Patrick Neill, Baron Neill of Bladen

Francis Patrick Neill, Baron Neill of Bladen, QC (8 August 1926 – 28 May 2016) was a British barrister and cross bench member of the House of Lords.

Educated at Highgate School and Magdalen College, Oxford, 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.^[1] 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.^[2]

He was Warden of All Souls College, Oxford, from 1977 until 1995, and an Honorary Fellow since 1995. He was Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University from 1985 till 1989,^[3] and played a major part in the University's decision to undertake The Campaign for Oxford. He was an unsuccessful candidate in the University of Oxford Chancellor election, 2003.

Having been knighted in 1983,^[4] Neill was made a Life Peer as Baron Neill of Bladen, of Briantspuddle in the County of Dorset, on 28 November 1997.^[5] He sat in the House of Lords as a crossbencher until 18 May 2016, at which point he ceased to be a member pursuant to section 2 of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014, having failed to attend during the whole of the 2015–16 session without being on leave of absence.^[6] He died in May 2016 at the age of 89.^[7]

Family life

In 1954 he married Caroline Susan Debenham, daughter of Sir Piers Kenrick Debenham.^[8] They had 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 HM The Queen.^[9]

References

External links

• Personal Biography