John Francis Lockwood

Sir John Francis Lockwood (6 July 1903 – 11 July 1965) was Master of Birkbeck College, London, from 1951 to 1965, and Vice-Chancellor of the University of London from 1955 to 1958 In 1965 he produced a controversial report known as "The Lockwood Report" which concerned the foundation of what became the University of Ulster.

Early life and education He was born in Preston, Lancashire, an only son and elder child of John Lockwood, a stockbroker, and his wife, Elizabeth Speight.

The committee's remit did not include making recommendations about any sites for any new institutions. However, the committee did make a recommendation for the location of a new university: Coleraine, a Protestant-dominated area in the east, and this was accepted by the Government. It also recommended the closure of Magee College in Derry. Magee College had a largely Catholic student body and was easily accessible to the Catholic population of Derry. There was a strongly-held view in Derry, a predominantly Roman Catholic area with a much larger population, that the university should be established there and the sense of outrage was exacerbated by the fact that there had been no Roman Catholic member of the committee. The resulting protest was unprecedented: on 18 February the city of Derry virtually closed down and a motorised convoy of 1,500 vehicles drove the 90 miles to the seat of government at Stormont in Belfast to protest, but the institution was established in Coleraine as recommended in the report.

Personal life In 1929 Lockwood married Marjorie, daughter of William Basil Clitheroe, a headmaster, and they had a son and a daughter. He was knighted in 1962. He died at home in Winchmore Hill, in the London Borough of Enfield, then in Middlesex. His wife survived him.