Born 2nd January 1923
at Wallasey, Cheshire, England, the only son of
Thomas Roscoe Bennion of Liverpool and his wife
Ellen Norah Bennion of Manchester.
Balliol College
Oxford Jenkyns Law Prize, Younger Prize,
Paton Memorial Studentship.
Middle Temple Harmsworth
Scholarship.
Family
Married (1)
28 July 1951 Barbara Elisabeth Braendle of Little
Hadham, Herts (dissolved 1975), 3 daughters: Alexandra
Sarah 1954, Carola Elisabeth 1956, Venetia Mary
1960;
(2) 2 November
1977 Mary Anne Field (widow of Dr William Field
of Harley Street W1), née Lynch, of Limerick
City, Ireland; no issue.
3. An editor
of HALSBURY'S STATUTES with Butterworths
1948.
4. Lecturer
and tutor in law, St Edmund Hall in the University
of Oxford 1951-53.
5. Practice
at the Bar of England and Wales 1951-1994 (except
1965-73), including office as Parliamentary Counsel
(drafting UK government legislation) 1953-65 and
1973-75.
6. Constitutional
drafting in Pakistan 1956.
7. Drafting
on secondment in Ghana, produced new system of publishing
statutes and statutory instruments (loose-leaf),
wrote Constitutional Law of Ghana, 1959-61.
8. Lecturer,
in legislation at Treasury Centre for Administrative
Studies, and also at official Marlborough House
courses for Commonwealth draftsmen. 1963-65.
11. Member
of general committee, Bar Association for Commerce,
Finance and Industry. Member, official working party
on Classification of U.K. statutes. Member of Heap
Committee, Vice-Chairman of Stow Hill Committee
(both set up by the Statute Law Society - reports
published in 1970 and 1972 respectively by Sweet
and Maxwell) 1968-71.
12. Co-founder
1968 and first chairman 1968-1972, emeritus chairman
1972 to date, Professional Association of Teachers
(PAT, now Voice).
13. Founder
1968 and first chairman 1968-72, Vice President
1986 to date, World of Property Housing Trust (now
Sanctuary Housing Association).
14. Consultant
to Jamaica Government and others on Constitutional
Law and Tax Law 1968-1981.
15. Lecturer,
Council of Legal Education 1982-1983 (lectures to
Bar students on Statutory Interpretation).
16. Member
of the Law Faculty of the University of Oxford and
Congregation, 1984 to 2002. (retired on age grounds).
17. Research
associate, University of Oxford Centre for Socio-Legal
Studies, 1984 to date.
General: As
a constitutional lawyer, has advised at various
times the governments of the United Kingdom, Pakistan,
Ghana, Jamaica and Gibraltar. Drafted constitutions
for Pakistan (1956) and Ghana (1959-1961) on those
countries attaining the status of independent republics.
In UK drafted legislation including Consumer Credit
Act 1974, Sex Discrimination Act 1975, and many
other Acts.
Founder of various
bodies:
(1) Registered
charities:
Statute Law
Society 1968.
World of Property
Housing Trust (now Sanctuary Housing Association)
1968.
(Chairman 1968-72,
Vice-President 1986 to date).
Dicey Trust
1973.
Towards One
World 1979.
Areopagitica
Educational Trust 1979 (co-founder).
Statute Law
Trust 1992.
(2) Other bodies:
Professional
Association of Teachers. (Co-founder 1968 and first
chairman 1968-1972).
