Colin Pearson, Baron Pearson
Colin Hargreaves Pearson, Baron Pearson, (28 July 1899 – 31 January 1980) was a Canadian-born English barrister and judge. Rising to sit as a judge in the House of Lords, he is best remembered for his unspectacular but efficient and courteous chairmanship of industrial inquiries and royal commissions. His 1978 report into civil liability and compensation for personal injury made proposals for state pensions for accident victims that were largely rejected by government at the time. Early life and legal career Born in Minnedosa, Manitoba, Canada, Colin Pearson was the youngest child of Ernest William Pearson (1861–1936), a lawyer, and Jessie Pearson, née Borland (died 1948). He had one brother, who was killed during World War I, and a sister, who died during childbirth. The family moved to London when Pearson was 7, where he was educated at St. Paul's School. He served with the 5th Battalion, Guards Machine Gun Regiment, at the end of the First World War in 1918, before going up to Balliol College, Oxford as a classical scholar and a Jenkyns exhibitioner. He obtained first-class honours in classical honour moderations (1920) and second-class honours in literae humaniores (1922). Taking up the law, Pearson joined the Inner