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Nicholas Lyell
Nicholas Walter Lyell, Baron Lyell of Markyate, PC, QC (6 December 1938 – 30 August 2010) was a British Conservative Party politician, known for much of his active political career as Sir Nicholas Lyell.
Born in London, he was the son of Sir Maurice Lyell, a High Court judge, and Veronica Luard, a sculptor and designer whose father, Lowes Dalbiac Luard, had been a contemporary of Augustus John and Walter Sickert. His mother died when he was 11, leaving Lyell and his sister Prue to continue their mother's work to preserve the work of their grandfather.
Educated at Wellesley House School in the coastal town of Broadstairs in Kent and at Stowe School, he was his father's best man when he married the also widowed Kitty, Lady Farrar, younger daughter of Walter Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of Doxford. Lyell read modern history at Christ Church, Oxford, where he joined the Bullingdon club, and after National Service with the Royal Artillery trained as a lawyer.[citation needed]
Lyell trained with the firm associated with his stepmother's family, Walter Runciman and Co, and was called to the bar at Inner Temple in 1965. He served his pupillage with Gordon Slynn, and after being part of the team that debated a case over the world's first onion-peeling machine, specialised in commercial and public law.
After unsuccessfully contesting Lambeth Central in October 1974, Lyell was elected Member of Parliament for Hemel Hempstead winning the seat from Labour in 1979, then Mid Bedfordshire from 1983, and moved to North East Bedfordshire at the 1997 election, having been defeated for the nomination by former Bristol MP Jonathan Sayeed in the Mid Bedfordshire constituency.
Lyell was one of very few lawyers to have combined a successful career in Parliament and a major private practice. He was also the longest continuously serving law officer for more than 100 years. After 20 years at the Bar he was appointed Solicitor-General from 1987 to 1992 under Margaret Thatcher, during which time he appeared in the Factortame case, and Attorney General for England and Wales and Northern Ireland under John Major from 1992 to 1997. He was knighted in 1987. He stood down as an MP at the 2001 election.
Commenting on Lyell's retirement as an MP, Conservative Party chairman Michael Ancram said:
Nick Lyell served his country and his party extremely well as attorney general and in a number of other senior roles in the last Conservative Government and he has been a tireless servant of his constituents during his 21 years in Parliament. His presence will be missed by all at Westminster. I am extremely grateful for all the years of service Nick has put in for the Conservative Party and I wish him well in his retirement.
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Nicholas Lyell
Nicholas Walter Lyell, Baron Lyell of Markyate, PC, QC (6 December 1938 – 30 August 2010) was a British Conservative Party politician, known for much of his active political career as Sir Nicholas Lyell.
Born in London, he was the son of Sir Maurice Lyell, a High Court judge, and Veronica Luard, a sculptor and designer whose father, Lowes Dalbiac Luard, had been a contemporary of Augustus John and Walter Sickert. His mother died when he was 11, leaving Lyell and his sister Prue to continue their mother's work to preserve the work of their grandfather.
Educated at Wellesley House School in the coastal town of Broadstairs in Kent and at Stowe School, he was his father's best man when he married the also widowed Kitty, Lady Farrar, younger daughter of Walter Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of Doxford. Lyell read modern history at Christ Church, Oxford, where he joined the Bullingdon club, and after National Service with the Royal Artillery trained as a lawyer.[citation needed]
Lyell trained with the firm associated with his stepmother's family, Walter Runciman and Co, and was called to the bar at Inner Temple in 1965. He served his pupillage with Gordon Slynn, and after being part of the team that debated a case over the world's first onion-peeling machine, specialised in commercial and public law.
After unsuccessfully contesting Lambeth Central in October 1974, Lyell was elected Member of Parliament for Hemel Hempstead winning the seat from Labour in 1979, then Mid Bedfordshire from 1983, and moved to North East Bedfordshire at the 1997 election, having been defeated for the nomination by former Bristol MP Jonathan Sayeed in the Mid Bedfordshire constituency.
Lyell was one of very few lawyers to have combined a successful career in Parliament and a major private practice. He was also the longest continuously serving law officer for more than 100 years. After 20 years at the Bar he was appointed Solicitor-General from 1987 to 1992 under Margaret Thatcher, during which time he appeared in the Factortame case, and Attorney General for England and Wales and Northern Ireland under John Major from 1992 to 1997. He was knighted in 1987. He stood down as an MP at the 2001 election.
Commenting on Lyell's retirement as an MP, Conservative Party chairman Michael Ancram said:
Nick Lyell served his country and his party extremely well as attorney general and in a number of other senior roles in the last Conservative Government and he has been a tireless servant of his constituents during his 21 years in Parliament. His presence will be missed by all at Westminster. I am extremely grateful for all the years of service Nick has put in for the Conservative Party and I wish him well in his retirement.