Peter Thorneycroft
Life Peerage
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 26 July 1909 Dunston, United Kingdom | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 4 June 1994 (aged 84) London, United Kingdom | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Conservative | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Royal Military Academy, Woolwich City Law School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
George Edward Peter Thorneycroft, Baron Thorneycroft,
Early life
Born in Dunston, Staffordshire, Thorneycroft was the son of Major George Edward Mervyn Thorneycroft and Dorothy Hope Franklyn. He was the grandson of Sir William Franklyn and nephew of Sir Harold Franklyn.[1] He was educated at Eton and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He was commissioned into the Royal Artillery as a second lieutenant on 29 August 1929 but resigned his commission on 1 July 1931.[2][3] In 1933, he was called to the bar for the Inner Temple.
Political career
He entered
He served in the Conservative
Throughout the late 1940s Thorneycroft worked assiduously to refurbish the Conservative Party after its disastrous defeat in the 1945 general election. His opposition to the Anglo-American loan in the Commons earned him a reputation as a parliamentary debater, and when the Conservatives returned to power after the general election of 1951, he was appointed President of the Board of Trade. He was instrumental in persuading the government in 1954 to abandon the party's support for protectionism and accept the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.[6]
Chancellorship and resignation
Thorneycroft's support for
In retrospect, Thorneycroft questioned the wisdom of his resignation, saying that "we probably made our stand too early."[citation needed]
Later political career
Thorneycroft returned to the Cabinet in 1960, when he was appointed
After the Government was defeated in 1964, Thorneycroft first served as
Later life
Thorneycroft was a strong supporter of
He was notable as an amateur watercolourist and held exhibitions. Winston Churchill, when told of Thorneycroft's interest, had said, "Every minister must have his vice. Painting shall be yours".[5]
He was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour as a Member (CH) in the 1980 New Year Honours.[10] During his time as M.P. for Monmouth, Thorneycroft lived at Machen House, in the hamlet of Lower Machen, to the west of the City of Newport.[11]
Family
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (September 2020) |
His grandfather was the Victorian Colonel Thomas Thorneycroft, a Wolverhampton industrialist, eccentric, landowner and well-known Conservative; he was asked to stand for election by Benjamin Disraeli. Colonel Thorneycroft owned or leased various houses in Staffordshire and Shropshire including Tettenhall Towers and Tong Castle.
His great-grandfather was
After his first marriage, to Sheila Wells Page, and divorce, he married
References
- ISBN 9780824201180. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
- ^ "No. 33530". The London Gazette. 30 August 1929. p. 5644.
- ^ "No. 33731". The London Gazette. 30 June 1931. p. 4246.
- ^ "No. 34660". The London Gazette. 29 August 1939. p. 5920.
- ^ a b Howarth, Alan (6 June 1994). "Obituary: Lord Thorneycroft". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- ^ Robert Shepard, "Theorneycroft, (George Edward) Peter", in The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century British Politics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), p. 642
- ^ "No. 40981". The London Gazette. 22 January 1957. p. 501.
- ^ Easter, David (2012). Britain and the Confrontation with Indonesia, 1960–66. I.B.Tauris, p. 100.
- ^ "No. 44469". The London Gazette. 5 December 1967. p. 13287.
- ^ "No. 48059". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 January 1980. p. 298.
- ^ Ridout, Joanne (22 July 2022). "Country estate in need of modernisation". Wales Online. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
- ^ As Minister of Defence until 1 April 1964
Further reading
- ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
- Dell, Edmund. The Chancellors: A History of the Chancellors of the Exchequer, 1945-90 (HarperCollins, 1997) pp 223–41, covers his term as Chancellor.
- Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
- The Times, 6 June 1994 (obit)
- The Daily Telegraph, 6 June 1994 (obit)
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Peter Thorneycroft
- Brief biography and list of Thorneycroft documents held at Southampton University
- Review of Peter Thorneycroft biography by Stanley Crooks at Southampton University, October 2007
- Publisher's blurb for the Crooks biography of Thorneycroft
- Two portraits of Peter Thorneycroft at the National Portrait Gallery, one being a photograph by Cecil Beaton
_(2022).svg)
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
