Timothy Raison

Sir Timothy Hugh Francis Raison (3 November 1929 – 3 November 2011) was a British Conservative politician.

The Right Honourable Sir Timothy Raison
Minister for Overseas Development
In office 6 January 1983 – 10 September 1986
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Neil Marten
Succeeded by	Chris Patten
Minister of State for Immigration
In office 4 May 1979 – 6 January 1983
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Brynmor John
Succeeded by	David Waddington
Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment
In office 11 February 1975 – 19 November 1976
Leader	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Margaret Thatcher
Succeeded by	Michael Heseltine
Member of Parliament for Aylesbury
In office 18 June 1970 – 9 April 1992
Preceded by	Spencer Summers
Succeeded by	David Lidington
Personal details
Born	Timothy Hugh Francis Raison (1929-11-03)3 November 1929
Died	3 November 2011 (aged 82)
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative

Early life and education

The son of publisher and editor Maxwell Raison, general manager of Picture Post, and his wife Celia,[1] Raison was educated, through being a scholarship boy, at two independent schools: at Dragon School in Oxford, where he became Head of School. From there he got a scholarship to Eton College near Windsor, Berkshire, then to Christ Church at the University of Oxford, to which he also attained a scholarship.

Career

Raison began his career as a journalist, first working on Picture Post (of which his father was managing editor), then New Scientist. Whilst at New Scientist he also edited Crossbow, journal of the Bow Group (a centre-right group within the Conservative Party).

In 1960 he received The Nansen Refugee Award, which is given annually by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in recognition of outstanding service to the cause of refugees. He edited the social science magazine New Society from 1962 until 1968 and was MP for Aylesbury from 1970 until his retirement in 1992. He served as a junior Education and Science Minister (1973–1974).

Raison served as an Home Office minister from 1979 to 1983, under then Home Secretary William Whitelaw, (later hereditary peer Viscount Whitelaw, of Penrith in the County of Cumbria. He then served as Minister for Overseas Development (1983–1986).

In 1956 Raison married violin teacher Veldes Julia, daughter of John Arthur Pepys Charrington, of Netherton, Hurstbourne Tarrant, Hampshire, president of the Charrington Brewery and Master of the Worshipful Company of Brewers in 1952, of that landed gentry family of Cherry Orchard, Shaftesbury, Dorset;[2][3] they had a son and three daughters.[4][5][6]

References

• Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1987 and 1992 editions.

1. Langdon, Julia (10 November 2011). "Sir Timothy Raison obituary". The Guardian.
2. Burke's Landed Gentry 1965, 18th edition, vol. 1, ed. Peter Townsend, p. 133
3. Who was Who, vol. 7, 1971, p. 142
4. "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/104388. ISBN 9780198614111.
5. Langdon, Julia (10 November 2011). "Sir Timothy Raison obituary". The Guardian.
6. Genealogical History of the Halliburton Family, 1983, p. 87

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Spencer Summers	Member of Parliament for Aylesbury 1970–1992	Succeeded by David Lidington
Political offices
Preceded by Neil Marten	Minister for Overseas Development 1983–1986	Succeeded by Chris Patten