Donald Somervell, Baron Somervell of Harrow

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Solicitor-General for England
In office
29 September 1933 – 19 March 1936
Prime Minister
Preceded bySir Boyd Merriman
Succeeded bySir Terence O'Connor
Personal details
Born24 August 1889 (1889-08-24)
Harrow on the Hill, London, England
Died18 November 1960 (1960-11-19) (aged 71)
Marylebone, London, England
Political partyConservative
Spouse
Loelia Helen Buchan-Hepburn
​
​
(m. 1933; died 1945)​
Alma materMagdalen College, Oxford

Donald Bradley Somervell, Baron Somervell of Harrow,

PC (24 August 1889 – 18 November 1960) was a British barrister, judge and Conservative Party politician. He served as Solicitor General and Attorney General from 1933 to 1945 and was briefly Home Secretary in Winston Churchill's 1945 caretaker government
.

Background, education and legal career

Somervell was the son of Robert Somervell, master and bursar of

First World War. Commissioned into the British Army, he served with the Middlesex Regiment and the 53rd Brigade in India and Mesopotamia. For his war service, he was appointed OBE in 1919.[1]

Having been called to the bar in absentia in 1916, he completed his pupillage and practiced in the chambers of William Jowitt, specialising in commercial law matters arising out of the Treaty of Versailles.[1] He became King's Counsel in 1929.[2]

Political career

In 1929 he entered politics. Although supporting the Liberal Party by inclination, its decline and his admiration for Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin led him to join the Conservative Party. He stood unsuccessfully for Crewe in the 1929 general election. He won the seat in the 1931 election and held it for 14 years.

In 1933, he became

Privy Council in the 1938 Birthday Honours.[5] He was Recorder of Kingston upon Thames from 1940 to 1946.[1]

In 1945, he was briefly

caretaker government. Both the government and Somervell were defeated in that year's general election
.

Judicial career

In 1946, Somervell was made a

County of Oxford.[6]
He retired in 1960, shortly before his death.

Family

Somervell married Loelia Helen Buchan-Hepburn, daughter of Sir Archibald Buchan-Hepburn, 4th Baronet, in 1933. She died in July 1945, aged 48. Somervell survived her by fifteen years and died in November 1960, aged 71. His grave can be found in the grounds of Saint Mary's Church in Ewelme, opposite that of the writer Jerome K. Jerome.

Arms

Coat of arms of Donald Somervell, Baron Somervell of Harrow
Coronet
Coronet of a baron
Crest
A Wheel Or upon it a Dragon Vert spouting Flames proper [7]
Escutcheon
Azure three Lozenges in fess Or each charged with a Mullet of the field accompanied by seven Cross Crosslets of the second four in chief and three in base all within a Bordure Ermine for difference
Supporters
On either side a Wyvern Vert spouting Flames proper charged on the shoulder with a Wheel Or
Orders
Order of the British Empire

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/36189. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  2. ^ "No. 33473". The London Gazette. 1 March 1929. p. 1448.
  3. ^ "No. 33983". The London Gazette. 3 October 1933. p. 6351.
  4. ^ "No. 33984". The London Gazette. 6 October 1933. p. 6418.
  5. ^ "No. 34525". The London Gazette. 24 June 1938. p. 4056.
  6. ^ "No. 40294". The London Gazette. 5 October 1954. p. 5649.
  7. ^ "Somervell of Harrow, Baron (Law Lord) (UK, 1954 - 1960)". Archived from the original on 27 October 2014.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
John William Bowen
 Member of Parliament for Crewe
1931–1945 		Succeeded by
Legal offices
Preceded by
Solicitor-General for England

1933–1936 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Attorney-General for England

1936–1945 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Home Secretary
1945 		Succeeded by
Chuter Ede
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