Donald Somervell, Baron Somervell of Harrow
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The Right Honourable The Lord Somervell of Harrow OBE PC QC |
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|---|---|
| Home Secretary | |
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In office 25 May 1945 – 26 July 1945 |
|
| Prime Minister | Winston Churchill |
| Preceded by | Herbert Morrison |
| Succeeded by | James Chuter Ede |
| Attorney General for England and Wales | |
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In office 18 March 1936 – 25 May 1945 |
|
| Prime Minister |
Stanley Baldwin Neville Chamberlain Winston Churchill |
| Preceded by | Sir Thomas Inskipp |
| Succeeded by | Sir David Maxwell Fyfe |
| Solicitor General for England and Wales | |
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In office 29 September 1933 – 19 March 1936 |
|
| Prime Minister |
Ramsay MacDonald Stanley Baldwin |
| Preceded by | Sir Boyd Merriman |
| Succeeded by | Sir Terence O'Connor |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 24 August 1889 |
| Died | 18 November 1960 (aged 71) |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Loelia Helen Buchan-Hepburn (1897-1945) |
| Alma mater | Magdalen College, Oxford |
Donald Bradley Somervell, Baron Somervell of Harrow, OBE, PC, QC (24 August 1889–18 November 1960) was a British barrister, judge and Conservative Party politician. He served as Solicitor General and Attorney General from 1933-45 and was briefly Home Secretary in Winston Churchill's 1945 caretaker government.
Somervell was the son of Robert Somervell, Master and Bursar of Harrow School, and was educated there before reading chemistry at Magdalen College, Oxford. He then joined the Inner Temple but his legal training was interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War. In 1916 he was called to the Bar and practised in the chambers of William Jowitt, specialising in commercial law matters arising out of the Treaty of Versailles. In 1929, he took silk.
In 1929 he entered politics. Although a Liberal by inclination, the decline of that party and his admiration for the then-Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin led him to instead join the Conservative Party and he stood unsuccessfully for Crewe in the 1929 general election. He won the seat in the 1931 election and held it for the next fourteen years.
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