Patrick Mayhew

Patrick Barnabas Burke Mayhew, Baron Mayhew of Twysden, PC, QC, DL (11 September 1929 – 25 June 2016) was a British barrister and politician.

The Right Honourable
The Lord Mayhew of Twysden
PC QC DL
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In office
10 April 1992 – 2 May 1997
Prime MinisterJohn Major
Preceded byPeter Brooke
Succeeded byMo Mowlam
Attorney General for England and Wales
Attorney General for Northern Ireland
In office
13 June 1987 – 10 April 1992
Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher
John Major
Preceded byMichael Havers
Succeeded bySir Nicholas Lyell
Solicitor General for England and Wales
In office
13 June 1983 – 13 June 1987
Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher
Preceded byIan Percival
Succeeded bySir Nicholas Lyell
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment
In office
4 May 1979 – 5 January 1981
Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher
Preceded byJohn Grant
Succeeded byDavid Waddington
Member of Parliament
for Tunbridge Wells
In office
28 February 1974 – 2 May 1997
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byArchie Norman
Personal details
Born
Patrick Barnabas Burke Mayhew

(1929-09-11)11 September 1929
Died25 June 2016(2016-06-25) (aged 86)
Kent, England
Political partyConservative
Alma materBalliol College, Oxford
Middle Temple

Early life

Patrick’s father, George Mayhew, was a decorated army officer turned oil executive; his mother, Sheila Roche, descended from members of the Anglo-Irish Protestant ascendancy, was a relative of James Roche, 3rd Baron Fermoy, an Irish National Federation MP for Kerry East. Through his father, Mayhew was descended from the Victorian social commentator Henry Mayhew. He was educated at Tonbridge School, an all boys public school in Tonbridge, Kent.[1][2]

He then served as an officer in the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards, studied law at Balliol College, Oxford, and was president of the Oxford University Conservative Association and of the Oxford Union.[3] He was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple in 1955.[2]

Political career

Mayhew contested Dulwich in 1970,[2] but the incumbent Labour member, Sam Silkin, beat him by 895 votes. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for the Tunbridge Wells constituency from its creation at the February 1974 general election, standing down at the 1997 election.[4]

He was Under Secretary of Employment from 1979 to 1981, then Minister of State at the Home Office from 1981 to 1983. After this, he served as Solicitor General for England and Wales from 1983 to 1987,[5] and then Attorney General for England and Wales[6] and simultaneously Attorney General for Northern Ireland[7] from 1987 to 1992.

He was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 1992 to 1997, the longest anyone has served in this office.

He was one of only five Ministers (Tony Newton, Kenneth Clarke, Malcolm Rifkind and Lynda Chalker are the others) to serve throughout the whole 18 years of the Governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. This represents the longest uninterrupted Ministerial service in Britain since Lord Palmerston in the early 19th century.

Honours and awards

Mayhew was knighted in 1983.[5] On 12 June 1997, he was given a life peerage as Baron Mayhew of Twysden, of Kilndown in the County of Kent.[8] He retired from the House of Lords on 1 June 2015.[9]

Personal life

In 1963, Mayhew married The Rev. Jean Gurney, and they had four sons.[3] Mayhew's son, The Hon Henry Mayhew, appeared in the fourth episode of the series The Secret History Of Our Streets, discussing life in the Portland Road, Notting Hill, London. Another son, Tristram, co-founded the outdoor adventure company Go Ape.

His son, Jerome Mayhew, is the Conservative MP for the constituency of Broadland in Norfolk since December 2019.

Mayhew suffered from cancer and Parkinson's disease in his later years.[10] He died on 25 June 2016, aged 86, in his home in Kent.[10]

Arms
Coat of arms of Patrick Mayhew
Crest
An eagle winds elevated and addorsed Argent beaked and legged Or the dexter foot plucking a harp also Or.
Escutcheon
Or an orle fracted and there conjoined to two chevronels couped Azure between three trefoils slipped Vert each enfiling a coronet Azure.
Supporters
Dexter a roach urinant argent finned Or sinister a gurnard urinant Argent finned Or.
Motto
Mon Dieu Est Ma Roche[11]

References
  1. (Bates 2016)
  2. Maume, Patrick (September 2023). "Mayhew, Patrick Barnabas Burke". Dictionary of Irish Biography.
  3. "Profile: The grandee with the smoking gun: Sir Patrick Mayhew MP, attorney-in-question". The Independent. ESI Media. 29 May 1993. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  4. "Sir Patrick Mayhew (Hansard)". api.parliament.uk. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  5. "No. 49397". The London Gazette. 24 June 1983. p. 8380.
  6. "No. 50971". The London Gazette: 7931. 22 June 1987.
  7. "Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973".
  8. "No. 54809". The London Gazette. 17 June 1997. p. 7011.
  9. "Lord Mayhew of Twysden". UK Parliament. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  10. "Former NI Secretary Lord Mayhew dies, aged 86". BBC News. 25 June 2016. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  11. Debrett's Peerage. 2003. p. 1235.
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