Oliver Stanley
British Parliament for Westmorland | |
---|---|
In office 30 October 1924 – 5 July 1945 | |
Preceded by | Sir John Weston |
Succeeded by | William Fletcher-Vane |
Personal details | |
Born | London, England, UK | 4 May 1896
Died | 10 December 1950 Sulhamstead, Berkshire, England, UK | (aged 54)
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse |
Maureen Vane-Tempest-Stewart
(m. 1920; died 1942) |
Children | 2 |
Parent(s) | Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby Lady Alice Montagu |
Education | Eton College |
Profession | Barrister |
Oliver Frederick George Stanley
Background and education
Stanley was the second son of
Military career
During the
Political career
After he was demobilised, Stanley was
Ministerial career
He soon came to the attention of the Conservative leaders and held a number of posts in the
In January 1940 Stanley was appointed
Last years
After the Conservatives' massive defeat in the 1945 general election Stanley was prominent amongst those rebuilding the party, and he came to be regarded as one of the most important Conservative MPs. He was a governor of The Peckham Experiment in 1949.[3] Along with Churchill and Anthony Eden, Stanley was seen as one of the Conservative Party's leaders in 1950.[4] He succeeded his father as Chancellor of the University of Liverpool. By this time, however, his health was in decline; and he died on 10 December 1950 at his home in Sulhamstead.[1]
Stanley had been Chairman of the Conservative Finance Committee.[5] Had he lived longer, he might well have been appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Conservatives formed a government the following year. Rab Butler was appointed instead.[6] Butler later wrote in his 1971 memoirs that Oliver Stanley was “the acutest brain on the Conservative front bench, the keenest lance I have ever known in politics, and a flowing pen which could [write] several pages of immaculate foolscap in the same time that lesser men would take to wrote a decent paragraph”. However, Butler’s view was that he probably would not have been a great Prime Minister or even Chancellor of the Exchequer, as he was too indecisive, but that he was great in opposition.[7]
Historian Sir
Family
Stanley married Lady Maureen Vane-Tempest-Stewart, daughter of Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry, and the Hon. Edith Chaplin, in 1920. They had one son and one daughter:
- Michael Charles Stanley (1921–1990), who married (Aileen) Fortune Constance Hugh Smith and had two sons;[9] and
- Kathryn Edith Helen Stanley DCVO (1923–2004), Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Elizabeth II from 1955 to 2002, and who married Sir John Dugdale KCVO (1923–1994) and had two daughters and two sons.[9]
Lady Maureen died in June 1942, aged 41. Stanley survived her by eight years and died in December 1950, aged 54.[9]
References
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/36249. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- . Retrieved 27 April 2023.
- ^ "The Bulletin of the Pioneer Health Centre". Peckham. 1 (5). September 1949. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
- ^ Jago 2015, p209
- ^ Jago 2015, p.209
- ^ Howard 1987, p. 178-9
- ^ Butler 1971, p144
- ISBN 978-0283978500.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-9711966-2-9.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link
Books cited
- Butler, Rab (1971). The Art of the Possible. London: Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 978-0241020074., his autobiography
- ISBN 978-0224018623
- Jago, Michael Rab Butler: The Best Prime Minister We Never Had?, Biteback Publishing 2015 ISBN 978-1849549202