Viscount Runciman of Doxford, sociologist from a dynasty of shipowners and intellectuals – obituary
He was brought up as the bright only child of an inheritance that combined wealth, connections and a high sense of public duty
22 December 2020 • 3:14pm
Lord Runciman: appointed in 1991 to chair the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice in England and Wales, to probe high-profile miscarriages of justice such as the convictions, subsequently quashed, of the ‘Maguire Seven’ and ‘Guildford Four’
Credit: Brian Smith
The 3rd Viscount Runciman of Doxford, who has died aged 86, was a classical scholar and historical sociologist as well as a leader of the British shipping industry in which his family had prospered. He was also president of the British Academy, chairman of the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice and a City regulator.