Toby Jessel

Toby Henry Francis Jessel (11 July 1934 – 3 December 2018) was a British Conservative Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Twickenham from 1970 to 1997.

Early life Jessel was born at Bearsted in Kent on 11 July 1934, the son of Winifred Levy (1905–1977) and Commander Richard Frederick Jessel, D.S.O. (1902–1988), a Royal Navy officer. He was the great-grandson of Marcus Samuel, 1st Viscount Bearsted, and his great-great uncle was the judge George Jessel. Through the latter, Jessel was distantly related to American actor George "Georgie" Jessel. Toby Jessel's sister Camilla married the Polish-born composer Andrzej Panufnik.

Jessel received his formal education at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and at Balliol College, Oxford.

Political career Jessel joined the Conservative Party, and served as a councillor in the London Borough of Southwark from 1964. In that year he also contested Peckham in the general election; then in 1966 he twice fought Kingston upon Hull North, first in a by-election and then at the general election which followed. He represented Richmond upon Thames on the Greater London Council between 1967 and 1973.