There’s a huge, invisible influence running through the lives of the Blackmore family.
Three generations back came their forebear David Maxwell Fyfe (1900-1967) of Dornoch, a powerful legal and political figure in the UK, a prosecuting counsel at the Nuremberg Trials, a human rights lawyer and key British figure in the drafting of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
He became Lord Kilmuir of Criech, names he chose to honour his Sutherland roots, and was made a Freeman of Dornoch in 1955.
In the current generations, he’s grandfather to Tom Blackmore, grandfather-in-law to Sue Casson, and great-grandfather to their children Lily and Robert.
They are honouring their forebear’s achievements the way they know best, through a song cycle, Dreams of Peace and Freedom, to be performed at Dornoch Cathedral this Friday (June 20, 2025).
Honouring their forebear through theatre
Tom and Sue have been steeped in theatre all their lives. In fact, they’re related on Tom’s grandmother’s side to the actor Rex Harrison.
In 2012, they formed English Cabaret where they are the artistic directors, while their children Lily and Robert, both talented musicians and singers, are creative partners.
This year is the 75th anniversary of the ECHR so the family’s song cycle is dedicated to David Maxwell Fyfe’s part in a convention which has helped shaped the principles of post-war Europe.
Tom, christened David Thomas Maxwell Fyfe Blackmore, was always aware of the giant presence of his grandfather, although he didn’t know him well, being 7 when David died in 1967.
He was close to his grandmother Sylvia however, and as the oldest grandchild, inherited the Great Seal of David’s exalted office, along with his red box and various papers.
“Sylvia told me David wanted to be called the Earl of Creich, but she wouldn’t have it because it was difficult to spell, so he called himself the Earl of Kilmuir.
“The Kilmuir he is referring to is Dornoch Cathedral, and when he got the opportunity, he became Baron Fyfe of Dornoch.”
Traumatic family history inspired pursuit of justice
Being brought often on holiday to Dornoch and speaking with his grandmother, Tom learned something of the traumatic family history that inspired and influenced his grandfather so much in lifelong pursuit of justice and human rights.
The tragedy harks back to the 19th-century clearances in Sutherland.
Tom said: “David’s mother Isabel was born and brought up in Dornoch.
“The family’s links to the place started in the 18th century when John Fraser came back from the American Wars and took the mill at Skibo estate.
“John’s son negotiated a perpetual tenure on the mill, but in the next generation it was signed away, so when it came to the Clearances, the family were victims and the son responsible for signing the mill away died the day that they were thrown out.
“So David’s mother Isabel Campbell was very angry and fired up about that.”
Isabel’s romance with David’s father, William Fyfe came to an abrupt end at about the time of the clearances, Tom found out.
William married elsewhere and became headmaster of Aberdeen Grammar School.
Tom said: “He had a family of five and then his first wife died and he rediscovered Isabel again.
Romance rekindled
“They married when she was 30 and David Maxwell Fyfe was her only son.
“All the way through she would be telling him what he described as the ‘old tales’ of the family history because they were very close.
“David would have had a sense of injustice on one side, and on the other side, a sense of the beauty of the place.”
Despite David’s sense of injustice over the Clearances, he followed a socially and politically conservative line in his life.
Balliol and Liverpool
He attended Balliol College Oxford, went on to study law and practice in Liverpool, where he was eventually elected Conservative MP in Liverpool West Derby in 1935.
He saw service with the Scots Guards in World War One, and joined the Territorial Army in September 1939.
In 1942 Sir Winston Churchill appointed him Solicitor-General.
The Nuremberg Trials
In 1945, now deputy solicitor-general after a change in government, David Maxwell Fyfe took on day-to-day responsibilities at the Nuremberg Trials.
There his cross-examination of top Nazi Hermann Goering was considered outstanding.
European Convention on Human Rights
Maxwell Fyfe was in favour of European integration, and between 1949 and 1952 was a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and rapporteur on the committee drafting the European Convention on Human Rights.
He was Home Secretary under Winston Churchill from 1951-54.
Being descendants of such a such an ambitious and conservative politician hasn’t always been comfortable for the family.
Tom says: “He was a bit of a cuckoo in the nest.”
As Home Secretary Maxwell Fyfe took a vigorous stance against homosexuality, although he sanctioned the establishment of the Wolfenden Report of 1957 which recommended that homosexuality between consenting adults should not longer be an offence.
He waded into more controversy when he refused to grant a reprieve to alleged police murderer Derek Bentley despite the petitions of 200 MPs and the claim that Bentley only had a mental age of 11.
Papers discovered which revealed more about Maxwell Fyfe as a family man
It wasn’t until 1998 that his family history took a sharper focus, and the family were able to learn more about Maxwell Fyfe, the human being.
Tom said: “A whole lot more of his papers were found in the vaults the City of London and they got in touch to say can you come and collect them.
“There were boxes and boxes, and amongst them were the letters that my grandparents exchanged when he was in Nuremberg and when he was in Strasbourg.
“They were mostly love letters because even though they were in their 40s they were very much in love.”
The letters became Tom’s way into understanding his grandfather.
“They were for me a way into him, because he was writing as himself and it was the first time I felt I got to know him.
“He was much more ordinary and like the rest of us, complaining about things in the same tones.
A modern and devoted dad and husband
“You can read them all, he was a modern person, he expressed his love in a modern way, expressed his interest in his children in a modern way, he was not at all stand-offish.
“He was devoted to his wife, devoted to his children.
“I think that for the world of the 1940s and 50s he was quite modern.”
The family is proud of the work Maxwell Fyfe did with the European Convention on Human Rights.
The ECHR remains controversial to this day, with Lily and Robert finding themselves target of negativity on social media.
Lily said: “People used to be positive about it but not now.
“But we will reach out to everybody, as we feel we have a unique insight and another perspective.”
Robert added: “We want to highlight this part of history for the younger generation, and not just see it from a political point of view.”
For Tom, the ECHR is about holding governments to account.
“I don’t expect governments ever to like it but it’s been awfully helpful for the past 80 years.
“David explicitly fought tyranny all the way through.
“That’s what the ECHR does first and foremost does, it makes it difficult to be a tyrant.”
The major influence of Dornoch for David
The family are well aware of the influence of Dornoch in Maxwell Fyfe’s life.
Tom said: “I can’t tell you how important Dornoch was to his inspiration in fulfilling his life the way he did, that arc.
“Dornoch was like a really precious, important jewel to him wherever he went, and that’s why it’s so important to us to be there.”
The family have been touring their song cycle Dreams of Peace and Freedom on UK stages for the past few years.
Maxwell Fyfe’s words weave with Sue’s musical settings of poetry that inspired him and with archive film to tell the story of the birth of modern human rights through his eyes.
The show reveals how the seeds of ECHR took root in the horrific evidence that emerged in the Nuremberg war crimes trials and went on to establish and defend human rights during the ensuing 75 years of peace.
The family performed Dreams of Peace and Freedom in Dornoch Cathedral on Friday June 20, 2025.
Dreams of Peace & Freedom is playing at the Edinburgh Fringe daily at 13:55 from August 11-24t at C alto theatre, Central Quaker Meeting House.
Tickets are available via the Fringe Society –https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/dreams-of-peace-and-freedom
and C ARTS – https://res.cthearts.com/event/34:5010.
The Blackmores are also delighted to learn that Edinburgh MP Christine Jardine has tabled an Early Day Motion in Parliament, highlighting David Maxwell Fyfe and the Songs of the People project.
https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/63900
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