Rolf Dudley-Williams

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Sir Rolf Dudley-Williams
Bt
Member of Parliament
for Exeter
In office
25 October 1951 – 10 March 1966
Preceded byJohn Maude
Succeeded byGwyneth Dunwoody
Personal details
Born(1908-06-17)17 June 1908
Plymouth, Devon, England
Died8 October 1987(1987-10-08) (aged 79)
Political partyConservative
SpouseMargaret Helen Robinson
Children2
OccupationAeronautical engineer

Sir Rolf Dudley Dudley-Williams, 1st Baronet (17 June 1908 – 8 October 1987), born Rolf Dudley Williams, was a British

aeronautical engineer and Conservative Party politician.[1]

Royal Air Force career

Williams was born in

Flying Officer in 1930. From 1933, he was stationed at the Central Flying School, but the next year an injury saw him invalided out of the service.[3]

Jet engines

Deciding to go into business, Williams joined with fellow Cranwell pupil

Society of British Aircraft Constructors and was made a Companion of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 1944.[4]

Politics

At the 1950 general election, Williams was a Conservative candidate for Brierley Hill in Staffordshire but lost to Labour. He was then selected for Exeter, a Conservative held seat, and won it at the 1951 general election.[4][1]

Parliament

While Williams concentrated on the aircraft industry and the RAF, he also introduced his own

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, Williams was one of five Conservative MPs who jointly tabled a motion in the House of Commons that attacked "the tendency, evident in recent British Broadcasting Corporation television programmes, notably on Sunday evenings, to pander to sexual and sadistic tastes".[7]

Williams' campaign to retain his seat at the 1955 general election was helped by Sir Frank Whittle, who had attempted to convert Williams to socialism while at Cranwell but was forcefully opposed to nationalisation after his treatment by Labour ministers in the 1940s. After his re-election, Williams advocated a hawkish approach to Egypt on the Suez issue, and supported police crackdowns on demonstrations for nuclear disarmament.[citation needed]

He served as a

City of Exeter on 2 July 1964.[9]

Later career

After an adverse swing at the 1964 general election, Dudley-Williams lost his seat in 1966. Although taking some business appointments, he effectively retired from politics. However, in January 1975 during the Conservative Party leadership election, he joined with five other former Conservative MPs to write a letter to The Times urging Edward Heath to "now make way, so that the undoubted talents and leadership which he has kept muffled on the back benches should be given a chance to come to the fore".[10] He is the grandfather of journalist Marina Hyde.

Arms

Coat of arms of Rolf Dudley-Williams
Crest
In front of a castle as in the arms a wild cat rampant guardant Proper.
Escutcheon
Gules a chevron engrailed plain cotised between in chief two cranes respectant Proper and in base a triangular castle of three towers Or.
Motto
Cave Felem[11]

References

  1. ^
    GALE Group
    .
  2. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-19-954089-1
    . Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 10 May 2021. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  5. ^ "Early Days of "Jet" Plane". The Times. No. 49748. 8 January 1944. p. 2.
  6. ^ "Penalty For Cruelty To Animals". The Times. No. 52477. 24 November 1952. p. 3.
  7. ^ "CONTROVERSY OVER "1984"". The Times. No. 53115. 15 December 1954. p. 5.
  8. ^ "No. 43378". The London Gazette. 10 July 1964. p. 5988.
  9. ^ "No. 43373". The London Gazette. 3 July 1964. p. 5723.
  10. ^ "Mr Heath and Mr Powell". The Times. No. 59301. 23 January 1975. p. 17.
  11. ^ Debrett's Peerage. 2000.
  • M. Stenton and S. Lees, "Who's Who of British MPs" Vol. IV (Harvester Press, 1981)

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Exeter
1951–1966 		Succeeded by
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
New title
Granted by
Queen
Elizabeth II
 Baronet
(of Exeter)
1964–1987 		Succeeded by
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