Sir John Bilsland Bailey (5 November 1928 – 22 February 2021) was a British solicitor and public servant. Bailey was born in

Eltham Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of E ...

, London to Walter Bailey (died 1932), who ran the Lord Derby pub opposite Woolwich Arsenal, and the composer Ethel Edith Bilsland, who married secondly Sir Thomas George Spencer, a telecommunications executive. His first cousin was the actor John Bailey. He was educated at

Eltham College Eltham College is an independent day school situated in Mottingham, southeast London. Eltham and Mottingham once formed part of the same parish, hence its name. It is a member of The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC). Early hi ...

and graduated from

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

with a law degree and was admitted as a solicitor in 1954. He was appointed an Under-Secretary in the Treasury Solicitor's Department in 1973, and then served as Legal Director of the Office of Fair Trading between 1977 and 1979, when he became Deputy Treasury Solicitor. He was promoted in 1984 to be

HM Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor The Government Legal Department (previously called the Treasury Solicitor's Department) is the largest in-house legal organisation in the United Kingdom's Government Legal Service. The department is headed by the Treasury Solicitor. This office g ...

, serving until 1988."Bailey, Sir John Bilsland"
''Who's Who'' (online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2018). Retrieved 3 January 2018. Bailey was appointed a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

in the

1982 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1982 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countrie ...

, and he was promoted to Knight Commander in the

1987 Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in sup ...

. He died in London from pneumonia 22 February 2021, at the age of 92."Births, Marriages and Deaths"
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' (London), 2 March 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2021.

References

1928 births 2021 deaths English solicitors Alumni of University College London Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath People educated at Eltham College Treasury Solicitors People from Eltham Deaths from pneumonia in England {{UK-law-bio-stub