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William Powell (Corby MP)

Welsh barrister and Conservative politician (1948-2022)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 14, 2026
Entity authorityQ8017032 ↗
Source-derived summary

William Rhys Powell (3 August 1948 – 23 March 2022) was a British Conservative politician. A barrister, he was MP for Corby from 1983 to 1997, when he lost the seat to Labour's Phil Hope. Born in Crickhowell, Wales, he was educated at Lancing College and Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

Powell died on 23 March 2022, at the age of 73.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “William Powell (Corby MP)” as welsh barrister and Conservative politician (1948-2022). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around William, Powell and Corby.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1948, 2022, 1983, 1997—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1948-08-03. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with William, Powell and Corby providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “William Powell (Corby MP)”, the useful work is to connect “welsh barrister and Conservative politician (1948-2022)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

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 Apr 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8017032. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1948, 2022, 1983 and 1997.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. 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 “William Powell (Corby MP)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow William Powell (Corby MP) primary sources, William Powell (Corby MP) archive and William 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 “William Powell (Corby MP)”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “William Powell (Corby MP)” 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.