William Wedgwood Benn, 1st Viscount Stansgate

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George VI
Prime MinisterClement Attlee
Preceded byHarold Macmillan
Succeeded byPhilip Noel-Baker
Parliamentary offices
Ernest Brown
Member of Parliament
for St George
In office
8 February 1906 – 25 November 1918
Preceded byThomas Dewar
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born(1877-05-10)10 May 1877
Hackney, London
Died17 November 1960(1960-11-17) (aged 83)
Westminster, London
NationalityBritish
Political partyLiberal (until 1927)
Labour (from 1927)
Spouse
Second World War
  • Battle of Gallipoli

William Wedgwood Benn, 1st Viscount Stansgate,

PC (10 May 1877 – 17 November 1960) was a British Liberal politician who later joined the Labour Party. A decorated Royal Air Force officer, he was Secretary of State for India between 1929 and 1931 and Secretary of State for Air between 1945 and 1946. He was the father of Tony Benn and the paternal grandfather of Hilary Benn
.

Background and education

Born in

University College, London
.

Political career

Wedgwood Benn c. 1906

Benn was elected as a

Joseph Kenworthy and Horace Crawfurd to provide opposition to the government.[2]
He sat until March 1927, when he resigned from the Liberal Party and from parliament.

The following year he re-entered parliament as

Privy Council in 1929.[3] However, he refused to follow MacDonald into the National Government coalition with the Conservatives, and at the 1931 election lost his seat to John George Burnett.[4] He returned to parliament in 1937, when he was elected for Manchester Gorton
.

In 1940, following the internment of thousands of refugees under pressure from the military he spoke up for them in Parliament.[5] In 1942, Benn was raised to the peerage as Viscount Stansgate, of Stansgate in the County of Essex.[6] Two years later, he was appointed Vice President of the Allied Control Commission which was charged with reconstructing a democratic government in Italy. In 1945, he became Secretary of State for Air in Clement Attlee's Labour government, a position he held until October 1946. He then sat as a backbench Labour peer until his death fourteen years later.

From 1947 to 1957, Viscount Stansgate was President of the Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the world organization of national parliaments. He first took up that office at the IPU's Conference in Cairo in April 1947, where he succeeded Count Henry Carton de Wiart of Belgium. A master in the art of human contacts, passionately interested in international politics, Viscount Stansgate played a major role in bringing the newly independent countries in Asia, the Middle East and Africa into the ranks of the IPU. He was also instrumental in re-establishing the membership of parliaments of Eastern European countries, thus bringing the IPU nearer to its traditional objective – universality.

Military career

Capt. Wedgwood Benn c. 1918

Although aged 37 at the time the

First World War broke out, Benn was commissioned on 8 December 1914 as a second lieutenant in the Middlesex Yeomanry (Duke of Cambridge's Hussars).[7] On 12 May 1916, he was appointed an observer flying officer in the Royal Flying Corps.[8] On 8 July 1916, he was appointed as the commanding officer of a seaplane observer squadron, with the temporary rank of captain.[9] Seeing service at Gallipoli, he was seconded to the Royal Naval Air Service on 17 May 1917.[10] He was awarded the DSO on 4 June 1917[11] He was promoted to lieutenant on 10 July 1917 (seniority from 1 June 1916, and with full pay and allowances from 1 July 1917).[12][13] On 12 July 1918, Benn transferred to the Royal Air Force, and was appointed a temporary staff officer 3rd class, retaining his temporary captaincy.[14]

In September 1918, he was awarded the DFC. The citation read:

A gallant observer of exceptional ability. After setting out on a bombing raid, the Scout machines assigned to act as an escort became separated, and it then became necessary for the bombing planes to proceed on their task without support. Captain Benn's machine took the lead, followed by three other bombers, and succeeded in dropping his bombs (direct hits) on an enemy aerodrome. On the return journey the bombing machines were attacked by several enemy scouts, which were eventually driven away. Recently, this officer organised and carried out a special flight by night over the enemy's lines, under most difficult circumstances, with conspicuous success. He has at all times set a splendid example of courage (21 September 1918).[15]

Also in September 1918 (night of 8–9 September) he and

Bronze Medal of Military Valour by the Italian Government.[16] After his return to politics, Benn resigned his commission in the RAF on 28 December 1918, retaining the rank of captain.[17]

Though in his early 60s at start of the

RAF Bomber Aircrew gunner, and is possibly the oldest man to have done so.[22] He resigned his commission on 3 August 1945, retaining the rank of air commodore.[23]

Family

Lord Stansgate married

Margaret Holmes, daughter of Daniel Holmes, in 1920. His eldest son Michael Wedgwood Benn was killed in the Second World War in 1944. Stansgate died at Westminster, London, in November 1960, aged 83, and was succeeded in the viscountcy by his second son, then known as Anthony Wedgwood Benn (1925–2014), who was successful in 1963 in changing the law to allow him to disclaim the peerage for life. His youngest son, David Wedgwood Benn (1928–2017), a specialist in Russia and Eastern Europe, worked for the BBC's External Services for many years.[24] A fourth son, Jeremy, was stillborn
.

References

  1. ^ "William Wedgwood Benn". Spartacus Educational.
  2. ^ Forty Years in and out of Parliament by Sir Percy Harris
  3. ^ "No. 33505". The London Gazette. 11 June 1929. p. 3855.
  4. ^ The Times Obituary John George Burnett 22 January 1962 p17
  5. ^ "Refugees". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 10 July 1940.
  6. ^ "No. 35426". The London Gazette. 20 January 1942. p. 345.
  7. ^ "No. 29015". The London Gazette. 22 December 1914. p. 10938.
  8. ^ "No. 29950". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 February 1917. p. 1725.
  9. ^ "No. 29733". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 September 1916. p. 8684.
  10. ^ "No. 30073". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 May 1917. p. 4767.
  11. ^ "No. 30111". The London Gazette. 1 June 1917. p. 5468.
  12. ^ "No. 30173". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 July 1917. p. 6858.
  13. ^ "No. 30366". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 November 1917. p. 11430.
  14. ^ "No. 30881". The London Gazette. 3 September 1918. p. 10395.
  15. ^ "No. 30913". The London Gazette. 20 September 1918. p. 11249.
  16. ^ "No. 30999". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 November 1918. p. 13200.
  17. ^ "No. 31323". The London Gazette. 2 May 1919. p. 5515.
  18. ^ "No. 34870". The London Gazette. 11 June 1940. p. 3523.
  19. ^ "No. 35076". The London Gazette. 14 February 1941. p. 910.
  20. ^ "No. 35208". The London Gazette. 4 July 1941. p. 3836.
  21. ^ "No. 35900". The London Gazette (Supplement). 9 February 1943. p. 756.
  22. ^ Cooper (2009), p. 59
  23. ^ "No. 37231". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 August 1945. p. 4215.
  24. ^ Webb, Alban (1 March 2017). "David Wedgwood Benn obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 March 2017.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
St George's
1906 – 1918
 Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament for Leith
1918 – 1927 		Succeeded by
Ernest Brown
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Aberdeen North
1928– 1931 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Manchester Gorton
1937–1942 		Succeeded by
William Oldfield
Political offices
Preceded by Secretary of State for India
1929–1931 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Secretary of State for Air
1945–1946 		Succeeded by
Philip Noel-Baker
Military offices
Preceded by
H Peake
 Director of Public Relations (RAF)
1942–1943 		Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Viscount Stansgate
1942–1960 		Succeeded by
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