Sir John Saye Wingfield Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, KCB, QC (14 April 1911 – 21 April 1996) was a British lawyer and parliamentary draftsman.

Early life

Fiennes was born on 14 April 1911, the son of Gerald Yorke Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes and his wife Gwendolen, ''née'' Gisborne; part of the

Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes family The Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes family are the descendants of the 16th Baron Saye and Sele who was born Frederick Benjamin Twistleton and adopted the surname Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes in 1849 by Act of Parliament. He was the grandson of Thomas Twi ...

, on his father's side he was the great-grandson of

Frederick Fiennes, 16th Baron Saye and Sele The Venerable Frederick Fiennes, 16th Baron Saye and Sele, MA (1799–1887) was Archdeacon of Hereford from 1863 to 1887. Life Fiennes was born Frederick Benjamin Twisleton on 4 July 1799, a son of Thomas James Twisleton. He was educated at W ...

.''Burke's Peerage'' (2003), vol. 3, pp. 3533–3534. Educated as " Founders' kin" at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

(he was descended from William of Wykeham), Fiennes went up to

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

, where he read

classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

; graduating in 1934 with a first-class degree, he won several named scholarships and the Gaisford Prize."Sir John Fiennes", ''The Times'' (London), 23 April 1996, p. 21.

Career

Called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1936, Fiennes carried out pupillages under F. E. Farrer and J. Neville Gray, and then practised privately before joining the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel in 1939. His work there was considered essential to the war effort, sparing him from military service during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. From 1952 to 1958 and again from 1962 to 1966 he was responsible for drafting Finance Bills. He was appointed Second Parliamentary Counsel in 1956 and promoted to First Parliamentary Counsel in 1968, serving until retirement in 1972. 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 1953, Fiennes was promoted to Knight Commander in 1970; he was a Bencher of the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

and took silk in 1972."Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, Sir John (Saye Wingfield)"
''Who Was Who'' (online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2007). Retrieved 7 November 2018. Fiennes's work involved drafting several important acts, including the

Companies Act 1947 The Companies Act 1947 was a United Kingdom Act of Parliament, that updated UK company law after the Companies Act 1929. It covered issues such as winding up and bankruptcy.UK Legislation http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/10-11/47/content ...

, the

Representation of the People Act 1948 The Representation of the People Act 1948 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered the law relating to parliamentary and local elections. It is noteworthy for abolishing plural voting for parliamentary elections, including ...

, the

Occupiers' Liability Act 1957 The Occupiers' Liability Act 1957 (c. 31) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that covers occupiers' liability. The result of the Third Report of the Law Reform Committee, the Act was introduced to Parliament as the Occupiers' Lia ...

, the Charities Act 1960, the

Leasehold Reform Act 1967 The Leasehold Reform Act 1967c 88 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom, which concerns English land law and compulsory purchase. A government bill, the law remains largely intact. It was passed by both Houses and had been tabled by minis ...

, the Theft Act 1968, the

Immigration Act 1971 The Immigration Act 1971c 77 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning immigration and nearly entirely remaking the field of British immigration law. The Act, as with the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962, and that of 1968, re ...

and the European Communities Act 1972. He spent a year away from the OPC from 1962 to 1963 to help draft Malaya's constitution. ''

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'' (fou ...

'' called Fiennes "unquestionably the ablest draftsman of this century ... his amazing memory was stored with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the law and its history ... he was in the same class as his great Victorian predecessor Lord Thring". His ability to craft succinct legislation in plain language – like the 1957 and 1972 acts – was his strong point, although in some cases his subtle language also proved difficult to amend. Fiennes lived in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

in retirement. He died on 21 April 1996; his wife Sylvia, ''née'' McDowall, had died in 1979, but he was survived by their three children.

Photograph

A black and white photographic portrait was reproduced in his obituary in ''The Times''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fiennes, John 1911 births 1996 deaths 20th-century English lawyers Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath British King's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel First Parliamentary Counsel Members of the Middle Temple