords
as a hereditary peer
22 July 1995 – 11 November 1999
Preceded byThe 2nd Baron Glentoran
Succeeded bySeat abolished
as an elected hereditary peer
11 November 1999 – 1 June 2018 [1]
Election1999
Preceded bySeat established
Succeeded byThe 5th Baron Bethell
Personal details
Born
Thomas Valerian Dixon

(1935-04-21) 21 April 1935
Political partyConservative
Children3
Sports career
Medal record
Bobsleigh
Representing  Great Britain
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place1964 InnsbruckTwo-man
World Championships
Gold medal – first place1965 St. MoritzTwo-man
Bronze medal – third place1963 IglsTwo-man
Bronze medal – third place1966 Cortina d'AmpezzoTwo-man

Major Thomas "Robin" Valerian Dixon, 3rd Baron Glentoran, CBE (born 21 April 1935), is a former British bobsledder and Northern Irish politician, known as Robin Dixon. He is a former Conservative Party Shadow Minister for the Olympics.

Early life

Dixon was educated at Eton and Grenoble in France. After university, he served with the Grenadier Guards from 1954 to 1966, including service in the Cyprus Emergency.[2]

Sports career

In 1964, Dixon was granted leave from the army to participate in the 1964 Winter Olympics at Innsbruck, where he won the gold medal in the Two-man Bobsleigh as brakeman to Tony Nash. Nash and Dixon also won three medals in the two-man event at the FIBT World Championships with one gold (1965) and two bronzes (1963, 1966).

Dixon retained his sporting links throughout his life: he was President of the Jury at the 1976 Winter Olympics, set up the Ulster Games Foundation in 1983, and was appointed Chairman of the Northern Ireland Tall Ships Council in 1987. He has been President of the British Bobsleigh Association since 1987.[3]

Business

Dixon retired from the army in 1966 with the rank of Major and went on to work for Kodak in their public relations department and in 1971 joined the Northern Irish business, Redland Tile and Brick Ltd, which he built up into a multimillion-pound subsidiary of Redland plc and became managing director. In 1983, he was appointed High Sheriff of Antrim.[4]

Upon the 1995 death of his father, the 2nd Baron Glentoran, Dixon inherited his title, and he retired from business in 1998.

Political career

Dixon was Chairman of Positively Belfast from 1992 to 1996, Chairman of the "Growing a Green Economy" Committee from 1993 to 1995 and has been Shadow Minister for Northern Ireland, Shadow Minister for Sport and Shadow Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. He is also a member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Body.

Lord Glentoran was one of 92 hereditary peers that remain in the House of Lords after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999, and sat on the Conservative benches until his retirement from the House on 1 June 2018.[5][6]

Personal life

Lord Glentoran has three sons from his first wife, Rona (divorced in 1975), and lives with his third wife, Margaret, in their family home, Drumadarragh House, near Ballyclare. His eldest son, Daniel, has two sons; his second, Andrew, a son and a daughter, and his youngest, Patrick, has one daughter.

Honours

Dixon and his driver, Tony Nash, were inducted into the British Bobsleigh Hall of Fame as a result of their success. In the 1969 New Year Honours, Dixon was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), as was Nash, for services to winter sports.[7] A curve at the St. Moritz-Celerina Olympic Bobrun is named for both Nash and Dixon.

In 1987, Dixon was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 5th Battalion, Royal Irish Rangers (27th (Inniskilling), 83rd and 87th).[8]

Dixon was promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1992 Birthday Honours for services to sport and to the community in Northern Ireland.[9]

Coat of arms of Robin Dixon, 3rd Baron Glentoran
Crest
A demi-lion rampant Azure, charged on the shoulder with a cross patonce surrounded by a civic crown Or.
Escutcheon
Or on a chevron Vair three billets of the first on a chief crenellé Gules a tower proper between two fleurs-de-lis Or.
Supporters
Two war horses Argent unglued Or caparisoned Proper the shabraque Sable broidered of the second.
Motto
Fide Et Constantia (By Fidelity And Constancy)[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Retired under Section 1 of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014.
  2. ↑ A SOLDIER DIED TODAY Archived 29 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ The Lord Glentoran CBE Archived 19 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine British Bobsleigh Association.
  4. ↑ "No. 4194". The Belfast Gazette. 7 January 1983. p. 1.
  5. ↑ Parliament: Northern Ireland: One brief debate transfers Ulster back to its people, The Independent, 1 December 1999.
  6. ↑ "Lord Glentoran". UK Parliament.
  7. ↑ United Kingdom list: "No. 44740". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 December 1968. p. 15.
  8. ↑ "No. 51009". The London Gazette (Supplement). 27 July 1987. p. 9575.
  9. ↑ "No. 52952". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 1992. p. 8.
  10. ↑ Debrett's Peerage & Baronetage. 2000.
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