Charles Irving (politician)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the Lieutenant-Governor of Penang, see Charles John Irving. For the British surgeon and inventor, see Charles Irving (surgeon).

Sir Charles Irving
Member of Parliament
for Cheltenham
In office
10 October 1974 – 16 March 1992
Preceded byDouglas Dodds-Parker
Succeeded byNigel Jones
Personal details
Born(1924-05-04)4 May 1924
Died30 March 1995(1995-03-30) (aged 70)
Political partyConservative

Sir Charles Graham Irving (4 May 1924 – 30 March 1995)[1] was a British Conservative Member of Parliament for Cheltenham.

Early life

Irving was born into a hotel-owning family in Cheltenham, its flagship being the Irving Hotel on the High Street, of which he became chairman in 1949.[2]

He was educated at Glengarth School, in Cheltenham, and Lucton, near Hereford, at both of which "he evinced no academic bent". When he left school during World War II he tried to join the Army but was turned down on the grounds of being "insufficiently robust". He served in the Home Guard, but was "a good deal less than successful in those ranks, the highlight of his career being the accidental stabbing of a colleague in the hindquarters with a bayonet".[2]

Political career

His political career began in 1947 when he was elected to Cheltenham Borough Council.[3] The following year he was elected to Gloucestershire County Council. He was Mayor of Cheltenham 1958–1960 and again 1971–1972.

Having unsuccessfully contested

knighted in 1990.[2]

Irving was not afraid to stand up to the

Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) a body located within his Cheltenham constituency, but he was also a great admirer of Thatcher: from the day she was elected leader of the Conservative Party until she resigned as Prime Minister fifteen years later, Irving paid to have fresh flowers delivered to her.[citation needed
]

References

  1. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U173368. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  2. ^ a b c Patrick Cosgrave (3 April 1995). "Obituary of Charles Irving". The Independent. London. Retrieved 11 May 2008.
  3. ^ "Obituaries Sir Charles Irving". The Independent. 3 April 1995. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
  • Times Guide to the House of Commons 1987 and 1992 editions, www.angeltowns.com

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Cheltenham
October 1974–1992 		Succeeded by


Stub icon 1 Flag of EnglandPolitician icon

This article about a Conservative Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom representing an English constituency and born in the 1920s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Irving_(politician)&oldid=1217425166"