Merlyn Rees
Shadow Secretary of State for Energy | |
---|---|
In office 4 November 1980 – 24 November 1982 | |
Leader | Michael Foot |
Preceded by | David Owen |
Succeeded by | John Smith |
Shadow Home Secretary | |
In office 4 May 1979 – 4 November 1980 | |
Leader | James Callaghan |
Preceded by | William Whitelaw |
Succeeded by | Roy Hattersley |
Home Secretary | |
In office 10 September 1976 – 4 May 1979 | |
Prime Minister | James Callaghan |
Preceded by | Roy Jenkins |
Succeeded by | William Whitelaw |
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland | |
In office 5 March 1974 – 10 September 1976 | |
Prime Minister | |
Preceded by | Francis Pym |
Succeeded by | Roy Mason |
Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland | |
In office 24 March 1972 – 4 March 1974 | |
Leader | Harold Wilson |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | Francis Pym |
Member of Parliament for Morley and Leeds South (Leeds South 1963–1983) | |
In office 20 June 1963 – 16 March 1992 | |
Preceded by | Hugh Gaitskell |
Succeeded by | John Gunnell |
Personal details | |
Born | Merlyn Rees 18 December 1920 Cilfynydd, Wales |
Died | 5 January 2006 London, England | (aged 85)
Nationality | British |
Political party | Labour |
Spouse |
Colleen Cleverly (m. 1949) |
Children | 3 |
Alma mater | |
Merlyn Merlyn-Rees, Baron Merlyn-Rees, PC (né Merlyn Rees; 18 December 1920 – 5 January 2006) was a British Labour Party politician and Member of Parliament from 1963 until 1992. He served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1974–1976) and Home Secretary (1976–1979).
Early life
Rees was born in Cilfynydd, near
In 1941 Rees joined the Royal Air Force, becoming a squadron leader and earning the nickname "Dagwood". He served in Italy as operations and intelligence officer to No 324 Squadron under Group Captain W. G. G. Duncan Smith (father of the future Conservative leader).[3] One of Rees's Spitfire pilots in Italy, Frank Cooper, became his Permanent Secretary at the Northern Ireland Office.[3]
After the war, Rees declined a permanent commission in the RAF, and instead attended the
Member of Parliament
At a by-election in 1963, Rees stood successfully as the Labour candidate for Leeds South, succeeding Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell, who had died in office.[3] (The constituency was renamed Morley and Leeds South in 1983.) He held the seat until he stepped down from the House of Commons at the 1992 general election.[3]
In 1965 Rees became
In October 1971 Rees became Labour Party spokesman on
Rees later wrote of his experiences in Northern Ireland in Northern Ireland: a Personal Perspective.[10][11] In September 1976 Rees was appointed Home Secretary and remained in that post until Labour's defeat in the 1979 UK elections.[1]
Retirement
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2a/Merlyn_Rees_Avenue.jpg/220px-Merlyn_Rees_Avenue.jpg)
When Rees retired from the
Rees was president of the Video Standards Council from 1990 and was the first Chancellor of the University of Glamorgan, a position he held from 1994 to 2002.[15]
Personal life and death
In 1949, Rees married Colleen Cleveley, and they had three sons.[3]
Rees suffered injuries in a number of falls in his last years. In late 2005, a fall at his home in
Legacy
Merlyn Rees Avenue in
References
- ^ a b Edward Pearce (5 January 2006). "Lord Merlyn-Rees". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
- ^ ""Your Online Guide to Yorkshire People"". Wakefieldtoday.co.uk. 2004. Archived from the original on 21 December 2004.
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/97033. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ a b "Merlyn Rees - Parliamentary career". UK Parliament.
- ^ a b "Rees, Merlyn". Dictionary of Irish Biography.
- ^ Taylor, Peter (1999). Loyalists. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, p. 124.
- Irish Times.
- ^ "Belfast years remembered for vacillation in face of loyalist strike" (5 January 2006). The Irish Times, p. 14.
- ^ "MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR CHRISTOPHER EWART-BIGGS, BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, 1976". London: Foreign and Commonwealth Office. 19 July 2001.
- ISBN 9780413525901– via Google Books.
- ISBN 0-413-52590-2
- ^ "No. 52982". The London Gazette. 6 July 1992. p. 11339.
- ^ "No. 52985". The London Gazette. 8 July 1992. p. 11569.
- ^ "Obituary: Lord Merlyn-Rees". BBC News. 5 January 2006. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
- ^ "Peer's roots in 'gifted' street". BBC News. 5 January 2006.
- ^ "Merlyn Rees dies aged 85". The Guardian. 5 January 2006. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
Reading
- Merlyn Rees, "Northern Ireland: a personal perspective", London: Methuen, 1985.