Tim Westoll
Encyclopedia
James Westoll DL
(26 July 1918 - 7 February 1999), known as Tim Westoll, was an English
barrister
, country landowner
, politician
, ornithologist
, and racehorse owner
.
He was baptized
and registered
as James Westoll, but from childhood was always known as Tim.
James Westoll, late Durham Light Infantry
, by his marriage in 1917 to Marian Ellen, a daughter of Captain Arthur Lenox Napier OBE DL, of the Yorkshire Regiment
, and the grandson of another James Westoll, a Justice of the Peace
, of Coniscliffe
in County Durham
. The Westolls were a Sunderland shipping family, but a year after Westoll's birth in 1918 his father bought a sporting estate
in Cumberland
, near the Solway Firth
, and he was brought up and spent his adult life there. Educated at Eton
and Trinity College, Cambridge
, at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 Westoll joined the Border Regiment
and was posted to the coast of Kent
. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant
on 11 February 1940. His battalion was part of 15th Scottish Division, and took part in the D-Day landings and the liberation of Europe, taking him as far as the Baltic Sea
. He was Mentioned in Despatches on 4 April 1946 and retired the service at the end of the war with the rank of acting major.
In 1946, Westoll married Sylvia Jane, the youngest daughter of Sir Fairfax Luxmoore (1876–1944), a Lord Justice of Appeal
, and they had four children. After the war, he was admitted to Lincoln's Inn
, from where he was called to the Bar, and worked in the family shipping business, James Westoll, Ltd., of John Street, Sunderland, until it was sold in the 1950s. He never practised as a barrister
, but from 1960 to 1971 was a Deputy Chairman of the Cumberland Quarter Sessions
.
Elected to Cumberland County Council
as an independent
, he became Chairman of the Council in 1958, continuing in the role until the council came to an end in 1974. In 1965, the Manchester
Water Authority applied for permission to extract water from Ullswater
, which would have changed the landscape significantly. Westoll took a legal battle all the way to the House of Lords
, winning it in an early victory for the environmental lobby
. In the 1970s, after Cumberland was merged into Cumbria, the new county council
proved to be more divided by party politics
, and although Westoll disliked the new working atmosphere he was chosen as the first Chairman of the new authority.
At different times he was a Deputy Lieutenant
of Cumbria (1963), High Sheriff of Cumberland
(1964) and Master of the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers
(1983). He was also chairman of Carlisle Racecourse
and a director of Cumberland Newspapers. On Sundays, he played the organ in the parish church
of Kirkandrews-on-Eden
, and died on 7 February 1999, a few hours after doing so.
He began to paint birds as a boy, and not long before his death he completed the publication of his book The Complete Illustrated Check List of the Birds of the World, on which he had been working for twenty-five years. For this, he painted in watercolour
more than 10,300 species of bird, as listed by Edward S. Gruson's Checklist of the Birds of the World (1976).
At Carlisle Racecourse, a race called the Tim Westoll Memorial Maiden Stakes, run over six furlong
s, was established in his memory.
Deputy Lieutenant
In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
(26 July 1918 - 7 February 1999), known as Tim Westoll, was an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
, country landowner
Hunting and shooting in the United Kingdom
Hunting and shooting have been practised for many centuries in the United Kingdom and, in some areas, are a major part of British rural culture...
, politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, ornithologist
Ornithology
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...
, and racehorse owner
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
.
He was baptized
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
and registered
Civil registry
Civil registration is the system by which a government records the vital events of its citizens and residents. The resulting repository or database is called civil register or registry, or population registry. The primary purpose of civil registration is to create legal documents that are used to...
as James Westoll, but from childhood was always known as Tim.
Life
Westoll was the son of CaptainCaptain (British Army and Royal Marines)
Captain is a junior officer rank of the British Army and Royal Marines. It ranks above Lieutenant and below Major and has a NATO ranking code of OF-2. The rank is equivalent to a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and to a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force...
James Westoll, late Durham Light Infantry
Durham Light Infantry
The Durham Light Infantry was an infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1968. It was formed by the amalgamation of the 68th Regiment of Foot and the 106th Regiment of Foot along with the militia and rifle volunteers of County Durham...
, by his marriage in 1917 to Marian Ellen, a daughter of Captain Arthur Lenox Napier OBE DL, of the Yorkshire Regiment
Yorkshire Regiment
The Yorkshire Regiment is one of the largest infantry regiments of the British Army. The regiment is currently the only line infantry or rifles unit to represent a single geographical county in the new infantry structure, serving as the county regiment of Yorkshire covering the historical areas...
, and the grandson of another James Westoll, a Justice of the Peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
, of Coniscliffe
High Coniscliffe
High Coniscliffe is a parish and village in the borough of Darlington and ceremonial county of County Durham, England. The parish includes Carlbury and Low Coniscliffe...
in County Durham
County Durham
County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...
. The Westolls were a Sunderland shipping family, but a year after Westoll's birth in 1918 his father bought a sporting estate
Hunting and shooting in the United Kingdom
Hunting and shooting have been practised for many centuries in the United Kingdom and, in some areas, are a major part of British rural culture...
in Cumberland
Cumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
, near the Solway Firth
Solway Firth
The Solway Firth is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven in Cumbria, to the Mull of Galloway, on the western end of Dumfries and Galloway. The Isle of Man is also very...
, and he was brought up and spent his adult life there. Educated at Eton
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"....
and Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
, at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 Westoll joined the Border Regiment
Border Regiment
The Border Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 34th Regiment of Foot and the 55th Regiment of Foot....
and was posted to the coast of Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
on 11 February 1940. His battalion was part of 15th Scottish Division, and took part in the D-Day landings and the liberation of Europe, taking him as far as the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
. He was Mentioned in Despatches on 4 April 1946 and retired the service at the end of the war with the rank of acting major.
In 1946, Westoll married Sylvia Jane, the youngest daughter of Sir Fairfax Luxmoore (1876–1944), a Lord Justice of Appeal
Lord Justice of Appeal
A Lord Justice of Appeal is an ordinary judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, and represents the second highest level of judge in the courts of England and Wales-Appointment:...
, and they had four children. After the war, he was admitted to Lincoln's Inn
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...
, from where he was called to the Bar, and worked in the family shipping business, James Westoll, Ltd., of John Street, Sunderland, until it was sold in the 1950s. He never practised as a barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
, but from 1960 to 1971 was a Deputy Chairman of the Cumberland Quarter Sessions
Quarter Sessions
The Courts of Quarter Sessions or Quarter Sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the United Kingdom and other countries in the former British Empire...
.
Cumberland County Council
Cumberland County Council was the county council of Cumberland in the North West of England, an elected local government body responsible for most local services in the county. It was established in 1889 as a result of the Local Government Act 1888. Carlisle was initially within its area but became...
as an independent
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
, he became Chairman of the Council in 1958, continuing in the role until the council came to an end in 1974. In 1965, the Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
Water Authority applied for permission to extract water from Ullswater
Ullswater
Ullswater is the second largest lake in the English Lake District, being approximately nine miles long and 0.75 miles wide with a maximum depth of slightly more than ....
, which would have changed the landscape significantly. Westoll took a legal battle all the way to the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
, winning it in an early victory for the environmental lobby
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
. In the 1970s, after Cumberland was merged into Cumbria, the new county council
County council
A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.-United Kingdom:...
proved to be more divided by party politics
Party Politics
Party Politics is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes papers in the field of Political Science. The journal's editors are David M Farrell and Paul Webb...
, and although Westoll disliked the new working atmosphere he was chosen as the first Chairman of the new authority.
At different times he was a Deputy Lieutenant
Deputy Lieutenant
In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
of Cumbria (1963), High Sheriff of Cumberland
High Sheriff of Cumberland
The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred elsewhere or are now defunct, so that its functions...
(1964) and Master of the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers
Worshipful Company of Clothworkers
The Worshipful Company of Clothworkers was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1528, formed by the amalgamation of its two predecessor Companies, the Fullers and the Shearmen...
(1983). He was also chairman of Carlisle Racecourse
Carlisle Racecourse
Carlisle Racecourse is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located at Blackwell, Cumbria village, near Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The course has been on its present site since 1904, when it moved there from another location near Carlisle. The course is 1m 4f in circumference, right handed, and hosts...
and a director of Cumberland Newspapers. On Sundays, he played the organ in the parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
of Kirkandrews-on-Eden
Kirkandrews-on-Eden
Kirkandrews-on-Eden or Kirkandrews-upon-Eden is a small village in the parish of Beaumont, in the City of Carlisle District of the county of Cumbria, England. Nearby settlements include the city of Carlisle and the village of Monkhill.-References:...
, and died on 7 February 1999, a few hours after doing so.
He began to paint birds as a boy, and not long before his death he completed the publication of his book The Complete Illustrated Check List of the Birds of the World, on which he had been working for twenty-five years. For this, he painted in watercolour
Watercolor painting
Watercolor or watercolour , also aquarelle from French, is a painting method. A watercolor is the medium or the resulting artwork in which the paints are made of pigments suspended in a water-soluble vehicle...
more than 10,300 species of bird, as listed by Edward S. Gruson's Checklist of the Birds of the World (1976).
At Carlisle Racecourse, a race called the Tim Westoll Memorial Maiden Stakes, run over six furlong
Furlong
A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and U.S. customary units equal to one-eighth of a mile, equivalent to 220 yards, 660 feet, 40 rods, or 10 chains. The exact value of the furlong varies slightly among English-speaking countries....
s, was established in his memory.
Honours
- Officer of the Order of Saint JohnVenerable Order of Saint JohnThe Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem , is a royal order of chivalry established in 1831 and found today throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Hong Kong, Ireland and the United States of America, with the world-wide mission "to prevent and relieve sickness and...
, 1969, promoted to Knight, 1983 - Honorary Doctor of Laws of the University of LeedsUniversity of LeedsThe University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
, 1984 - Cumberland county president of the St John Ambulance Brigade