Reginald Manningham-Buller, 1st Viscount Dilhorne
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Reginald Edward Manningham-Buller, 1st Viscount Dilhorne PC, QC
(1 August 1905 – 7 September 1980), known as Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller, Bt, from 1954 to 1962 and as The Lord Dilhorne from 1962 to 1964, was an English lawyer and Conservative
politician. He served as Lord Chancellor
from 1962 to 1964.
, Buckinghamshire, Dilhorne was the only son of Sir Mervyn Manningham-Buller, 3rd Baronet, grandson of Sir Edward Manningham-Buller, 1st Baronet
, of Dilhorne Hall, Staffordshire, a junior member of the Yarde-Buller family headed by Baron Churston
. His mother was the Hon. Lilah, daughter of Charles Cavendish, 3rd Baron Chesham
. His uncle's seat of Dilhorne Hall
having passed to an heiress ineligible for the baronetcy, Dilhorne made his home in Northamptonshire
. Although locals now pronounce it "Dill-horn", Manningham-Buller preferred the previous pronunciation of "Dill-urn". He was educated at Eton College
, where he caused a fellow pupil to be expelled for making advances to another boy. He then attended Magdalen College, Oxford
before being called to the Bar in 1927.
. He was briefly a junior minister in the government of Winston Churchill
before it lost power in the elections of 1945, and became a King's Counsel in 1947. In 1950, his seat became Northamptonshire South. When Churchill regained power in 1951 Dilhorne was knighted and became Solicitor-General
; in 1954 he was sworn of the Privy Council and became Attorney General for England and Wales
. In 1956 he succeeded his father as fourth Baronet.
He continued as Attorney-General under Sir Anthony Eden
and Harold Macmillan
until July 1962, when he was rather abruptly named Lord Chancellor
and sent to the House of Lords to replace Lord Kilmuir. On his appointment he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Dilhorne, of Towcester in the County of Northampton. Retained after Macmillan's retirement in the cabinet of Alec Douglas-Home
, when the Conservatives lost the election of 1964 he was made Viscount Dilhorne, of Greens Norton in the County of Northampton, and Deputy Leader of the Conservatives in the House of Lords. In 1969 he was named a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
and continued in this capacity until his death.
Dr John Bodkin Adams
for the murder of two elderly widows in Eastbourne
, Edith Alice Morrell
and Gertrude Hullett
. Adams was acquitted on the Morrell charge but Manningham-Buller controversially entered a nolle prosequi
regarding Hullett. Not only was there seemingly little reason to enter it (Adams wasn't suffering from ill health), but the Hullett charge was deemed by many to be the stronger of the two cases. Mr Justice Patrick Devlin
, the presiding judge, in his post-trial book termed Manningham-Buller's act "an abuse of power". Devlin also criticised Manningham-Buller for his uncharacteristic weakness at a crucial moment in the Morrell case: evidence (some nurses' notebooks) that had gone missing from the Director of Public Prosecutions
's files, turned up in the hands of the defence on the second day of the trial. Manningham-Buller claimed he had not seen them before but failed to halt their admission as evidence, or ask for time to acquaint himself with their contents. They were subsequently used by the defence to throw doubt on the accuracy of the testimony of various nurses who had worked with Adams and who had questioned his methods and intentions. This damaged the prosecution tremendously, fatally scuppering the case. Manningham-Buller's handling of the case later provoked questions in the House of Commons.
Detective Superintendent Herbert Hannam
of Scotland Yard
, the chief investigator, suspected political interference due to Manningham-Buller's membership of a government, which had no interest in seeing a doctor hang. Indeed, on 8 November 1956, Manningham-Buller himself had handed a copy of Hannam's 187-page report to the President of the British Medical Association
(BMA), effectively the doctors' trade union in Britain. This document – the prosecution's most valuable document – was in the hands of the defence, a situation that led the Home Secretary
, Gwilym Lloyd-George, to reprimand Manningham-Buller, stating that such documents should not even be shown to "Parliament
or to individual Members". "I can only hope that no harm will result" since "the disclosure of this document is likely to cause me considerable embarrassment". Subsequently, on 28 November 1956, Labour
MPs Stephen Swingler
and Hugh Delargy
gave notice of two questions to be answered in the House of Commons on 3 December regarding Manningham-Buller's contacts with the General Medical Council
(GMC) and BMA regarding the Adams case in the previous six months. Manningham-Buller was absent on the day in question but gave a written reply stating he had "had no communications with the General Medical Council within the last six months." He avoided referring to the BMA directly (despite it being named in the questions) and therefore avoided lying, though it could be argued, still deliberately misled the House. Manningham-Buller then proceeded to launch an investigation into how his contact with the BMA had come to be known by the MPs. A leak from Scotland Yard was suspected and Hannam was reprimanded.
Charles Hewett, Hannam's assistant in the investigation, has described how both officers were astounded at Manningham-Buller's decision to charge John Bodkin Adams
with the murder of Mrs. Morrell, whose body had been cremated. He believed that there were other cases against the doctor, where traces of drugs had been found in exhumed remains, which were more capable of proof. He also considered that a charge of manslaughter would have been more appropriate in the circumstances. He questioned the decision not to proceed further after Adams' acquittal and he believed that a calculating killer escaped justice as a result. Home Office
pathologist Francis Camps
suspected Adams of killing 163 patients.
gave him the nickname Bullying-Manners in his Parliamentary sketch. Lord Devlin, judge in the Adams case, described his technique thus:
Manningham-Buller was one of the inspirations for the character of Kenneth Widmerpool
in Anthony Powell
's A Dance to the Music of Time
.
. The decision was taken to prosecute Penguin under the new Obscene Publications Act
. Bernard Levin criticised the decision thus: "It is surely going to be difficult for the prosecution to find anybody taken seriously by the literary or academic worlds to swear that publication of Lady Chatterley’s Lover is not in the public interest as a literary event and that its tendency would be to deprave and corrupt those who might read it." When Manningham-Buller saw this in The Spectator
, he cabled Sir Jocelyn Simon, Solicitor-General
saying: “suggest seriously consider spectator 19th Reggie”. He then sent a letter stating: “It seems to me a clear contempt of court
and the only question is should we start proceedings? My feelings is that we should.” Manningham-Buller suggested prosecuting “the proprietors of The Spectator, the editor and Mr Bernard Levin” once the Chatterley trial itself was over. Sir Jocelyn convinced him to reconsider.
:
"The conditions imposed must be for a planning purpose and not for any ulterior one... and they must fairly and reasonably relate to the development permitted. Also they must not be so unreasonable that no reasonable planning authority could have imposed them.
In that case he also introduced the concept of the 'planning unit' which extinguishes previous permitted uses on land that has in practice become a new planning unit. This has stood up the test of recent judisprudence and a DCLG (then DoE) circular is largely based on its principles.
, in 1930. They had a son, John
, who succeeded him in the title, and three daughters, the second daughter, Eliza Manningham-Buller, being the Director-General
of MI5
from 2002 to 2007; In 2008 she was awarded a life peerage, becoming The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Manningham-Buller DCB. Lord Dilhorne died in September 1980, aged 75, and was interred in the rural countryside village of Deene
, East Northamptonshire
.
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
(1 August 1905 – 7 September 1980), known as Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller, Bt, from 1954 to 1962 and as The Lord Dilhorne from 1962 to 1964, was an English lawyer and Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
politician. He served as Lord Chancellor
Lord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
from 1962 to 1964.
Background and education
Born in AmershamAmersham
Amersham is a market town and civil parish within Chiltern district in Buckinghamshire, England, 27 miles north west of London, in the Chiltern Hills. It is part of the London commuter belt....
, Buckinghamshire, Dilhorne was the only son of Sir Mervyn Manningham-Buller, 3rd Baronet, grandson of Sir Edward Manningham-Buller, 1st Baronet
Sir Edward Manningham-Buller, 1st Baronet
Sir Edward Manningham-Buller, 1st Baronet was a politician in the United Kingdom. He was for Member of Parliament for North Staffordshire from 1833 to 1841, for Stafford from 1841 to 1847, and for North Staffordshire again from 1865 to 1874.He was made a Baronet in 1866, of Dilhorne, in the...
, of Dilhorne Hall, Staffordshire, a junior member of the Yarde-Buller family headed by Baron Churston
Baron Churston
Baron Churston, of Churston Ferrers and Lupton in the County of Devon, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1858 for the former Conservative Member of Parliament, Sir John Yarde, 3rd Baronet. He had earlier represented South Devon in the House of Commons. Two years...
. His mother was the Hon. Lilah, daughter of Charles Cavendish, 3rd Baron Chesham
Charles Cavendish, 3rd Baron Chesham
Charles Compton William Cavendish, 3rd Baron Chesham KCB, PC, DL , styled The Honourable Charles Cavendish between 1863 and 1882, was a British soldier, courtier and Conservative politician...
. His uncle's seat of Dilhorne Hall
Dilhorne Hall
Dilhorne Hall located in Dilhorne, Staffordshire, England was the ancestral home of the Buller family. -History:The Hall occupied an area of approximately four acres but was demolished in the 1930's. Dilhorne Hall was rebuilt in about 1830 by the Buller family...
having passed to an heiress ineligible for the baronetcy, Dilhorne made his home in Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
. Although locals now pronounce it "Dill-horn", Manningham-Buller preferred the previous pronunciation of "Dill-urn". He was educated at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, where he caused a fellow pupil to be expelled for making advances to another boy. He then attended Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...
before being called to the Bar in 1927.
Political career
Dilhorne was elected to the House of Commons in a 1943 by-election as Member of Parliament (MP) for DaventryDaventry (UK Parliament constituency)
Daventry is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is a strongly Conservative seat.- Boundaries :The constituency covers the west of Northamptonshire and is named for the market town of Daventry...
. He was briefly a junior minister in the government of Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
before it lost power in the elections of 1945, and became a King's Counsel in 1947. In 1950, his seat became Northamptonshire South. When Churchill regained power in 1951 Dilhorne was knighted and became Solicitor-General
Solicitor General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, often known as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to advise the Crown and Cabinet on the law...
; in 1954 he was sworn of the Privy Council and became Attorney General for England and Wales
Attorney General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales, usually known simply as the Attorney General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown. Along with the subordinate Solicitor General for England and Wales, the Attorney General serves as the chief legal adviser of the Crown and its government in...
. In 1956 he succeeded his father as fourth Baronet.
He continued as Attorney-General under Sir Anthony Eden
Anthony Eden
Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC was a British Conservative politician, who was Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957...
and Harold Macmillan
Harold Macmillan
Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC was Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 January 1957 to 18 October 1963....
until July 1962, when he was rather abruptly named Lord Chancellor
Lord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
and sent to the House of Lords to replace Lord Kilmuir. On his appointment he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Dilhorne, of Towcester in the County of Northampton. Retained after Macmillan's retirement in the cabinet of Alec Douglas-Home
Alec Douglas-Home
Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel, KT, PC , known as The Earl of Home from 1951 to 1963 and as Sir Alec Douglas-Home from 1963 to 1974, was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1963 to October 1964.He is the last...
, when the Conservatives lost the election of 1964 he was made Viscount Dilhorne, of Greens Norton in the County of Northampton, and Deputy Leader of the Conservatives in the House of Lords. In 1969 he was named a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the House of Lords of the United Kingdom in order to exercise its judicial functions, which included acting as the highest court of appeal for most domestic matters...
and continued in this capacity until his death.
John Bodkin Adams
In 1957 Dilhorne prosecuted suspected serial killerSerial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
Dr John Bodkin Adams
John Bodkin Adams
John Bodkin Adams was an Irish-born British general practitioner, convicted fraudster and suspected serial killer. Between the years 1946 and 1956, more than 160 of his patients died in suspicious circumstances. Of these, 132 left him money or items in their will. He was tried and acquitted for...
for the murder of two elderly widows in Eastbourne
Eastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
, Edith Alice Morrell
Edith Alice Morrell
Edith Alice Morrell , was a resident of Eastbourne and patient of the suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams. He was tried for her murder in 1957 but acquitted...
and Gertrude Hullett
Gertrude Hullett
Gertrude "Bobby" Hullett , a resident of Eastbourne, East Sussex, England, was a patient of the suspected serial killer Dr John Bodkin Adams, who was charged with her murder but never tried for it.-Jack Hullett:...
. Adams was acquitted on the Morrell charge but Manningham-Buller controversially entered a nolle prosequi
Nolle prosequi
Nolle prosequi is legal term of art and a Latin legal phrase meaning "to be unwilling to pursue", a phrase amounting to "please do not prosecute". It is a phrase used in many common law criminal prosecution contexts to describe a prosecutor's decision to voluntarily discontinue criminal charges...
regarding Hullett. Not only was there seemingly little reason to enter it (Adams wasn't suffering from ill health), but the Hullett charge was deemed by many to be the stronger of the two cases. Mr Justice Patrick Devlin
Patrick Devlin, Baron Devlin
Patrick Arthur Devlin, Baron Devlin, PC was a British lawyer, judge and jurist. He wrote a report on Britain's involvement in Nyasaland in 1959...
, the presiding judge, in his post-trial book termed Manningham-Buller's act "an abuse of power". Devlin also criticised Manningham-Buller for his uncharacteristic weakness at a crucial moment in the Morrell case: evidence (some nurses' notebooks) that had gone missing from the Director of Public Prosecutions
Director of Public Prosecutions
The Director of Public Prosecutions is the officer charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world...
's files, turned up in the hands of the defence on the second day of the trial. Manningham-Buller claimed he had not seen them before but failed to halt their admission as evidence, or ask for time to acquaint himself with their contents. They were subsequently used by the defence to throw doubt on the accuracy of the testimony of various nurses who had worked with Adams and who had questioned his methods and intentions. This damaged the prosecution tremendously, fatally scuppering the case. Manningham-Buller's handling of the case later provoked questions in the House of Commons.
Detective Superintendent Herbert Hannam
Herbert Hannam
Detective Superintendent Herbert Hannam was a British policeman who worked for Scotland Yard.-Career:Hannam became famous for solving the infamous Teddington Towpath Murders in 1953....
of Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
, the chief investigator, suspected political interference due to Manningham-Buller's membership of a government, which had no interest in seeing a doctor hang. Indeed, on 8 November 1956, Manningham-Buller himself had handed a copy of Hannam's 187-page report to the President of the British Medical Association
British Medical Association
The British Medical Association is the professional association and registered trade union for doctors in the United Kingdom. The association does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The association’s headquarters are located in BMA House,...
(BMA), effectively the doctors' trade union in Britain. This document – the prosecution's most valuable document – was in the hands of the defence, a situation that led the Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
, Gwilym Lloyd-George, to reprimand Manningham-Buller, stating that such documents should not even be shown to "Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
or to individual Members". "I can only hope that no harm will result" since "the disclosure of this document is likely to cause me considerable embarrassment". Subsequently, on 28 November 1956, Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
MPs Stephen Swingler
Stephen Swingler
Stephen Thomas Swingler, PC was a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1950, and from 1951 to 1969....
and Hugh Delargy
Hugh Delargy
Hugh James Delargy was an Irish British Labour Party politician and MP.He was born in County Antrim.Delargy was educated in England, Paris and Rome and worked as a teacher, journalist, labourer and insurance official...
gave notice of two questions to be answered in the House of Commons on 3 December regarding Manningham-Buller's contacts with the General Medical Council
General Medical Council
The General Medical Council registers and regulates doctors practising in the United Kingdom. It has the power to revoke or restrict a doctor's registration if it deems them unfit to practise...
(GMC) and BMA regarding the Adams case in the previous six months. Manningham-Buller was absent on the day in question but gave a written reply stating he had "had no communications with the General Medical Council within the last six months." He avoided referring to the BMA directly (despite it being named in the questions) and therefore avoided lying, though it could be argued, still deliberately misled the House. Manningham-Buller then proceeded to launch an investigation into how his contact with the BMA had come to be known by the MPs. A leak from Scotland Yard was suspected and Hannam was reprimanded.
Charles Hewett, Hannam's assistant in the investigation, has described how both officers were astounded at Manningham-Buller's decision to charge John Bodkin Adams
John Bodkin Adams
John Bodkin Adams was an Irish-born British general practitioner, convicted fraudster and suspected serial killer. Between the years 1946 and 1956, more than 160 of his patients died in suspicious circumstances. Of these, 132 left him money or items in their will. He was tried and acquitted for...
with the murder of Mrs. Morrell, whose body had been cremated. He believed that there were other cases against the doctor, where traces of drugs had been found in exhumed remains, which were more capable of proof. He also considered that a charge of manslaughter would have been more appropriate in the circumstances. He questioned the decision not to proceed further after Adams' acquittal and he believed that a calculating killer escaped justice as a result. Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
pathologist Francis Camps
Francis Camps
Francis Edward Camps, FRCP, FRCpath was a famous English pathologist notable for his work on the cases of serial killer John Christie and suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams.-Early life and training:...
suspected Adams of killing 163 patients.
Bullying manners
In the late 1950s, Bernard LevinBernard Levin
Henry Bernard Levin CBE was an English journalist, author and broadcaster, described by The Times as "the most famous journalist of his day". The son of a poor Jewish family in London, he won a scholarship to the independent school Christ's Hospital and went on to the London School of Economics,...
gave him the nickname Bullying-Manners in his Parliamentary sketch. Lord Devlin, judge in the Adams case, described his technique thus:
"He could be downright rude but he did not shout or bluster. Yet his disagreeableness was so pervasive, his persistence so interminable, the obstructions he manned so far flung, his objectives apparently so insignificant, that sooner or later you would be tempted to ask yourself whether the game was worth the candle: if you asked yourself that, you were finished."
Manningham-Buller was one of the inspirations for the character of Kenneth Widmerpool
Kenneth Widmerpool
Kenneth Widmerpool is a fictional character in Anthony Powell's sequence of novels, A Dance to the Music of Time.The author's most famous creation, Widmerpool appears in all twelve books comprising the cycle...
in Anthony Powell
Anthony Powell
Anthony Dymoke Powell CH, CBE was an English novelist best known for his twelve-volume work A Dance to the Music of Time, published between 1951 and 1975....
's A Dance to the Music of Time
A Dance to the Music of Time
A Dance to the Music of Time is a twelve-volume cycle of novels by Anthony Powell, inspired by the painting of the same name by Nicolas Poussin. One of the longest works of fiction in literature, it was published between 1951 and 1975 to critical acclaim...
.
Lady Chatterley's Lover
Lady Chatterley’s Lover was banned in 1928 but republished in 1960 by Penguin BooksPenguin Books
Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
. The decision was taken to prosecute Penguin under the new Obscene Publications Act
Obscene Publications Act
Since 1857, a series of obscenity laws known as the Obscene Publications Acts have governed what can be published in England and Wales. The classic definition of criminal obscenity is if it "tends to deprave and corrupt," stated in 1868 by John Duke Coleridge, 1st Baron Coleridge.There have been...
. Bernard Levin criticised the decision thus: "It is surely going to be difficult for the prosecution to find anybody taken seriously by the literary or academic worlds to swear that publication of Lady Chatterley’s Lover is not in the public interest as a literary event and that its tendency would be to deprave and corrupt those who might read it." When Manningham-Buller saw this in The Spectator
The Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
, he cabled Sir Jocelyn Simon, Solicitor-General
Solicitor General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, often known as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to advise the Crown and Cabinet on the law...
saying: “suggest seriously consider spectator 19th Reggie”. He then sent a letter stating: “It seems to me a clear contempt of court
Contempt of court
Contempt of court is a court order which, in the context of a court trial or hearing, declares a person or organization to have disobeyed or been disrespectful of the court's authority...
and the only question is should we start proceedings? My feelings is that we should.” Manningham-Buller suggested prosecuting “the proprietors of The Spectator, the editor and Mr Bernard Levin” once the Chatterley trial itself was over. Sir Jocelyn convinced him to reconsider.
Keynote House of Lords judgments delivered
Dilhorne held in Newbury District Council v Secretary of State for the Environment; Newbury District Council v International Synthetic Rubber Co. Ltd. [1981] AC 578Newbury principles
The Newbury Principles collectively refer to an urban planning guideline stating that decisions should be made based only on the planning considerations relevant to the current development, even if the consideration of ulterior purposes may lead to a greater public good...
:
"The conditions imposed must be for a planning purpose and not for any ulterior one... and they must fairly and reasonably relate to the development permitted. Also they must not be so unreasonable that no reasonable planning authority could have imposed them.
In that case he also introduced the concept of the 'planning unit' which extinguishes previous permitted uses on land that has in practice become a new planning unit. This has stood up the test of recent judisprudence and a DCLG (then DoE) circular is largely based on its principles.
Family
Lord Dilhorne married Lady Mary Lilian Lindsay (1910–2004), daughter of David Lindsay, 27th Earl of CrawfordDavid Lindsay, 27th Earl of Crawford
David Alexander Edward Lindsay, 27th Earl of Crawford and 10th Earl of Balcarres KT, PC, DL, FRS, FSA , styled Lord Balniel between 1880 and 1913, was a British Conservative politician and art connoisseur....
, in 1930. They had a son, John
John Manningham-Buller, 2nd Viscount Dilhorne
John Mervyn Manningham-Buller, 2nd Viscount Dilhorne, Bt is a British barrister and peer.The son of Reginald Manningham-Buller, 1st Viscount Dilhorne and Lady Mary Lindsay, Manningham-Buller was educated at Eton College and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. After service in the Coldstream...
, who succeeded him in the title, and three daughters, the second daughter, Eliza Manningham-Buller, being the Director-General
Director-General of MI5
The Director General of the Security Service is the head of the Security Service , the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency...
of MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
from 2002 to 2007; In 2008 she was awarded a life peerage, becoming The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Manningham-Buller DCB. Lord Dilhorne died in September 1980, aged 75, and was interred in the rural countryside village of Deene
Deene
Deene is a small village and civil parish near Deenethorpe and Bulwick in East Northamptonshire. It has a village hall....
, East Northamptonshire
East Northamptonshire
East Northamptonshire is a local government district in Northamptonshire, England. Its council is based in Thrapston and Rushden, which is the largest town in the area...
.
Styles and honours
- Mr Reginald Manningham-Buller (1905–1943)
- Mr Reginald Manningham-Buller MP (1943–1947)
- Mr Reginald Manningham-Buller KC MP (1947–1951)
- Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller KC MP (1951–1952)
- Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller QC MP (1952–1954)
- The Rt. Hon. Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller QC MP (1954–1956)
- The Rt. Hon. Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller, Bt. QC MP (1956–1962)
- The Rt. Hon. The Lord Dilhorne QC PC (1962–1964)
- The Rt. Hon. The Viscount Dilhorne QC PC (1964–1980)