Robert Scott Alexander, Baron Alexander of Weedon, KC,

FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

(5 September 1936— 6 November 2005) was a British barrister, banker and

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 ...

politician.

Education

He was educated at

Brighton College Brighton College is an independent, co-educational boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 3 to 18 in Brighton, England. The school has three sites: Brighton College (the senior school, ages 11 to 18); Brighton College Preparatory Sc ...

(of which he was later President) and

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

Career at law

He was called to the Bar at 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 ...

in 1961. An early case of note was his successful defence of Dr Caroline Deys before the General Medical Council in 1972. Alexander was one of the leading barristers of his generation and served as Chairman of the

Bar Council {{see also, Bar association A bar council ( ga, Comhairle an Bharra) or bar association, in a common law jurisdiction with a legal profession split between solicitors and barristers or advocates, is a professional body that regulates the profes ...

1985–86. As a barrister he came to greater public fame representing Lord Archer in his libel case against the '' Daily Star'' in 1987. He retired from the Bar in 1989, and served as Chairman of

National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank, commonly known as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, i ...

from 1989 to 1999. He was also a director of other companies, a member of the Government's Panel on Sustainable Development and Chairman of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 2000 until ill-health forced him to retire in 2004. He served the MCC as its president and chairman. He was chancellor of the

University of Exeter , mottoeng = "We Follow the Light" , established = 1838 - St Luke's College1855 - Exeter School of Art1863 - Exeter School of Science 1955 - University of Exeter (received royal charter) , type = Public , ...

from 1998 to 2005. He was also the chair of

JUSTICE Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

, the human rights and law reform group, from 1990 to 2005 and served on the

Wakeham Commission {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 ''A House for the Future'', known as the Wakeham Report, published in 2000, was the report of a Royal Commission headed by Lord Wakeham, concerning reform of the House of Lords. Recommendations of the report In it ...

's report into the reform of 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 ...

. He was Treasurer of Middle Temple in 2001.

Peerage

When offered a peerage, Alexander requested that he be "of Weedon," a very small village in Buckinghamshire, just north of Aylesbury, where he had lived for some years with his third wife, Marie, at Weedon Lodge. He and his family were hosts to the annual Weedon Jazz evening for several years, used to raise money for the village. Alexander was created a life peer as Baron Alexander of Weedon, of Newcastle-under-Lyme in the County of Staffordshire, on 11 July 1988. He sat on the Conservative Party benches.

Family

He was married three times and died from a stroke in 2005, aged 69.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Robert Scott, Baron Alexander of Weedon 1936 births 2005 deaths Conservative Party (UK) life peers Members of the Middle Temple English barristers English King's Counsel Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Chancellors of the University of Exeter People from Newcastle-under-Lyme People educated at Brighton College NatWest Group people 20th-century English lawyers