Terence Norbert Donovan, Baron Donovan (13 June 1898 – 12 December 1971) was a British Labour Party politician and later a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.

Biography

Born in

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancient ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, Donovan was educated at Brockley Grammar School, before serving in the Bedfordshire Regiment and the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

during World War I. After demobilisation, he joined the Civil Service. He was called to the Bar by the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

in 1924, although he did not begin practising at the bar until 1932. Donovan was elected as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Leicester East Leicester East is a United Kingdom constituencies, constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament since December 2019 by Claudia Webbe, who was ele ...

in the

1945 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1945. Africa * 1945 South-West African legislative election Asia * 1945 Indian general election Australia * 1945 Fremantle by-election Europe * 1945 Albanian parliamentary election * 1945 Bulgarian ...

, and took silk the same year. When that constituency was abolished for the 1950 general election, he was re-elected for the new Leicester North East constituency. However, Donovan resigned from the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

within weeks of the election, when he was appointed as a High Court judge, receiving the customary knighthood (his successor, Sir Lynn Ungoed-Thomas, also became a judge, in 1962). He was promoted to the Court of Appeal in 1960, when he also became a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of ei ...

. On 11 January 1964 he was appointed as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, remaining in post until 1971. As a Law Lord he was given a life peerage as Baron Donovan, ''of Winchester in the County of Hampshire''. In 1965-1968 he chaired the

Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employers' Associations The Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employers’ Associations (also known as the Donovan Commission) was an inquiry into the system of collective UK labour law, chaired by Lord Donovan and heavily influenced by the opinions of Hugh Clegg. It ...

(the so-called "Donovan commission") on the system of collective

UK labour law United Kingdom labour law regulates the relations between workers, employers and trade unions. People at work in the UK can rely upon a minimum charter of employment rights, which are found in Acts of Parliament, Regulations, common law and equit ...

. He died in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

aged 73.

Arms

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Donovan, Terence Norbert 1898 births 1971 deaths Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Donovan, Terence Norbert, Baron Donovan Donovan, Terence Donovan, Baron UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs who were granted peerages Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council British trade unions history Knights Bachelor English King's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel Queen's Bench Division judges English justices of the peace 20th-century English lawyers