John Wheatley, Baron Wheatley

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John Thomas Wheatley, Baron Wheatley PC , KC (born January 17, 1908 in Glasgow , † July 28, 1988 ) was a Scottish judge and Labor Party politician .

John Wheatley was educated at St. Aloysius' College in Glasgow , a Jesuit school , at Mount St. Mary's College in Sheffield and at the University of Glasgow . In 1932 he was admitted to the bar. During World War II , he served in the Royal Artillery and the Military Tribunal.

Twice - 1945 and 1946 - Wheatley ran unsuccessfully for the House of Commons in Scotland . In November 1947 he was elected for the constituency of Edinburgh East in by-elections and sat for that constituency until 1954 in Parliament. From March to October 1947 he was Solicitor General for Scotland and was then appointed Lord Advocate . Also in 1947 he was appointed to the Privy Council and crown attorney . One of the outstanding achievements of his political career was the establishment of legal aid in Scotland. He was also appointed to the Court of Session , the highest civil court in Scotland, and received the judicial title of Lord Wheatley . In 1963 he presided over the divorce suit between Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll and her husband, Ian Douglas Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll , which caused a great public stir and in which he attested that the wife was "a thoroughly promiscuous woman, theirs." sexual appetite could only be satisfied by several men ”. The divorce decree was 50,000 words long, making it the longest in Scottish legal history.

In 1966 Lord Wheatley became chairman of the Royal Commission on Local Government in Scotland . In 1969 this commission published the Wheatley Report , which led to a reorganization of Scottish local government. In 1970 he was raised to Baron Wheatley , of Shettleston in the County of the City of Glasgow .

From 1972 to 1985 Wheatley was Lord Justice Clerk , the second highest judge in Scotland. He was known for advocating harsh penalties for sexual offenses. As Lord Justice Clerk , he exercised his right to serve as a judge and to impose harsh penalties for such acts.

After the Ibrox disaster in 1971, John Wheatley was hired by the government to conduct an investigation. His report from 1972 formed the basis for the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (called the Green Guide ).

Wheatley was a staunch Catholic. When the memorial service was held for him after his death in 1988, his old friend James Mackay, Baron Mackay of Clashfern , who was then Lord Chancellor , attended . Mackay was a member of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland , which rejects Catholicism. As a result of this service visit Mackay lost his church offices and the right to receive communion , especially since he had refused to make a promise before a synod that he would never again attend a Catholic service.

family

John Wheatley's uncle was the Scottish MP of the same name, who sat for the Independent Labor Party in the British Parliament from 1922 to 1920 and was the British Minister of Health in 1924. His son-in-law Tam Dalyell sat in parliament for the Labor Party .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Wheatley heads safety inquiry . In: Glasgow Herald , February 5, 1971, p. 18. 
  2. ↑ Margaret Duchess of Argyll . Obituary on telegraph.co.uk v. July 28, 1993
  3. ↑ tasks set for new planners of local government. Members of royal commissions named. . In: The Times , May 25, 1966, p. 14. 
  4. ↑ David Turnock: The Wheatley Report: Local Government in Scotland . In: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers (Ed.): Area . 2, No. 2, 1970, pp. 10-12. JSTOR 20000437 .
  5. ^ JJ O'Connor and EF Robertson: "James Peter Hymers Mackay". In: The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive . Edited by School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews . April 2006
personal data
SURNAME Wheatley, John, Baron Wheatley
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wheatley, John Thomas, Baron Wheatley (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish judge and politician
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Glasgow
DATE OF DEATH July 28, 1988