Death of Lord Boswell of Aynho

[David Beamish]

At the start of business in the House of Lords today, the Lord Speaker announced the death on 30 August of Lord Boswell of Aynho.

Timothy Eric Boswell (born 2 December 1942) was created a life peer in 2010. He retired from the House on 24 July this year. 

His daughter took her seat on 2 June as Baroness Prentis of Banbury.

[Richard R]

Obit in the Times of 10 Sep 2025:

E X T R A C T

Lord Boswell of Aynho obituary: Thatcher-era whip

Farmer and hard-working constituency MP who was one of the ‘saints’ of the expenses scandal, dies aged 82

Those who follow the proceedings of the House of Lords carefully may have noticed an unusual juxtaposition of speakers during a debate on the Chagos Islands on June 30. Lord Boswell of Aynho, a farmer and former minister in the Thatcher and Major governments, was giving his valedictory address while in the same debate his daughter Lady Prentis, the recently ennobled former attorney-general, was delivering her maiden speech, each paying tribute to their “noble kinsman”.

… His first political memory was as a small child meeting Viscount Addison, a former First World War cabinet minister who served on an agricultural board with his father. As a schoolboy he once visited the Commons gallery from where he spotted Winston Churchill, then in his last term…

… From Marlborough he read Greats at New College, Oxford, staying on to take a diploma in agricultural economics and often describing farming as an intellectual pursuit…

…In 1969 he married Helen Rees, the daughter of a clergyman who became a teacher; they had known each other since their teens. She died in 2019 and he is survived by their three daughters: Victoria, a lawyer who was Conservative MP for Banbury from 2015 to 2024 and attorney-general under Rishi Sunak; Emily, who is deputy headmistress of Wycombe Abbey school; and Caroline, who works for the NHS….

… Quiet and understated, Boswell had a gentle if slightly absurd sense of humour. He wrote sonnets, read the lessons at his local church, appreciated Toad of Toad Hall, and latterly spoke with his carers in their native tongues including Greek and Romanian. He enjoyed not only growing food but also eating it, though his culinary skills left much to be desired. His favourite newspaper headline concerned a sewage leak in his constituency. It read: “Boswell steps in.”

Lord Boswell of Aynho, Conservative MP for Daventry, 1987-2010, was born on December 2, 1942. He died after a period of ill health on August 30, 2025, aged 82

https://www.thetimes.com/article/a00aa6e4-dc37-4a38-a2f6-dc97df8b527c

[Richard R]

From the Times of 17 Sep 2025: BOSWELL Timothy Eric, Lord Boswell of Aynho. Died 30th August 2025, aged 82. Farmer and former MP for Daventry. Beloved father and grandfather. Service of thanksgiving at St Michael’s Church, Aynho… on Saturday 4th October at 1pm. All other inquiries c/o: Edd Frost & Daughters, Family Funeral Directors of Banbury…