Jeremy Hutchinson, Baron Hutchinson of Lullington
Jeremy Nicolas Hutchinson, Baron Hutchinson of Lullington, QC (28 March 1915 – 13 November 2017) was a British barrister. He was the son of St John Hutchinson, KC, and his wife, Mary Barnes,[1] and was descended from a regicide of Charles I, Colonel John Hutchinson of Owthorpe.[2] Standing as a Labour candidate in the 1945 general election, he finally entered Parliament as a life peer in 1978, eventually voting with the Liberal Democrats.[3]
The Lord Hutchinson of Lullington | |
|---|---|
| Member of the House of Lords | |
| In office 16 May 1978 – 3 October 2011 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Jeremy Nicolas Hutchinson 28 March 1915 |
| Died | 13 November 2017 (aged 102) |
| Political party | Liberal Democrat (from 1988) |
| Other political affiliations | Liberal Party (1979–1988) Labour (before 1978) |
| Alma mater | Magdalen College, Oxford |
| Profession | Barrister |
Early life and education
editHutchinson was born on 28 March 1915 in Chelsea, London, England.[4] He was the oldest son of St John Hutchinson, KC, a barrister, and Mary Hutchinson (née Barnes), a writer and fringe member of the Bloomsbury Group.[5][4] He was educated at Stowe School. He studied Modern Greats (now called Philosophy, Politics and Economics) at Magdalen College, Oxford, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree; as per tradition, his BA was later promoted to a Master of Arts (MA Oxon) degree.[6]
Career
editHutchinson was called to the Bar in the Middle Temple in 1939. However, he soon joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve to serve during the Second World War. He survived the sinking of the destroyer HMS Kelly during the Battle of Crete in 1941, due to being on deck when it was attacked. In 1944, he was posted to Caserta, Italy, and there he prosecuted his first case as a barrister: the capital murder trial of soldier who was duly convicted of a gang-related murder.[4] He was demobilised in 1946.[5]
He was the Labour Party candidate for the constituency of Westminster Abbey at the 1945 general election; he canvassed 10 Downing Street and when informed that the "tenant" (Prime Minister Winston Churchill) was out of the country, he addressed the staff.[7]
He worked on the defence team in the Lady Chatterley trial in 1960[8] and became a Queen's Counsel in 1961. He was a Bencher, Recorder of Bath and of the Crown Court between 1963 and 1988. He also led the defence of Kempton Bunton, charged with the theft of the Goya portrait of the Duke of Wellington in 1965 but who was acquitted of all charges save for the theft of the frame.[8]
He led the defence of director Michael Bogdanov in 1982 against a charge of gross indecency in the play The Romans in Britain by Howard Brenton. The private prosecution by Christian morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse was defeated when the chief witness against Bogdanov, Whitehouse's solicitor, Graham Ross-Cornes, revealed under cross-examination that he had been sitting at the back of the theatre when he saw what was claimed to be a penis.[9] The prosecution withdrew after Hutchinson demonstrated that Ross-Cornes could have witnessed the actor's thumb protruding from his fist and the case was ended after the Attorney-General entered a nolle prosequi.[10]
Hutchinson was a member of the Committee on Immigration Appeals and of the Committee on Identification Procedures. Hutchinson was vice-chairman of the Arts Council of Great Britain and a professor of law at the Royal Academy of Arts. At the Tate Gallery, he was first a trustee and then chairman.
House of Lords
editOn 16 May 1978, Hutchinson was created a life peer with the title Baron Hutchinson of Lullington, of Lullington in the County of East Sussex.[11] He initially sat in the House of Lords as a Labour peer.[7] However, he crossed the floor and joined the Liberal Party in 1979,[12] and he then joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981.[4] The Liberal Party and the SDP merged in 1988 to create the Social and Liberal Democrats, later renamed as the Liberal Democrats, and he would then sit in the Lords with this party until his retirement.[4]
He later took leave of absence from the House of Lords. On 3 October 2011, he became one of the first two peers to retire from membership under a newly instituted procedure.[13] Following the death of Edward Short, Baron Glenamara, in May 2012, Hutchinson became the oldest living life peer. Hutchinson was four years older than Lord Carrington,[14] who was the oldest sitting member of the House of Lords.[15]
Personal life
editIn 1940, Hutchinson married his first wife, actress Peggy Ashcroft, with whom he had two children:[16]
- Hon Eliza Hutchinson (born 1941)
- Hon Nicholas St John Hutchinson (born 1946)
He had six grandchildren including Emily Loizeau.
Hutchinson and Ashcroft divorced in 1966, and he then married June Osborn (née Capel) on 7 May 1966.[4] His second wife she died on 26 September 2006.[17]
In October 2013, Hutchinson appeared as a guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. His musical choices were: "Don't Have any More Missus Moore," by Lily Morris, "Dance of the Miller's Wife" from The Three-Cornered Hat by de Falla, "Tea for Two" by Teddy Wilson, "Ah Dite alla giovine" by Giuseppe Verdi, "The Rumble" from West Side Story, the Andante from Piano concerto in C major by Mozart, "L'autre bout du Monde" by Emily Loizeau and the Sonata Opus 110 by Beethoven.[18]
Hutchinson lived in Sussex and London.[19] He celebrated his hundredth birthday on 28 March 2015.[20] He died on 13 November 2017, at the age of 102.[21]
References
edit- ^ Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (Kelly's Directories, 2000), p. 869.
- ^ "Colonel John Hutchinson, Owthorpe". Retrieved 20 October 2013.
- ^ "Lord Hutchinson of Lullington, QC". 14 November 2017. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f Thomas, Grant (14 January 2021). "Hutchinson, Jeremy Nicholas, Baron Hutchinson of Lullington (1915–2017)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000380269. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ a b "Hutchinson of Lullington, Baron, (Jeremy Nicolas Hutchinson) (28 March 1915–13 Nov. 2017)". Who Was Who. Oxford University Press. 1 December 2018. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
- ^ Grant, Thomas (2015). Jeremy Hutchinson's Case Histories: From Lady Chatterley's Lover to Howard Marks. London: John Murray. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-444-79973-6.
- ^ a b "Obituary: Jeremy Hutchinson QC dies at 102". BBC News. 14 November 2017. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
- ^ a b Nairne, Sandy (6 August 2011). "From the National Gallery to Dr No's lair". The Guardian.
- ^ Mark Lawson "Passion play", The Guardian, 28 October 2005
- ^ Robertson, Geoffrey (1999). The Justice Game. London: Vintage. ISBN 978-0-09-958191-8.
- ^ "No. 47536". The London Gazette. 18 May 1978. p. 5983.
- ^ Robertson, Geoffrey (13 November 2017). "Lord Hutchinson of Lullington obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
- ^ "Former Archbishop of York retires from House of Lords". The Press. 3 October 2011.
- ^ "House of Lords, Official Website - Who is the oldest sitting Member of the House of Lords?". Retrieved 10 May 2012.
- ^ Patterson, Stephanie (2 August 2015). "The Crime Writer's chronicle". Blogger - Sunday, 2 August 2015. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
Baron Hutchinson is still alive, at 100
- ^ Robertson, Geoffrey (13 November 2017). "Lord Hutchinson of Lullington obituary". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.
- ^ "Daily Telegraph Obituary - Lady Hutchinson of Lullington". 4 October 2006. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ "Jeremy Hutchinson". bbc.co.uk. 20 October 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
- ^ "Lord Jeremy Hutchinson QC - United Agents". www.unitedagents.co.uk.
- ^ Rayment, Leigh (29 March 2015). "Peerage Records". Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page. Archived from the original on 7 June 2008. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Lord Hutchinson of Lullington, QC". 14 November 2017 – via www.thetimes.co.uk.