Background
Maxwell Fyfe was born on 29 May 1900 in Edinburgh, the son of William Thomson Fyfe, a school inspector, and Isabella Campbell, a schoolteacher.
lawyer politician statesman Home Secretary
Maxwell Fyfe was born on 29 May 1900 in Edinburgh, the son of William Thomson Fyfe, a school inspector, and Isabella Campbell, a schoolteacher.
He was educated at George Watson College, Fyfe, and went to Balliol College, Oxford, where he obtained a third-class degree. He then trained to become a barrister, being called to Gray’s Inn in 1922, practicing in Liverpool, and eventually taking silk and becoming a King’s Counsel in 1936.
He continued with his legal career despite his election as M.P. for the West Derby division of Liverpool in 1935, combining his legal practice in Liverpool with a daily, late-evening attendance in the House of Commons. In 1942 he was appointed solicitor general in Winston Churchills wartime government. He lost this position with the formation of Clement Attlee’s Labour government in 1945; but his successor, Sir Hartley (later Lord) Shawcross, permitted him to continue as deputy chief prosecutor at Nuremberg. In Nuremberg he successfully undermined the dominant courtroom presence of Goering, whom he regarded as “the most formidable witness I have ever cross-examined.” While in opposition, he also became a prominent advocate of European unity centered on Strasbourg and strongly advocated the European Convention on Human Rights.
Maxwell Fyfe became home secretary in the Conservative cabinet of Sir Winston Churchill in October 1951. In this role he became a firm advocate of traditional law and order. He also made the controversial decision not to grant a reprieve to Michael Bentley, who was hanged for the murder of a police officer who had actually been shot by Craig, Bentleys accomplice.
In 1954 Maxwell Fyfe became lord chancellor, with the tide of Viscount Kilmuir. In this role he polled the cabinet to advise the queen on who should succeed Sir Anthony Eden, after Eden’s government lost support due to its handling of the Suez Canal Crisis of 1956. He advised Queen Elizabeth II that Harold Macmillan should be the next Conservative prime minister. He was understandably shocked when Macmillan dismissed him and six other cabinet ministers in the ministerial reshuffle of July 1962. Disgusted by such shabby treatment, he accepted an earldom and refused to play any further part in legal and political affairs; he surrendered his pension and went to work in the City of London. He died on 27 January 1967.
He is still remembered as one of the longest- serving of all lord chancellors, although his impact on Britain’s legal system was minimal.
In 1925 he married Sylvia Margaret Harrison, the daughter of William Reginald Harrison, a civil engineer from Liverpool, and sister of Rex Harrison, the actor.
