38 Facts About David Renton

David Renton became a life peer in 1979, and was the oldest member of the House of Lords from 2004 until his death.

David Renton was born in Dartford, the son of a surgeon and a nurse.

David Renton was educated at Stubbington, Oundle, and University College, Oxford, of which he was made an honorary fellow in 1990.

David Renton was president of the Oxford University Liberal Club.

David Renton played Rugby fives for the University of Oxford and played cricket and rugby union for his college.

David Renton then entered the Inns of Court to study law.

David Renton was called to the bar from Lincoln's Inn in 1933.

David Renton practised as a barrister on the South-east Circuit, with a mixed caseload of civil and criminal law.

David Renton was elected as a member of the General Council of the Bar in 1939, and was Treasurer of Lincoln's Inn in 1979, the year he retired from the House of Commons.

David Renton joined the Territorial Army in 1938 and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers.

David Renton transferred to the Royal Artillery in 1940, and volunteered to serve overseas in 1942.

David Renton was posted to the Middle East for three years.

David Renton returned to England in 1945, and was elected as Member of Parliament for Huntingdonshire in the 1945 general election, as a Liberal National.

David Renton continued to practise law throughout his political career, and became a QC in 1954.

David Renton befriended Margaret Roberts when she was a student at Lincoln's Inn in 1950.

David Renton became a bencher in 1962, and served as Treasurer in 1979.

David Renton was Recorder of Rochester from 1963 to 1968 and Recorder of Guildford from 1968 to 1973.

David Renton was vice-chairman of the Council of Legal Education from 1968 to 1973, and served as a member of the Senate of Inns of Court.

David Renton joined the British delegation to draft the European Convention on Human Rights in 1950.

David Renton became a junior minister in the governments of Sir Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan in the 1950s, serving as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Fuel and Power under Aubrey Jones from 1955 to 1957, and then at the Minister of Power from 1957 to 1958, where he assisted to pass the Clean Air Act.

David Renton moved to the Home Office as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State from 1958 to 1961 and then as Minister of State from 1961 to 1962.

David Renton was sacked in the Night of the Long Knives in July 1962, but received the consolation of being sworn of the Privy Council.

David Renton later sat on a number of House of Commons committees.

David Renton was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1964, and won an RSPCA bronze medal the same year for rescuing horses and pigs from a fire hear his home.

David Renton supported Britain joining the European Community, but later supported the Save the Pound campaign.

The David Renton Report was published in 1975, recommending drafting which was more based on principles than specific details to address every possible situation.

David Renton served as Deputy Lieutenant for Huntingdonshire in 1962, for Huntingdon and Peterborough in 1964, and for Cambridgeshire in 1974.

David Renton stood down from his Huntingdonshire seat at the 1979 general election, and was created a life peer on 11 July 1979, taking his seat in the House of Lords as Baron Renton, of Huntingdon in the County of Cambridgeshire.

David Renton was a deputy speaker in the House of Lords from 1982 to 1988.

David Renton was elected president of the Association of Conservative Peers in 1998, unopposed, and became life president in 2003.

David Renton was the oldest peer in the House of Lords from 4 April 2004 until his death.

David Renton played cricket for the Lords and Commons Cricket Club until he was 66, and hunted until he was 70.

David Renton continued to shoot until he was 91, when a heart valve was replaced.

David Renton was a leader in the movement to preserve the traditions of the House of Lords, including lifelong membership for members of the Peerage.

David Renton was a regular driver since 1934, at a time when there was no formal driving test in the United Kingdom, although he stopped driving some time before he died.

David Renton married in 1947 Claire Cicely "Paddy" Duncan, a sister of Marjorie Grimston, Countess of Verulam.

David Renton was chairman of Mencap from 1978, and president from 1982 to 1988.

David Renton was survived by two daughters, Caroline and Clare.