Sir William Whytehead Boulton, 3rd Baronet, (21 June 1912 – 20 June 2010) was a prominent British barrister who served in the reconstruction of the German legal profession after 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 opposi ...

and then spent 25 years as Secretary 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 ...

. In this capacity he managed relations within the English legal profession and its relations internationally, as well as establishing the Senate of the Four Inns of Court that handles disciplinary action and organising the 750th anniversary of the signing of '' Magna Carta'' and establishing a permanent memorial at the site. He also wrote ''Conduct and Etiquette at the Bar'', which was the standard guide to the decisions of the General Council of the Bar for 25 years.

Life

Boulton was born in 1912 at

Braxted Park Braxted Park, formerly called Braxted Lodge, is a country house in the Queen Anne style set in a landscaped 2,000 acre park near the village of Great Braxted, Essex. In the Domesday Book of 1086, Eudo Dapifer is shown as owner of the manor. All Sa ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

to the politician

Sir William Boulton, 1st Baronet Sir William Whytehead Boulton, 1st Baronet DL (10 January 1873 – 9 January 1949) was a British soldier and Conservative Party politician. Background Boulton was the son of William Whytehead Boulton and his wife Mary Hudleston Gibson, daughte ...

, and attended

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

before joining

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

. His academic record was not distinguished, but he was able to enter the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...

in 1936 as a practising barrister. At the outbreak of the

, Boulton, who was already with the

Essex Yeomanry The Essex Yeomanry was a Reserve unit of the British Army that originated in 1797 as local Yeomanry Cavalry Troops in Essex. Reformed after the experience gained in the Second Boer War, it saw active service as cavalry in World War I and as ar ...

, joined the

Royal Horse Artillery The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) was formed in 1793 as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery (commonly termed Royal Artillery) to provide horse artillery support to the cavalry units of the British Army. (Although the cavalry link r ...

and served in North Africa. In 1940 he took part in

Operation Compass Operation Compass (also it, Battaglia della Marmarica) was the first large British military operation of the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) during the Second World War. British, Empire and Commonwealth forces attacked Italian forces of ...

, fighting at the

Battle of Bardia The Battle of Bardia was fought between 3 and 5 January 1941, as part of Operation Compass, the first British military operation of the Western Desert campaign of the Second World War. It was the first battle of the war in which an Australian ...

and then the Siege of Tobruk, where he contracted jaundice and was evacuated to

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

. He returned to frontline service soon afterwards but was badly wounded in a

land mine A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...

explosion. He spent much of the rest of the war recovering in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

, where he met his future wife Margaret Elizabeth Hunter. After the war he left the army as a lieutenant colonel and was employed with the Allied Control Council, helping to re-establish the German legal profession while excluding those members with Nazi sympathies. He returned to Britain in 1950 and became Secretary of the

. This position entailed a wide range of legal and diplomatic responsibilities including the organisation of law reform, managing relations with the Law Society and with foreign legal representatives, organising legal aid and even planning the 750th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta, establishing the first permanent memorial on the site. One of his most important roles was as author in 1953 of the standard guide to the decisions of the General Council of the Bar, named ''Conduct and Etiquette at the Bar'', which was presented to every newly qualified barrister until well into the 1980s. Shortly before his retirement in 1975, Boulton was heavily involved in the establishment of the Senate of the Inns of Court and the Bar, which handles internal disciplinary matters. In the Queen's Birthday Honours 1958, Boulton was appointed as a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE). On his retirement, Boulton was knighted in the 1975 New Year Honours. He later inherited the Boulton Baronetcy, of Braxted Park, on the death of his elder brother in 1983. He died in 2010, survived by his wife, two daughters and son who inherited the baronetcy. Lady Boulton died in 2016 at the age of 97.BOULTON
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Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boulton, William, 3rd 1912 births 2010 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Knights Bachelor Lawyers awarded knighthoods Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge British Army personnel of World War II Royal Horse Artillery officers Members of the Inner Temple Essex Yeomanry officers

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

20th-century English lawyers English barristers