Lord Hooson Peer

Address:
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW

BIOGRAPHY

Emlyn Hooson was created a Life Peer in 1979.  He was born in 1925, educated at Denbigh Grammar School, then the University College of Wales in Aberystwyth, gaining a BA in Law.  During WWII, from 1943 to 1946, he served in the Royal Navy and whilst being tossed about on the North Atlantic aboard a Corvette, he became a dedicated Liberal, deciding to follow a political career.  

Upon returning to the University, he was first adopted as a prospective Liberal candidate for the Caernarvon Boroughs at the age of 22.   In 1949, he was called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn, marrying in 1950.  Emlyn has two daughters.   The Boundary Commission abolished the Caernarvon Boroughs seat, so in 1950 and 1951, Emlyn fought the Conway Division seat, subsequently announcing that he would not stand for Parliament again until he had “taken silk.”  He put the intervening time to good use by becoming Chairman of the Liberal Party of Wales, and eventually succeeded in abolishing that body and the North & South Wales Liberal Federations, thereby bringing all the Liberal activities in Wales under the unifying banner of the Welsh Liberal Party.

In 1960, Emlyn became a QC, was Deputy Chairman of  Flintshire Quarter Sessions from then until 1972 and Merioneth Quarter Sessions between 1960 and 1967.  He was Chairman of those Quarter Sessions from 1967 to 1972.  Emlyn went on to become Recorder at both Merthyr Tydfil and Swansea in 1971, Elected Leader of the Wales and Chester Circuit 1971 to 1974, and was a Recorder of Crown Courts from 1972 until 1991, as well as a Deputy High Court Judge.

In 1985, Emlyn became a non-executive director of Laura Ashley plc, and was later made Chairman in 1995.  He was already Chairman of the Trustees of the Laura Ashley Foundation, a post he filled from 1986 to 1997.  From 1991 to 2000, he was Chairman of the Severn River Crossing plc – probably the most successful example of a public utility built by international private enterprise.

His Parliamentary career began when he became Liberal MP for Montgomeryshire from 1962 until 1979.  At various times, he was party spokesman in the Commons on Defence, Foreign Affairs, Home Affairs, Legal matters, Agriculture and Welsh Affairs.  Emlyn was Leader of the Welsh Liberal Party from 1966 to 1979, and was President between 1983 and 1986.  His particular political interests cover the Law, Constitutional Affairs, Agriculture, Defence, Wales, Europe and International Affairs.

A close involvement with the cultural and musical life of Wales led to Emlyn becoming President of the National Eisteddfod of Wales at Newtown.  In 1966 and the following year, he was made Honorary White Bard of the National Gorsedd of Bards.  As a keen supporter of the International Musical Eisteddfod, held annually at Llangollen, he became its President from 1987 until 1993.

Emlyn said:     “There is no doubt that the part of my political life I most enjoyed and valued was through my contacts in Europe, North America and elsewhere, which I made largely as a British delegate to the Atlantic Assembly.  I was the Rapporteur of a Working Party, initially chaired by Congressman John Lindsay (subsequently Mayor of New York) which first suggested that The West should seek a détente with the Communist world.  This suggestion was greeted with incredulity by the Government Establishments of the time, but it came about in due course!”