The Right Honourable
The Viscount Davidson
Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Lords
Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard
In office
10 September 1986 – 30 December 1991
MonarchElizabeth II
Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher
John Major
Preceded byThe Earl of Swinton
Succeeded byThe Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne
Lord-in-waiting
Government Whip
In office
17 September 1985 – 10 September 1986
Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher
Preceded byThe Earl of Caithness
Succeeded byThe Lord Hesketh
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
12 December 1970 – 11 November 1999
Hereditary Peerage
Preceded byThe 1st Viscount Davidson
Succeeded bySeat abolished
Personal details
Born(1928-12-22)22 December 1928
Westminster, England
Died20 July 2012(2012-07-20) (aged 83)
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s)1) Margaret Norton
2) Pamela Vergette
Children4
Parent(s)J. C. C. Davidson
Frances Dickinson
Alma materPembroke College, Cambridge.

John Andrew Davidson, 2nd Viscount Davidson (22 December 1928 – 20 July 2012),[1] was a British peer and Conservative politician. Regarded as a safe pair of hands,[2] he became deputy chief whip in the House of Lords.

Background and education

Davidson was the elder son of J. C. C. Davidson, 1st Viscount Davidson, and Frances, daughter of Willoughby Dickinson, 1st Baron Dickinson. He was educated at Westminster School and Pembroke College, Cambridge. Between 1947 and 1949 he served in the Black Watch and the 5th Battalion of the King's African Rifles before going up to Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he was known for his thespian talents, being president of the Footlights in 1951.[3][4] In 1960 he embarked on a 15-year career in large-scale farming, as a director of Strutt and Parker (Farms) and Lord Rayleigh Farms. By 1965 he was on the council of the Country Landowners Association (now the Country Land & Business Association). In 1966 he was appointed chairman of the Royal Eastern Counties Hospital for the mentally handicapped at Colchester, a job he considered the "most frustrating" of his life. Tensions with the regional hospital board which was ultimately responsible for the hospital boiled over in 1971, ostensibly because of the way Mauritian employees had been treated, and the following March the board sacked five members of the management committee.

Political career

Davidson entered the House of Lords on the death of his father in 1970. He served in the Conservative administrations of Margaret Thatcher and John Major as a Lord-in-waiting between 1985 and 1986. An agile mind and a winning manner enabled Andrew Davidson to carry out the demanding duties of Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Lords for six years, 1986–92, with skill and marked success. As Deputy Chief Whip, he held the ancient but purely nominal office of Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard.[3] He lost his seat in Parliament after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999, commenting: "I am getting on and maybe the younger generation should get a shot at it."[2]

Family

Lord Davidson was married twice. He married firstly Margaret Birgitta, daughter of Major-General Cyril Henry Norton, in 1956. They had four daughters (one of whom, Hon. Alexandra Oldfield, is deceased) but were divorced in 1974. His second daughter Hon. Caroline Davidson was married to Lord Edward Alexander Somerset, second son of David Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort. Lord Davidson married secondly Pamela Joy (now deceased), daughter of John Vergette, in 1975. They had no children.[3][4]

Viscount Davidson died on 20 July 2012 at the age of 83 and was succeeded by his brother Malcolm William Mackenzie Davidson, 3rd Viscount Davidson (1934-2019), also a Pembroke alumnus.

Arms

Coat of arms of Andrew Davidson, 2nd Viscount Davidson
Crest
A lion passant Gules charged on the shoulder with a pheon Or and holding in the dexter paw a torch inflamed Proper.
Escutcheon
Argent on a fess Sable between in chief two pheons Azure and in base a boar's head erased of the second a portcullis chained Or.
Supporters
On the dexter side a horse Argent charged on the shoulder with a rose Gules barbed and seeded Proper and on the sinister side a horse Sable charged on the shoulder with a martlet Or.
Motto
Lux Ex Tenebris[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Daily Telegraph Obituary, – Viscount Davidson". The Daily Telegraph. London. 25 July 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  2. 1 2 Roth, Andrew (27 August 2012). "Viscount Davidson obituary". the Guardian. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 Who's Who 2007. A & C Black Publishers Limited, London, 2007.
  4. 1 2 thepeerage.com
  5. ↑ Burke's Peerage. 1949.
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