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Robert Davis (British politician)

British Conservative politician

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ50528885
Source-derived summary

Robert Jonathan Davis (born 27 September 1957) is a British lawyer and former Conservative Party politician. He was deputy leader of the Westminster City Council, and chairman of its planning committee for 17 years. He served as Lord Mayor of Westminster from 1996 to 1997, and also chaired the London Mayors' Association between 1998 and 2016.

Early life

Robert Davis was born on 27 September 1957. He is the son of Gerald Davis (died 2000) and Pamela Davis, née Lee (died 1997).

He was educated at Christ's College, Finchley, followed by Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and Wolfson College, Cambridge, after which he trained as a solicitor at the College of Law in London's Lancaster Gate. He was admitted as a solicitor in October 1983. From 1985 to 2015, Davis was a partner (now a consultant) in solicitors' firm Freeman Box, Bentinck Street, Marylebone, London, specialising in property law.

Political career

Davis was first elected to Westminster City Council in 1982 for the Bayswater ward, before representing neighbouring Lancaster Gate from 1986 onwards. From 1996 to 1997, he was the then youngest Lord Mayor of Westminster.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Robert Davis (British politician)” as british Conservative politician. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1957, 1996, 1997, 1998—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1957. The account is most persuasive where Robert, Davis 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 Conservative politician. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q50528885. VIAF identifies the subject as 106447620. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1957, 1996, 1997 and 1998.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. 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 “Robert Davis (British politician)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Robert Davis (British politician) primary sources, Robert Davis (British politician) archive and Robert 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 “Robert Davis (British politician)”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Robert Davis (British politician)” 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.