Sir William Whytehead Boulton, 3rd Baronet,CBE (21 June 1912 – 20 June 2010) was a prominent Britishbarrister who served in the reconstruction of the German legal profession after theSecond World War and then spent 25 years as Secretary of theBar Council. 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 ofMagna Carta and establishing a permanent memorial at the site. He also wroteConduct and Etiquette at the Bar, which was the standard guide to the decisions of the General Council of the Bar for 25 years.
Boulton was born in 1912 atBraxted Park inEssex to the politicianSir William Boulton, 1st Baronet, and attendedEton College before joiningTrinity College, Cambridge. His academic record was not distinguished, but he was able to enter theInner Temple in 1936 as a practising barrister. At the outbreak of theSecond World War, Boulton, who was already with theEssex Yeomanry, joined theRoyal Horse Artillery and served in North Africa. In 1940 he took part inOperation Compass, fighting at theBattle of Bardia and then theSiege of Tobruk, where he contractedjaundice and was evacuated toAlexandria. He returned to frontline service soon afterwards but was badly wounded in aland mine explosion.[1]
He spent much of the rest of the war recovering inCairo, where he met his future wife Margaret Elizabeth Hunter. After the war he left the army as alieutenant colonel and was employed with theAllied 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 theBar Council. This position entailed a wide range of legal and diplomatic responsibilities including the organisation of law reform, managing relations with theLaw Society and with foreign legal representatives, organising legal aid and even planning the 750th anniversary of the signing ofMagna 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, namedConduct 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 theSenate of the Inns of Court and the Bar, which handles internal disciplinary matters.[1]
In theQueen's Birthday Honours 1958, Boulton was appointed as aCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).[2] On his retirement, Boulton wasknighted in the1975 New Year Honours.[3] He later inherited theBoulton 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.[1] Lady Boulton died in 2016 at the age of 97.[4]
| Baronetage of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by | Baronet (of Braxted Park) 1983–2010 | Succeeded by |
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