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 Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were judges appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the British House of Lords, as a committee of the House, effectively to exercise the judicial functions of the House of ...

Biography

Born in

West Ham West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross. The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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

Bedfordshire Regiment The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment was the final title of a Line infantry, line infantry regiment of the British Army that was originally formed in 1688. After centuries of service in many conflicts and wars, including both the World War ...

and the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

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 entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

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

Leicester East Leicester East is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since July 2024 by Shivani Raja of the Conservative Party. Constituency profile This is an urban constituency, much of which is densely developed as hous ...

in the 1945 general election, 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 Bicameralism, 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 ...

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 An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...

in 1960, when he also became a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council, formally His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its members, known as privy counsellors, are mainly senior politicians who are current or former ...

. On 11 January 1964 he was appointed as a

, remaining in post until 1971. As a

Law Lord Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were judges appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the British House of Lords, as a committee of the House, effectively to exercise the judicial functions of the House of ...

he was given a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

age as Baron Donovan, ''of

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

in the

County of Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, Dorset to the west, and Wiltshi ...

''. In 1965-68, 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. Its ...

(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 have a minimum set of employment rights, from Acts of Parliament, Regulations, common law and equity (legal concept), equity. ...

. He died in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

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