Colefax was born in
Bradford,
Yorkshire, and was the son of J S Colefax, a woollen merchant. He was initially educated at
Bradford Grammar School before studying natural science and chemistry at the
University of Strasbourg, and at
Merton and
Christ Church Colleges at the
University of Oxford. In 1894 he was
called to the bar at
Lincoln's Inn, and quickly became an acknowledged expert on patent law. He was made a
King's Counsel in 1912. At the
January 1910 general election he was elected as Liberal Unionist
Member of Parliament (MP) for
Manchester South West, benefiting from a split in anti-Unionist vote between the
Social Democratic Federation and
Liberal candidates. He held the seat for less than a year, and was defeated at ensuing
election in December. Much of his work was involved in Anglo-German patents, but this was ended by outbreak of the
First World War. He became head of the scientific department of the
Ministry of Munitions for the duration of the war. He was
knighted for his wartime services in 1920. In 1918 he was appointed as solicitor-general of the
County Palatine of Durham, becoming Chancellor of the Chancery Court of the Palatine in 1930. These offices had been almost entirely ceremonial since 1837. In 1901 he married
Sibyl Halsey, and they had two sons. Sibyl Colefax was to become a renowned
interior designer. Colefax died from pneumonia at his
Chelsea home in 1936, aged 69. ==References==