David William George Chidgey, Baron Chidgey (9 July 1942 – 15 February 2022) was a British

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties See also *Liberal democracy *Lib ...

politician who served as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census. The town lies on the River Itchen, ...

from

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

to 2005, and latterly sat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

from 2005 until his death.

Early life

Chidgey was born on 9 July 1942. He attended Brune Park County High School (now called Brune Park Community College) in Gosport. A

chartered engineer Regulation and licensure in engineering is established by various jurisdictions of the world to encourage life, public welfare, safety, well-being, then environment and other interests of the general public and to define the licensure process thr ...

, Chidgey was educated as a

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

at the Admiralty College, Portsmouth (Portsmouth Naval College) and then as a civil engineer at the

Portsmouth Polytechnic The University of Portsmouth is a public university in Portsmouth, England. It is one of only four universities in the South East England, South East of England rated as Gold in the Government's Teaching Excellence Framework. With approximately 28 ...

. He worked for

Hampshire County Council Hampshire County Council (HCC) is an English council that governs eleven of the thirteen districts geographically located within the ceremonial county of Hampshire. As one of twenty-four county councils in England, it acts as the upper tier of ...

until 1973, and then as a consulting engineer with Brian Colquhoun and Partners until 1994.

Political career

Chidgey was a councillor from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s on

New Alresford New Alresford or simply Alresford ( or ) is a market town and civil parish in the City of Winchester district of Hampshire, England. It is northeast of Winchester and southwest of the town of Alton. New Alresford has independent shops, a ...

Town Council A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities. Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions. Republic of Ireland Town Councils in the Republic of Ireland were the second t ...

and Winchester

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

. He contested the Hampshire Central European Parliament constituency at by-election in 1988 and at the

1989 European Parliament election The 1989 European Parliament election was a European election held across the 12 European Community member states in June 1989. It was the third European election but the first time that Spain and Portugal voted at the same time as the other m ...

. He was Regional Chairman of the Hampshire and Wight Liberal Democrats from 1992 to 1994. At the 1992 general election, he contested the Eastleigh constituency in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

, finishing second behind the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

candidate, Stephen Milligan.United Kingdom general election results 1992: Eastleigh
, at Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources After Milligan's death in 1994, Chidgey won the resulting by-election, squeezing the Conservatives into third place. He was re-elected in the

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

and 2001 general elections and stood down at the 2005 general election. In the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

, he was a member of the Chairman's panel (2001–2005), an Employment & Training spokesman, Transport spokesman, Trade & Industry spokesman and a member of the

Foreign Affairs Select Committee The Foreign Affairs Select Committee is one of many Parliamentary select committees of the United Kingdom, select committees of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, British House of Commons, which scrutinises the expenditure, administration ...

(1999–2005) and of the

Joint Committee on Human Rights The Joint Committee on Human Rights is a joint committee of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to consider human rights issues in the United Kingdom. Membership As at November 2022, the members of the committee ...

(2003–2005). On 13 May 2005 it was announced that Chidgey would be created a life peer, and on 17 June 2005 the peerage was created as Baron Chidgey, ''of

Hamble-le-Rice Hamble-le-Rice is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Eastleigh in Hampshire, England. It is best known for being an aircraft training centre during the Second World War and is a popular yachting location. The village and the River Ha ...

in the

County of Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire is ...

''. In the

, he was Liberal Democrat spokesman in defence from 2005 to 2006. He was Given the

Freedom of the Borough The Freedom of the City (or Borough in some parts of the UK) is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected ...

in 2005. In 2007, Chidgey was named a member of the

AWEPA The Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA) is an international parliamentary association that is strictly non-partisan, founded by European parliamentarians in 1984. In cooperation with African parliaments, AWEPA works to st ...

Governing Council. In 2008 Chidgey was named the Chairman of the oversight committee for the

Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit The Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit (CPSU) was a think-tank covering matters pertaining to the Commonwealth of Nations. It formed part of the University of London's Institute of Commonwealth Studies, itself part of the School of Advanced Study. ...

, a

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

devoted to policy concerns throughout the Commonwealth.

Personal life and death

Chidgey married April Carolyn Idris-Jones in 1965 in Gosport. They had a son and two daughters. He died on 15 February 2022, at the age of 79.

Early life

Political career

Personal life and death

Arms

References

External links