# Andrew Davidson, 2nd Viscount Davidson

John Andrew Davidson, 2nd Viscount Davidson (22 December 1928 – 20 July 2012), was a British hereditary peer and Conservative politician. Regarded as a safe pair of hands, he became deputy chief whip in the House of Lords.

## Background and education

Davidson was the elder son of J. C. C. Davidson, 1st Viscount Davidson, and Frances, daughter of Willoughby Dickinson, 1st Baron Dickinson. He was educated at Westminster School and Pembroke College, Cambridge. Between 1947 and 1949 he served in the Black Watch and the 5th Battalion of the King's African Rifles before going up to Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he was known for his thespian talents, being president of the Footlights in 1951. In 1960 he embarked on a 15-year career in large-scale farming, as a director of Strutt and Parker (Farms) and Lord Rayleigh Farms. By 1965 he was on the council of the Country Landowners Association (now the Country Land & Business Association). In 1966 he was appointed chairman of the Royal Eastern Counties Hospital for the mentally handicapped at Colchester, a job he considered the "most frustrating" of his life. Tensions with the regional hospital board which was ultimately responsible for the hospital boiled over in 1971, ostensibly because of the way Mauritian employees had been treated, and the following March the board sacked five members of the management committee.

## Political career

Davidson entered the House of Lords on the death of his father in 1970. He served in the Conservative administrations of Margaret Thatcher and John Major as a Lord-in-waiting between 1985 and 1986. An agile mind and a winning manner enabled Andrew Davidson to carry out the demanding duties of Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Lords for six years, 1986–92, with skill and marked success. As Deputy Chief Whip, he held the ancient but purely nominal office of Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard. He lost his seat in Parliament after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999, commenting: "I am getting on and maybe the younger generation should get a shot at it."

## Marriages and children

Lord Davidson was married twice. He married firstly Margaret Birgitta Norton, daughter of Major General Cyril Henry Norton, on 30 June 1956. They had four daughters:
* Hon Alexandra Frances Margaret Davidson (13 April 1957 - 1995)
* Hon Georgiana Caroline Davidson (born 16 May 1958), married Lord Edward Somerset, a younger son of David Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort. In 2014, Lord Edward was jailed for 2 years for assaulting his wife.
* Hon Camilla Birgitta Davidson (born 17 February 1963)
* Hon Kristina Louise Davidson (born 17 February 1963)
They were divorced in 1974 and Lady Davidson subsequently married Mark Colville, 4th Viscount Colville of Culross.
On 6 June 1975, Lord Davidson married secondly Pamela Joy Vergette (now deceased), daughter of John Vergette. They had no children.

## Death

Viscount Davidson died on 20 July 2012 at the age of 83 and was succeeded in the viscountcy by his younger brother Malcolm Davidson, 3rd Viscount Davidson (1934-2019), also a Pembroke alumnus.

## Arms

Coat of arms of Andrew Davidson, 2nd Viscount Davidson :
* CrestA lion passant Gules charged on the shoulder with a pheon Or and holding in the dexter paw a torch inflamed Proper.
* EscutcheonArgent on a fess Sable between in chief two pheons Azure and in base a boar's head erased of the second a portcullis chained Or.
* SupportersOn the dexter side a horse Argent charged on the shoulder with a rose Gules barbed and seeded Proper and on the sinister side a horse Sable charged on the shoulder with a martlet Or.
* MottoLux Ex Tenebris