Born: 16th April 1952
Died: 19th June 2025
Robin Masefield, the former director general of the Northern Ireland Prison Service, has died at the age of 73 after a short illness.
His exemplary 40-year career in public service, which was focused largely on Northern Ireland, saw him take a leading role on many complex political and societal issues, including the reform of policing and the creation of a statutory framework for parading.
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Masefield was the first graduate recruited into the newly established Northern Ireland Office when he joined it in 1973.
It was a posting that provided him with much variety and challenge, and from where he developed his great love for the island of Ireland. His early years in the department saw him working mostly in Belfast, undertaking administrative roles supporting ministers to find a political solution to the Troubles, which were at their peak.
By 1979, he had seized an opportunity to spend several years abroad, working for the Hong Kong government, where he helped to draft the first Green Paper on widening local government representation. He also drafted a speech for Margaret Thatcher to deliver on her first visit to Hong Kong as prime minister.
On his return to the United Kingdom, a role in the Home Office introduced him to the sphere of prisons and criminal justice reform which would subsequently become a core part of his career. Back in Northern Ireland during the mid-1980s , he worked at the then-contentious joint Anglo-Irish secretariat, set up under the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
In this role, he greatly enjoyed working in proximity with counterparts from the Republic, building relationships that continued for many years.
Recognising his sharp intellect and natural curiosity, he was asked to lead the secretariat, supporting an independent panel tasked by the then secretary of state for Northern Ireland to review the arrangements pertaining to parading – a hugely contentious issue with no obvious solution.
The work of the panel, chaired by Sir Peter North, was undertaken during a period of growing unrest, violence and fatalities linked to parading in Northern Ireland during the early 1990s.
This role gave Masefield an opportunity to display his great talent for engaging with people at all levels, and across all communities, while demonstrating his constant ability to work at pace.
The North Report, which included extensive cross-community consultation, was produced in just three months and led to the establishment of the Parades Commission in Northern Ireland. The then cabinet secretary, Sir Robin Butler, said it was one of the best such reports he had ever read.
Masefield briefly returned to the Northern Ireland Prison Service as head of finance and planning, before being asked to lead the team responsible for implementing the controversial reforms to the Royal Ulster Constabulary recommended by Sir Chris Patten, chair of the Independent Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland.
His great ability to focus on detail was much in demand as every aspect of policing reform and legislation in Parliament was under constant scrutiny from both unionist and nationalist politicians, as well as by political commentators.
It was fitting that he was invited to co-author a book, with Sir Desmond Rea, on the new beginning to policing in Northern Ireland, following the implementation of the Patten reforms.
His final post saw him promoted to become director general of the Northern Ireland Prison Service, a job he relished. He led the organisation through a series of complex changes in the lead-up to the devolution of criminal justice and policing in Northern Ireland.
He cared deeply about his work as he sought to lead the prison service’s transition away from its traditional focus on security, to focus instead on promoting prisoners’ rehabilitation.
He considered himself fortunate in the choice of local ministers responsible for the prison service during this period, as they too shared his belief in the importance of rehabilitation of offenders. He was secretly delighted when an Irish journalist told him, off the record, that he had earned a reputation as a “reformer”.
Retiring from public service at the end of 2010, he resumed his interest in historical research and writing books, often in collaboration with others, among them a trilogy of north Down histories which raised considerable funds for local charities.
He was very active in his local community, dedicating much time to improving the environment with guerrilla gardening; he was also a school governor and on the board of Oxfam Ireland for many years.
His final book, researched with a former work colleague and published by Queen’s University Belfast, was a lengthy study of the role of Irish people engaged in public administration in East Asia during the 19th century.
Everyone who knew Robin Masefield was invariably struck by his boundless enthusiasm and energy, demonstrated not only on the tennis court, but in everything he undertook; his penetrating intellect and capacity for original thinking; and his profound interest in, empathy for, and ability to engage with people from widely different backgrounds.
This last trait was deeply evident through his compassionate, yet firm, management of those in his care while leading the prison service in Northern Ireland.
He will be remembered as an outstanding public servant, an exceptional leader, and as a kind and generous friend and colleague.
He was awarded the CBE in 2003, largely for his work in helping to establish the Northern Ireland Policing Board, a critical part of the peace process in Northern Ireland.
He married Rosemary Drew, whom he had first met in Belfast, when in Hong Kong in 1981. They were to have three children – Anna, who works for an employment social enterprise, Sarah, who is the research cultural manager at the University of York, and Johnny, a procurement specialist.
