Dennis John Trevelyan, CB (21 July 1929 – 19 July 2024) was a British civil servant and college head.

Life and career

Born on 21 July 1929, Trevelyan attended

University College, Oxford University College, formally The Master and Fellows of the College of the Great Hall of the University commonly called University College in the University of Oxford and colloquially referred to as "Univ", is a Colleges of the University of Oxf ...

, before he entered HM Civil Service in 1950 as an official in the

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

. He was Director-General of

HM Prison Service His Majesty's Prison Service (HMPS) is a part of HM Prison and Probation Service (formerly the National Offender Management Service), which is the part of His Majesty's Government charged with managing most of the prisons within England and ...

from 1978 to 1983."Trevelyan, Dennis John"
''Who's Who'' (online ed., Oxford University Press, 2021). Retrieved 28 January 2022. While there, he was responsible for overseeing the implementation of the

May Report The May Report, within the economic history of the United Kingdom, was a publication on 31 July 1931 by the Committee on National Expenditure ("May Committee"). The May Committee was set up to suggest ways for the government to curb expenditure afte ...

's recommendations. ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' reported in 1983 that the

Prison Reform Trust The Prison Reform Trust (PRT) was founded in 1981 in London, England, by a small group of prison reform campaigners who were unhappy with the direction in which the Howard League for Penal Reform was heading, concentrating more on community puni ...

"complimented Mr Trevelyan on the relative openness of the prison system". In another article, ''The Times'' noted that, by the time he left office, the rate of incarceration was rising and prison officers were considering striking, while a report by the

Chief Inspector of Prisons His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons is the head of HM Inspectorate of Prisons and the senior inspector of prisons, young offender institutions and immigration service detention and removal centres in England and Wales. The current chief inspe ...

criticised the state of the prisons themselves. The same paper, however, called Trevelyan "an enlightened, efficient and reforming director-general", but noted that "even he found himself unable to overcome the combined forces of governmental timidity, departmental and judicial conservatism, prison officer resistance and, not least, the inexorably rising crime rate". He had been appointed a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

in the

1981 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1981 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made to celebrate ...

. In 1983, Trevelyan was appointed

First Civil Service Commissioner The First Civil Service Commissioner heads the Civil Service Commission, a statutory body which ensures that appointments to the Civil Service in the United Kingdom are made openly and on merit, and hears appeals from civil servants under the Civ ...

. During his tenure, which ended in 1989, he "actively upheld the vetting of Whitehall appointments to ensure that they were made on the basis of fair and open competition". He protested against

Michael Heseltine Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, (; born 21 March 1933) is a British politician. Having begun his career as a property developer, he became one of the founders of the publishing house Haymarket Media Group in 1957. Heseltine se ...

's appointment of

Peter Levene Peter Keith Levene, Baron Levene of Portsoken (born 8 December 1941), is a British businessman who was the chairman of Lloyd's of London from 2003 to 2011 and served as Lord Mayor of London from 1998 to 1999. He was a member of the House of Lor ...

as a procurement official in the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

, insisting successfully that the Commission had to review his credentials first. He was less successful, despite his efforts, at recruiting more non-

Oxbridge Oxbridge is a portmanteau of the University of Oxford, Universities of Oxford and University of Cambridge, Cambridge, the two oldest, wealthiest, and most prestigious universities in the United Kingdom. The term is used to refer to them collect ...

administrative trainees.David Walker, "Times Diary", ''The Times'' (London), 11 April 1989, p. 16. . Trevelyan retired from the civil service in 1989 and was elected Principal of

Mansfield College, Oxford Mansfield College, Oxford is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. The college was founded in Birmingham in 1838 as a college for Nonconformist students. It moved to Oxford in 1886 and was renamed Mansfield Coll ...

, serving from 1989 to 1996. During that time, Trevelyan was credited with leading the effort to make Mansfield a Full College of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. Trevelyan died on 19 July 2024, at the age of 94.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trevelyan, Dennis 1929 births 2024 deaths British civil servants Principals of Mansfield College, Oxford Companions of the Order of the Bath