Dennis John Trevelyan, CB (21 July 1929 – 19 July 2024) was a British civil servant and college head.
Life and career
editBorn on 21 July 1929,[1] Trevelyan attended University College, Oxford, before he entered HM Civil Service in 1950 as an official in the Home Office. He was Director-General of HM Prison Service from 1978 to 1983.[2] While there, he was responsible for overseeing the implementation of the May Report's recommendations. The Times reported in 1983 that the Prison Reform Trust "complimented Mr Trevelyan on the relative openness of the prison system".[3] In another article, The Times noted that, by the time he left office, the rate of incarceration was rising and prison officers were considering striking, while a report by the Chief Inspector of Prisons criticised the state of the prisons themselves. The same paper, however, called Trevelyan "an enlightened, efficient and reforming director-general", but noted that "even he found himself unable to overcome the combined forces of governmental timidity, departmental and judicial conservatism, prison officer resistance and, not least, the inexorably rising crime rate".[4] He had been appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1981 Birthday Honours.[5]
In 1983, Trevelyan was appointed First Civil Service Commissioner.[6] During his tenure, which ended in 1989, he "actively upheld the vetting of Whitehall appointments to ensure that they were made on the basis of fair and open competition".[7] He protested against Michael Heseltine's appointment of Peter Levene as a procurement official in the Ministry of Defence, insisting successfully that the Commission had to review his credentials first. He was less successful, despite his efforts, at recruiting more non-Oxbridge administrative trainees.[7]
Trevelyan retired from the civil service in 1989 and was elected Principal of Mansfield College, Oxford, serving from 1989 to 1996.[2] During that time, Trevelyan was credited with leading the effort to make Mansfield a Full College of the University of Oxford.[8]
Trevelyan died on 19 July 2024, at the age of 94.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b "Dennis Trevelyan obituary, civil servant who butted heads with Thatcher". The Times. 19 July 2024. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
- ^ a b "Trevelyan, Dennis John", Who's Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, 2021). Retrieved 28 January 2022.
- ^ "Prison Service Head to Recruit Civil Servants", The Times (London), 5 March 1983, p. 2. Gale CS35490917.
- ^ "Shades of the Prison House", The Times (London), 31 March 1983, p. 15. Gale CS252021887.
- ^ The London Gazette, 12 June 1981 (supplement, issue 48639), p. 3.
- ^ Peter Hennessy, "'Mr Clean' Can Veto Improper Appointments", The Times (London), 12 April 1983, p. 6. Gale CS101158028.
- ^ a b David Walker, "Times Diary", The Times (London), 11 April 1989, p. 16. Gale IF0500548266.
- ^ Waghorn, Jane (12 August 2024). "Remembering Dennis Trevelyan 1929-2024". Mansfield College. Retrieved 14 August 2024.