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Oliver Colvile

British politician, Member of Parliament (1959-2025)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 15, 2026
Entity authorityQ290733
Source-derived summary

Oliver Newton Colvile (26 August 1959 – 20 October 2025) was a British politician. He was a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport.

Background

Colvile was born on 26 August 1959. His father served as an officer in the Royal Navy for over 30 years, his grandfather was the First Lieutenant of Plymouth's Naval barracks, whilst his uncle was a Royal Marines officer who served at Stonehouse. Colvile said his interest in politics took hold whilst at Stowe School when he became fascinated by how an idea could become law or a policy to protect civil liberties, to enhance people's freedom and for the enjoyment of life. He joined the Conservative Party's staff at the age of 21, working for Ministers and backbench MPs. He later devised community campaigns which saw the Conservatives return to Parliament a number of its candidates in marginal seats. Colvile formerly lived at The Millfields (formerly the Royal Naval Hospital), Plymouth.

Political career

Colvile unsuccessfully contested the Plymouth Sutton constituency in the 2001 and 2005 general elections, both times losing to the sitting Labour MP Linda Gilroy. Colvile won its successor seat, Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, at the 2010 general election with a majority of 1149 and 34.3% of the votes cast, ousting Gilroy with a swing of 6.9% calculated after allowing for significant boundary changes.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Oliver Colvile” as british politician, Member of Parliament (1959-2025). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1959, 2025, 2001, 2005—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1959-08-26. The account is most persuasive where Oliver, Colvile and British can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as british politician, Member of Parliament (1959-2025). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q290733. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1959, 2025, 2001 and 2005.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Oliver Colvile”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Oliver Colvile primary sources, Oliver Colvile archive and Oliver research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Oliver Colvile”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Oliver Colvile” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.