Sir Anthony Richard Barrowclough (24 June 1924 – 3 June 2003) was a lawyer who served as Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and Health Service Commissioner for England, Scotland and Wales (Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman). Early life Barrowclough was born with his twin brother Jack in 1924 in Nottinghamshire, the son of Sidney Barrowclough, a farmer. The family later moved to Kent where Sidney became the proprietor of a dairy business in the outskirts of London. Barrowclough was educated at Stowe with his brother before he joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in 1943. He trained as a navigation officer and served on motor torpedo boats with coastal forces. Barrister After the war, Barrowclough went to New College, Oxford where he took first class honours in law and was awarded a certificate of honour. In 1949, he was called to the Bar by Inner Temple and joined chambers at 7 King's Bench Walk. Barrowclough undertook a range of commercial work and specialised in aeronautical law, an area in which he lectured at Oxford. Barrowclough became a part-time member of the Monopolies' Commission in 1966. When two high street menswear retailers, United Drapery Stores and Montague Burton, sought to merge in 1969, the Commission rejected the proposal. When Barrowclough dissented from this decision, he was effectively stood down from the Commission by the Chairman, Sir Ashton Roskill. Between 1972 and 1984, Barrowclough served as a Crown Court recorder. He took silk in 1974, and became a Bencher of the Inner Temple in 1982. Ombudsman Barrowclough was the second lawyer to be appointed to the post of Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman in 1985. There was a downward trend in the number of complaints received by the Office: from 759 in 1985 to 677 in 1989. The number of Members of Parliament using the services of the Office dropped from 373 in 1985 to 359 in 1989, the lowest since 1974. There was also a concurrent drop in reports, from 177 in 1985 to just 120 in 1989. The Office became entangled with the Lord Chancellor's Department as to whether the administrative actions of the courts should be open to investigation. The Department refused to shift from its position that the administration work was in the exercise of the courts' function of administerting justice. By 1989, ten investigations against the Department were suspended because of its objections. Barrowclough's term as Ombudsman also