Michael Wellington Stapleton-Cotton, 5th Viscount Combermere (8 August 1929 – 3 November 2000) was a British academic and

Crossbencher A crossbencher is a minor party or independent member of some legislatures, such as the Parliament of Australia. In the British House of Lords the term refers to members of the parliamentary group of non-political peers. They take their name fr ...

in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. He was the eldest son of Francis Stapleton-Cotton, 4th Viscount Combermere.

Career

He was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England *Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States *Éton, a commune in the Meuse depa ...

, after which he served first with the

Palestine Police Force The Palestine Police Force (, ) was a British colonial police service established in Mandatory Palestine on 1 July 1920,Sinclair, 2006. when High Commissioner Sir Herbert Samuel's civil administration took over responsibility for security from ...

, 1947–48, and then the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

, 1948–50, and thereafter served for eight years with the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

, retiring in 1958 in the rank of flight lieutenant. He then went on to study at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

in 1962, graduating with a lower second-class honours

Bachelor of Divinity In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity or Baccalaureate in Divinity (BD, DB, or BDiv; ) is an academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology or, rarely, religious studies. ...

degree and a

Master of Theology Master of Theology (, abbreviated ThM, MTh or MTheol, or ''Sacrae Theologiae Magister''; abbreviated STM) is a post-graduate degree offered by universities, divinity schools, and seminaries. It can serve as a transition degree for entrance into a ...

degree. He was a lecturer in Biblical and Religious Studies in the Department of Extra-Mural Studies at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

from 1972 to 1994, and Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Extra-Mural Studies at

Birkbeck, University of London Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a Public university, public research university located in London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the University of London. Establ ...

from 1988 to 1994. He sat in the

as a

but lost his seat in parliament in 1999 after the passing of the

House of Lords Act 1999 The House of Lords Act 1999 (c. 34) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. The Act was given royal assent on 11 November 1999. For centuries, the House of Lords ...

Personal life

Lord Combermere was married to Pamela Coulson, a daughter of Reverend Robert Gustavus Coulson. They had three children: * Hon. Tara Christabel Stapleton-Cotton (born 1961) * Hon. Sophia Mary Stapleton-Cotton (born 1963); married with children * Thomas Robert Wellington Stapleton-Cotton, 6th Viscount Combermere (born 1969); married with children, including the heir apparent Laszlo, his older son.''

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...

'' (2003), Volume 1, p. 874 Combermere died in November 2000, aged 71, and was succeeded by his son, Thomas Stapleton-Cotton, 6th Viscount Combermere.

References

External links

* * *https://web.archive.org/web/20080501225034/http://www.leighrayment.com/ *http://www.stirnet.com/ (subscription only) {{DEFAULTSORT:Combermere, Michael Stapleton-Cotton, 5th Viscount 1929 births 2000 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of King's College London Academics of Birkbeck, University of London 5 Royal Air Force officers Place of birth missing Combermere