Patrick Neill, Baron Neill of Bladen

Francis Patrick Neill, Baron Neill of Bladen, QC (born 8 August 1926) is a cross bench member of the House of Lords.

Educated at Highgate School and Magdalen College, Oxford, he was Warden of All Souls College, Oxford, from 1977 until 1995, where he has been an Honorary Fellow since 1995. He was Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University from 1985 till 1989.^[1] He was an unsuccessful candidate in the University of Oxford Chancellor election, 2003.

Having been knighted in 1983,^[2] Neill was made a Life Peer as Baron Neill of Bladen, of Briantspuddle in the County of Dorset, on 28 November 1997.^[3] He became a barrister in 1951 and a QC in 1966. After heading One Hare Court, he became head of chambers of Serle Court, in Lincoln's Inn when the two merged in 1999.^[4] Lord Neill left Serle Court in 2008 to join his elder brother Sir Brian Neill, a former Court of Appeal judge, at 20 Essex Street.^[5]

Family Life

In 1954 he married Caroline Susan Debenham, daughter of Sir Piers Kenrick Debenham.^[6] They have six children:

• Timothy Piers Patrick Neill
• Robin Charles Richard Neill
• Jonathan Francis Kenrick Neill
• Harriet Susan Anne Neill
• Matthew Piers Thomas Neill
• Emma Charlotte Angela Neill, married to Rt Hon. Sir Christopher Geidt, the Private Secretary to the HM The Queen.^[7]

References

1. "Previous Vice-Chancellors". University of Oxford, UK. Retrieved July 14, 2011.
2. The London Gazette: no. 49575. p. 16802. 20 December 1983.
3. The London Gazette: no. 54967. p. 13561. 3 December 1997.
4. "One Hare Court and Serle Court merge". The Lawyer. 1999.
5. "New Head of Chambers". Serle Court. 2007.
6. The Times, 26 April 1954, page 8.
7. The Times, 16 July 1996, page 18.

External links

• Personal Biography