Sir Brian Thomas Neill
PC QC (2 August 1923 – 24 December 2017)
was a British jurist. He was the son of
Sir Thomas Neill,
JP and the elder brother of
Patrick Neill, Baron Neill of Bladen
Francis Patrick Neill, Baron Neill of Bladen, (8 August 1926 – 28 May 2016) was a British barrister and a crossbench member of the House of Lords.
Early life and education
A son of Sir Thomas Neill (insurance executive), Thomas Neill, Pa ...
. He was educated at
Highgate School
Highgate School, formally Sir Roger Cholmeley's School at Highgate, is an English co-educational, fee-charging, independent day school, founded in 1565 in Highgate, London, England. It educates over 1,400 pupils in three sections – Highgat ...
, where he later served as a Governor for 21 years.
After serving as a Captain in the Rifle Brigade in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
he attended
Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 1 ...
, where he was later elected an Honorary Fellow in 1986.
He was called to the Bar at the
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and W ...
in 1949, eventually becoming a
Queen's Counsel
In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...
in 1968. In 1972 he became a Recorder of the
Crown Court
The Crown Court is the court of first instance of England and Wales responsible for hearing all indictable offences,