Michael Colvin

Michael Keith Beale Colvin (27 September 1932 – 24 February 2000) was a politician in the United Kingdom. He was first elected as a Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Bristol North West in 1979. From 1983 onwards he was the MP for Romsey and Waterside constituency in Hampshire, which later became the constituency of Romsey.

In 1989 he sponsored a Private Member's Bill which became the Computer Misuse Act 1990.

He held the seat in the 1997 general election, but died along with his wife in a fire at their house, Tangley House, near Andover, three years later The resulting by-election was won by Sandra Gidley of the Liberal Democrats.

Life outside politics

Michael Colvin was born to Captain Ivan Beale Colvin RN and Joy Arbuthnot. He has a brother, Alistair Colvin, four years younger.

He was educated at West Downs School, Winchester; Eton College; and the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. At 18 he went into the Grenadier Guards, serving in Berlin, Suez and Cyprus, emerging as a captain. He studied at the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester.

He married Nichola Cayzer, the daughter of William Cayzer, Baron Cayzer, top man in the British and Commonwealth shipping company. They had three children. Initially, he worked for four years in advertising with the agency J Walter Thompson, then for 14 years as a director of Accrep Ltd, a property investment firm. He and his wife were Lloyd's 'Names'.

He was a friend of Charles, Prince of......
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