The Lord Mayhew of Twysden
Honorific prefixThe Right Honourable
Office 1Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Prime minister 1John Major
Term start 110 April 1992
Term end 12 May 1997
Predecessor 1Peter Brooke
Successor 1Mo Mowlam
Office 2Attorney General for England and Wales
Attorney General for Northern Ireland
Prime minister 2Margaret Thatcher
John Major
Term start 213 June 1987
Term end 210 April 1992
Predecessor 2Michael Havers
Successor 2Sir Nicholas Lyell
Office 3Solicitor General for England and Wales
Prime minister 3Margaret Thatcher
Term start 313 June 1983
Term end 313 June 1987
Predecessor 3Ian Percival
Successor 3Sir Nicholas Lyell
Office 4Minister of State for the Home Office
Prime minister 4Margaret Thatcher
Term start 45 January 1981
Term end 413 June 1983
Predecessor 4Leon Brittan
Successor 4Douglas Hurd
Office 5Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment
Prime minister 5Margaret Thatcher
Term start 54 May 1979
Term end 55 January 1981
Predecessor 5John Grant
Successor 5David Waddington
Office 6Member of Parliament
for Tunbridge Wells
Term start 628 February 1974
Term end 68 April 1997
Predecessor 6Constituency established
Successor 6Archie Norman
Office 7Member of the House of Lords
Status 7Lord Temporal
Term label 7Life peerage
Term start 712 June 1997
Term end 71 June 2015
Birth namePatrick Barnabas Burke Mayhew
Birth date11 September 1929
Birth placeCookham, England
Death date25 June 2016 (aged 86)
Death placeKilndown, England
PartyConservative
Alma materBalliol College, Oxford
Middle Temple
SpouseJean Gurney (m. 1953)

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

Early life

Mayhew was born in Cookham, Berkshire, on 11 September 1929.[1] His 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.[2][3]

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.[4] He was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple in 1955.[3]

Political career

Mayhew contested Dulwich in 1970,[3] but the incumbent Labour member, Sam Silkin, beat him by 895 votes.[citation needed] 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.[5]

He was Under Secretary of Employment from 1979 to 1981, then Minister of State at the Home Office from 1981 to 1983.[citation needed] After this, he served as Solicitor General for England and Wales from 1983 to 1987,[6] and then Attorney General for England and Wales[7] and simultaneously Attorney General for Northern Ireland[8] from 1987 to 1992.

He was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 1992 to 1997.[1]

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.[citation needed] This represents the longest uninterrupted Ministerial service in Britain since Lord Palmerston in the early 19th century.[citation needed]

Honours and awards

Mayhew was knighted in 1983.[6] On 12 June 1997, he was given a life peerage as Baron Mayhew of Twysden, of Kilndown in the County of Kent.[9] He retired from the House of Lords on 1 June 2015.[10]

Personal life

In 1963, Mayhew married the Rev. Jean Gurney, and they had four sons.[4] His son Jerome Mayhew is the Conservative MP for the constituency of Broadland and Fakenham (previously Broadland) in Norfolk since the 2019 general election.

Mayhew, a devout Anglican, was a churchwarden at Christ Church, Kilndown.[1]

Mayhew suffered from cancer and Parkinson's disease in his later years.[11] He died from cancer at his home on 25 June 2016, aged 86.[1][11]

Arms

Patrick Mayhew
EscutcheonOr an orle fracted and there conjoined to two chevronels couped Azure between three trefoils slipped Vert each enfiling a coronet Azure.
CrestAn eagle winds elevated and addorsed Argent beaked and legged Or the dexter foot plucking a harp also Or.
SupportersDexter a roach urinant argent finned Or sinister a gurnard urinant Argent finned Or.

References

  1. ^ Shiels, David C. (2020). "Mayhew, Patrick Barnabas Burke, Baron Mayhew of Twysden (1929–2016), politician". doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.111353
  2. ^ (Bates 2016)
  3. ^ Maume, Patrick (September 2023). "Mayhew, Patrick Barnabas Burke". Dictionary of Irish Biography
  4. ^ "Profile: The grandee with the smoking gun: Sir Patrick Mayhew MP, attorney-in-question". The Independent. ESI Media. 29 May 1993. Archived 25 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  5. ^ "Sir Patrick Mayhew (Hansard)". api.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2020-11-27.
  6. ^ No. 49397. 24 June 1983. p. 8380.
  7. ^ "No. 50971". The London Gazette. 22 June 1987.
  8. ^ "Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973"
  9. ^ No. 54809. 17 June 1997. p. 7011.
  10. ^ "Lord Mayhew of Twysden". UK Parliament. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  11. ^ "Former NI Secretary Lord Mayhew dies, aged 86". BBC News. 25 June 2016. Retrieved 25 June 2016.

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