Robert Balchin, Baron Lingfield

Robert George Alexander Balchin, Baron Lingfield Kt DL (born 31 July 1942) is a British educationalist, noted as an advocate and pioneer for school autonomy.[1]

Career

Lord Lingfield serves as Chairman of the Trustees of ARNI. He is also the Chairman of the League of Mercy Foundation and a Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London.

He previously served as Director-General of St. John Ambulance from 1984 to 1990 and was chairman of the Grant-Maintained Schools Centre (formerly Foundation) from 1989 until 1999. He has been Chairman of the Centre for Education Management (now CEFM) since 1995.

Knighted in 1993,[2] becoming styled as Sir Robert Balchin, he was raised to the peerage as a Life Peer on 17 December 2010 as Baron Lingfield, of Lingfield in the County of Surrey.[3][4]

He was Knight Principal (chairman of the Knights' Council) of the Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor from 2006 to 2012,[5] and he has served as Honorary Colonel of Humberside and South Yorkshire ACF since 2004. The cadet-commandant of Yorkshire Army Cadet Force, Colonel Alan Roberts, OBE, TD, is a long-term associate of Lord Lingfield, serving as gentleman usher of the Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor, receiving an honorary doctorate from Brunel University and being appointed a companion of the Order of Mercy.[6][7][8]

A Freeman of the City of London, he is also a liveryman of the Goldsmiths', Broderers', and Apothecaries' companies.

Lord Lingfield is patron of the charity MaleVoicED, a charity supporting all males with Eating Disorders and other co-morbid conditions.

Lord Lingfield sits on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords, and he speaks in parliament mainly on education matters.[9] He has written numerous articles on education and politics. His schools initiative was proclaimed by The Daily Telegraph's deputy editor, Benedict Brogan, as: "[being the] first and, as time passes, perhaps the most important legislative milestone achieved by the Coalition".[10]

Honours

British Honours
  • - Life Peer as Baron Lingfield, of Lingfield, in the County of Surrey (created 17 December 2010)
  • - Knight Bachelor (1993)
  • - Knight of Justice, Order of St John (1984)

Foreign Honours
  • - Commander, pro Merito Melitensi (1987)

Dynastic Honours

Arms
Coat of arms of Robert Balchin, Baron Lingfield
Adopted
The armorial bearings of The Lord Lingfield were confirmed by the College of Arms in 1975, with the additional grant of supporters after being elevated to the peerage.
Coronet
Coronet of a Baron
Crest
A Demi-Bagwyn Argent, armed and unguled Or, gorged with a Collar compony Or and Vert, charged with Anchors counter-changed, and supporting a Wooden Beam Proper, attached to the Collar by a Chain Or.
Escutcheon
Quarterly: 1st & 4th, Vert, a Crescent between eight Mullets in lozenge Or (Balchin); 2nd & 3rd, Azure, a Chain fesswise each link per pale Or and Argent, between three Fleurs-de-Lis per pale Or and Argent (Skelton); en surtout, an Inescutcheon barry of six Ermine and Vert, charged with a Label of three Points in bend Or, each Point charged with an Annulet Gules (Kinlay-Balchin).
Supporters
Dexter: A Lion guardant Or, the body legs and tail semée of Spur Rowels spur upwards Gules, crowned with a Baron’s Coronet with Cap Proper;
Sinister: A Bagwyn Argent, armed, unguled and tail tufted Or, gorged with a Baron’s Coronet sans Cap Proper, attached thereto a Chain reflexed over the back and terminating in an Annulet Or.
Motto
De Bonne Esperance
(Of Good Hope)

See also

References
  1. "The Lord Lingfield Kt DL Dlitt". Children's University. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
  2. "No. 53284". The London Gazette. 23 April 1993. p. 7209.
  3. "No. 59641". The London Gazette. 22 December 2010. p. 24505.
  4. Hansard, publications.parliament.uk; accessed 6 November 2016.
  5. Profile, Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor website; accessed 6 November 2016.
  6. http://www.leagueofmercy.co.uk/2002.htm
  7. http://www.brunel.ac.uk/about/people/honorary-graduates
  8. http://www.iskb.co.uk/OFFICERS.htm
  9. Profile, publications.parliament.uk; accessed 6 November 2016.
  10. Benedict Brogan The Daily Telegraph 26 May 2011
Preceded by
Sir Richard Gaskell
Knight Principal
of the Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor
2006 – 2012		 Succeeded by
Sir Colin Berry
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by
The Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint		 Gentlemen
Baron Lingfield 		Followed by
The Lord Feldman of Elstree
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