John Colville, 4th Viscount Colville of Culross
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John Mark Alexander Colville, 4th Viscount Colville of Culross QC (born 19 July 1933) is a British judge and politician. He is one of the 92 hereditary peers elected to remain in the House of Lords after the House of Lords Act 1999.
The son of the 3rd Viscount Colville of Culross, he succeeded to his father's title in 1945, only being twelve. He was educated at Rugby School in Warwickshire and at New College, Oxford, where he graduated a with a Bachelor of Arts in law in 1957, and with a Master of Arts in 1963.
Colville served to 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 UN Commission on Human Rights, and between 1983 and 1987 Special Rapporteur on Guatemala as well as chair of the Mental Health Act Commission. He was chair 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 UN Human Rights Committee and is Assistant Surveillance Commissioner since 2001.
Colville has married twice, firstly Mary Elizabeth Webb-Bowen in 1958, and after being divorced in 1973, he married secondly Margaret Birgitta, Viscountess Davidson in the following year. He has four sons, including his heir Charles Colville, by his first wife, and one son by his second wife.
[edit] References
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Charles Colville |
Viscount Colville of Culross 1945–present |
Succeeded by (current incumbent) |
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