Background
Peter Rawlinson was born on June 26, 1919, in Birkenhead, Cheshire, United Kingdom. He is the son of Lieutenant-Colonel A. R. Rawlinson and Ailsa Grayson Rawlinson.
Christ's College, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Peter graduated from Christ's College, Cambridge in 1938.
United Kingdom
Peter Rawlinson
United Kingdom
Peter Rawlinson
United Kingdom
Peter Rawlinson (center)
(In the past he had been seated on the judge's bench looki...)
In the past he had been seated on the judge's bench looking towards the dock in which he now stood. He turned and faced the clerk, who asked a fourth time: 'How say you? Are you Guilty or Not Guilty?' Jonathan Playfair, Knight of the Realm, sometime Judge of the High Court, is standing trial for the murder of David Trelawney.
https://www.amazon.com/Indictment-Murder-Mystery-Peter-Rawlinson/dp/0312253257/?tag=2022091-20
1994
(As this brilliant tale unfolds, a fight-to-the-death to p...)
As this brilliant tale unfolds, a fight-to-the-death to preserve a wealthy English family's prestige begins. Untold secrets suddenly threaten the stability of one mother's existence and change life as she and her son know it. Will the court decide in favor of the unusual young woman raised in South Carolina-or will she be found to be a fraud and thus unworthy of the life she claims is rightfully hers?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NDZQ27Y/?tag=2022091-20
1998
(When aesthete and society snob Francis Richmond died, he ...)
When aesthete and society snob Francis Richmond died, he believed that no one would ever remember him. But he left behind him a diary, and when his heir, a young out-of-work actor, comes across it, he takes it to the newspapers.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004RCNVKI/?tag=2022091-20
2001
Peter Rawlinson was born on June 26, 1919, in Birkenhead, Cheshire, United Kingdom. He is the son of Lieutenant-Colonel A. R. Rawlinson and Ailsa Grayson Rawlinson.
Peter graduated from Christ's College, Cambridge in 1938.
After the outbreak of the Second World War, Peter was commissioned into the Irish Guards and rose to major before his demob in 1946. His final staff job let him read for the Bar during the evenings, and he was called by the Inner Temple two months after leaving the Army.
He joined the chambers of Walter Monckton, King Edward VIII's adviser during the abdication crisis and one of the star barristers of that era. During his lean, guinea-a-brief years, Rawlinson supplemented his income by reading for libel at the Daily Express. Rawlinson's first real break was getting the brief to act for Alfred Charles Whiteway, the defendant in the Towpath Murder Case, in 1953. It was unusual for a junior counsel to be instructed for the defense in such a sensational murder trial, especially one so young - Rawlinson was just 34. Whiteway's defense was hopeless; he was duly convicted and executed. But Rawlinson soon appeared in a string of high-profile cases, including the trial of Ruth Ellis - the last woman to be hanged in Britain - and the libel defense of General Anders.
Rawlinson had been fascinated by politics since his schooldays. After the narrow survival of the Attlee government in 1950, he was selected as a candidate for Hackney South, defeating the solicitor David Napley. Not surprisingly, Rawlinson lost in the 1951 election - Labour then had a 20,000 majority in the constituency. But in 1955 he was chosen as a candidate for the relatively safe Tory seat of Epsom in place of David Kilmuir, who had become Lord Chancellor. Four months later came the general election, and Rawlinson was an MP in time to witness the bear-garden of Suez.
Rawlinson quickly realized that it was not easy to combine a busy law practice with the House, and he had to abandon the work he was getting at the assize towns and quarter sessions on the Western Circuit. It was a great help when he took Silk in 1959, allowing him to dispense with much of the paperwork associated with junior practice.
Before Macmillan's dramatic cabinet reshuffle in June 1962, the government was looking stale, and newspapers were running countless stories on its poor showing. Among the seven cabinet members to go was Lord Chancellor Kilmuir, which created a vacancy in the post of Solicitor-General. Macmillan's appointment of Rawlinson came as no surprise. Despite his busy legal practice, he had been assiduous in his Parliamentary duties and was one of the best-liked lawyers in the House.
Rawlinson became head of his chambers on King's Bench Walk, taking over from Gerald Gardiner, who had gone off to be the new Labour Lord Chancellor. He had hung on to his seat, though, and in 1964 led for the retentionists in the debate on Sidney Silverman's Bill to abolish capital punishment. At the Bar, he was given a general retainer by Associated Newspapers, and he was soon bombarded by other briefs. He left the shadow cabinet after Alec Douglas-Home lost the leadership, only to return in 1967 after the death of Sir John Hobson. The legal team under Rawlinson was the only group to inflict defeat upon the Wilson government on the floor of the House during the course of that Parliament - over the Administration of Justice Bill.
As Attorney-General from 1970 to 1974, Rawlinson decided that he was going to lead for the Crown in court as often as possible. He appeared personally to prosecute for the Crown on every circuit except the Welsh, as well as appearing in much civil litigation and countless appellate proceedings.
Following Ian Smith's unilateral declaration of independence in 1965, Rawlinson flew out to Rhodesia with Alec Douglas-Home and Arnold Goodman to help negotiate an acceptable settlement. He also delivered the winding-up speech in the House on the proposed agreement reached, which included a commitment to unimpeded progress towards majority rule and an end to racial discrimination. In the event, the proposal was rejected by the people of Rhodesia, leading to an eight-year-long bush war. For Rawlinson, this represented an opportunity lost. For while many people were convinced that the white Rhodesian Front would never have permitted the new rules to operate, Rawlinson remained convinced that Smith's stubborn spirit would have kept him true to his word.
In 1972 Rawlinson took on the added responsibility of Attorney-General for Northern Ireland following the imposition of direct rule from Westminster. This involved regular weekly trips to Belfast. The role of Attorney-General is not one which inspires love, and Rawlinson's tenure demonstrated how easily he could become the villain in the eyes of the press. His fiercest critic was Bernard Levin of The Times, who cast him as one determined to administer the law in secret during the Thalidomide case and Poulson affair.
After the fall of Heath's government, Rawlinson threw himself enthusiastically into the chairmanship of the Bar. He also spent a vigorous year as a popular Treasurer of Inner Temple. He was a leader of the Western Circuit from 1975 to 1982 and again found himself in high demand by clients as diverse as Indira Gandhi and Keith Richards. In 1977 he announced his intention to stand down as an MP at the next election and a year later he was created a life peer.
Following his retirement from practice at the Bar in 1985, Rawlinson was elected President of the Senate of the Inns of Court. He also took on several directorships, including that of the Daily Telegraph plc. He made an acclaimed six-part series entitled The Jesuits for Radio 3, wrote an autobiography, A Price Too High, published in 1989, and four novels.
(As this brilliant tale unfolds, a fight-to-the-death to p...)
1998(When aesthete and society snob Francis Richmond died, he ...)
2001(In the past he had been seated on the judge's bench looki...)
1994Rawlinson was a member of American Bar Association, American College of Trial Lawyers, White's Club, Pratt's Club, Marylebone Cricket Club.
Peter married Haidee Kavanagh in 1940. After the divorce he married Elaine Angela Dominguez in 1954.