Michael Coulson (barrister)

Edit links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Michael Coulson
Member of Parliament
for Kingston upon Hull North
In office
8 October 1959 – 25 September 1964
Preceded byAusten Hudson
Succeeded byHenry Solomons
Personal details
Born(1927-11-23)23 November 1927
Died18 June 2002(2002-06-18) (aged 74)
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative

(James) Michael Coulson (23 November 1927 – 18 June 2002) was a British barrister and judge, who also had a five-year parliamentary career. He was also an enthusiastic horse rider, huntsman and farmer, and was known at the Bar for his outstanding memory.

Family

Coulson was from an

East Riding Yeomanry
in the Wenlock's Horse.

Early career

In 1951 Coulson was called to the Bar by the

Territorial Army in the Queen's Own Yorkshire Yeomanry
where he received a commission as a Major.

Marriage and farming

In 1955 he married Dilys Adair Jones, a marriage which also brought him a 400-acre (1.6 km2) farm on the Jones estate at Bolton Percy near

Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, but suffered an embarrassing failure while attempting to farm turkeys in a cold winter. He was forced to herd them into the farmhouse airing cupboard to keep them warm, and eventually the stockman poisoned the entire flock in a dispute with Coulson's father-in-law. Coulson also enjoyed horse riding, including fox hunting
, and acted as secretary to meetings of the Bramham Moor and York and Ainsty Point to Point Race.

Political advancement

Elected to Tadcaster Rural District Council, Coulson had higher ambitions and in 1958 was selected as Conservative Party candidate for Kingston upon Hull North, a seat the retiring Conservative MP, Austen Hudson held by a knife-edge majority of 590. After energetically campaigning, he won the seat at the 1959 general election with a majority which increased to 702. His maiden speech was regarded as outstandingly witty and was reported in Punch.

Parliamentary career

Coulson was a loyal supporter of

Private Member's Bill to abolish the farthing as legal tender. In 1962 he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Solicitor General, Sir Peter Rawlinson.[1]
He also had an interest in Commonwealth affairs and served as a member of the executive committee of the Conservative Commonwealth Council.

Judge

Losing his seat at the 1964 general election, Coulson received a promotion in his legal career as Assistant Recorder of Sheffield in 1965. He was made Deputy Chairman of the Northern Agricultural Land Tribunal in 1967, and served there for six years; from 1968 he was a Regional Chairman of Industrial Tribunals.

His marriage under strain, in the 1970s Coulson moved to the East Midlands to become a full-time chairman of Industrial Tribunals. He became a member of the

Midland and Oxford Circuit. In his home village of Wymondham, Leicestershire near Melton Mowbray
he was known as the "hunting Judge".

In 1990 Coulson received his final promotion as a Deputy Circuit Judge. A fourth similar precedent in the law reports of that year was entered in Coulson's 1994 judgment, when on appeal, he awarded Trevor McAuley

£5,900 for unfair dismissal for racism after McAuley proved a case establishing that a certain additional level of damages can be awarded for having been a victim of a vicious and highly organised campaign of making fun of his Irish accent. Coulson retired in 1998 at the age of 70.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c Levens, R.G.C., ed. (1964). Merton College Register 1900-1964. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. p. 401.
  2. ^ The Independent cited in published opinions
  • "His Honour Michael Coulson" (Obituary), The Times, 25 July 2002
  • M. Stenton and S. Lees, "Who's Who of British MPs" Vol. IV (Harvester Press, 1981)
  • "Who Was Who", A & C Black

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Kingston upon Hull North
1959–1964 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_Coulson_(barrister)&oldid=1167665921"