Alan Lennox-Boyd, 1st Viscount Boyd of Merton

Alan Lennox-Boyd in conversation with Thomas Marealle , the chief of the Chagga

Alan Tindal Lennox-Boyd, 1st Viscount Boyd of Merton , CH , PC , DL (birth name: Alan Tindal Boyd; born November 18, 1904 , † December 29, 1983 ) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who, among other things, between 1931 and in 1960 a member of the lower house ( House of Commons ) , from 1952 to 1954 and Minister of transport from 1954 to 1959 was colonial Secretary. On September 8, 1960, he was the Viscount Boyd of Merton ennobled and thus a member of the upper house ( House of Lords ) .

Life

Family background and studies

Boyd was the second eldest son from the second marriage of his father, the barrister Alan Walter Boyd, and his wife Florence Annie Begbie, daughter of the doctor James Warburton Begbie. From this marriage came his eldest brother George Edward Lennox-Boyd, who served as a major in the Highland Light Infantry and died in World War II , the younger brother Donald Breay Hague Lennox-Boyd, who was a captain in the Scots Guards and before the Second World War died, as well as the youngest brother Francis Gordon Lennox-Boyd, who as a major of The Royal Scots Grays (2nd Dragoons) also died in action in World War II. From his father's first marriage to Clementina Louisa Whittingham, daughter of Major General Ferdinando Whittingham , the older half-sister Phyllis Georgie Lennox-Boyd came from. On September 8, 1925, the family changed their name ( Deed poll ) to Lennox-Boyd.

Alan Lennox-Boyd himself, after attending the renowned Sherborne School, founded in 1550, studied at Christ Church at the University of Oxford , from which he graduated with a Master of Arts (MA).

Member of the House of Commons and junior minister in the war governments

In the general election of October 27, 1931 Lennox-Boyd was a candidate of the Conservative Party for the first time as a member of the lower house ( House of Commons ) selected and represented in this up to its mandate resignation on September 8, 1960 the constituency of Mid-Bedfordshire . On February 25, 1938 he took over his first government office when he replaced Rab Butler as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Labor (Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labor) . He held this post as an employee of Secretary of Labor Ernest Brown until the end of the fourth national government on September 3, 1939.

In the subsequent war government formed by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain , Lennox-Boyd assumed the post of Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Home Security on September 3, 1939 , which was also held by Interior Minister John Anderson . However, he handed it over to William Mabane on October 24, 1939 . In the meantime, he himself had been appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food on October 11, 1939, making him the closest collaborator to the Minister of Food, William Morrison . He held the post of Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Food until the end of Chamberlain's term on May 10, 1940.

During the Second World War, Lennox-Boyd then began his military service and entered as a Lieutenant (Lieutenant) in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve , the reserve of the Royal Navy one. In the meantime, he completed a degree in Law and was awarded in 1941 the lawyer admitted as barrister to the Bar ( Inns of Court ) from Inner Temple . On September 11, 1943, he took over in the war government of Prime Minister Winston Churchill to succeed Ben Smith the post of Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Aircraft Production (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Aircraft Production) and belonged to the end of the term of Churchill's transitional government on July 26, 1945 among the closest associates of the Minister for Aircraft Production, Richard Stafford Cripps .

Minister in the post-war period

Alan Lennox-Boyd (back row, 6th from left) as Colonial Minister in Churchill's Third Third Cabinet (1955)

After the election victory of the conservative Tories in the general election of October 25, 1951 Lennox-Boyd was on November 2, 1951 the third cabinet Churchill first Minister of State in the Colonial Office (Minister of State for the Colonies) and representatives of Colonial Secretary Oliver Lyttelton . Because of the importance of the Colonial Office, he was also a member of the Secret Privy Council ( Privy Council ) . Just six months later, in the course of a government reshuffle, on May 7, 1952, he took over the post of Minister of Transport from John Maclay . After the amalgamation of the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Civil Aviation on October 1, 1953, he served as Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation until he was replaced by John Boyd-Carpenter on June 28, 1954 .

In the course of a new government reshuffle, Lennox-Boyd took over the post of Secretary of State for the Colonies in Churchill's third cabinet on July 28, 1954 from Oliver Lyttelton and held this position in the subsequent cabinet of Prime Minister Anthony Eden and in the government from Prime Minister Harold Macmillan until his replacement by Iain Macleod on October 14, 1959. From February 15, 1959, there were massive unrest in Nyassaland . Police stations were raided, prisons stormed and prisoners freed, airports blocked. The city of Fort Hill (now Chitipa) fell into the hands of the NAC. In this situation the federal government declared a state of emergency and raised thousands of white soldiers to Malawi. After months of unrest and 52 deaths, calm was restored in June 1959. At the same time, the government arrested around 1,000 NAC people, including the entire leadership. The party was banned - but a short time later it was re-established as the Malawi Congress Party (MCP). In his function as colonial minister, he set up a commission named after its chairman Patrick Devlin on April 6, 1959 to investigate the unrest, the so-called Devlin commission . He was also a 1954-1959 Deputy Lieutenant (DL) of the county of Bedfordshire .

Economic manager and member of the House of Lords

After leaving the government, Lennox-Boyd joined the Arthur Guinness & Sons brewery, owned by his wife's family, as Managing Director and held this position until 1967.

By a Letters Patent from September 8, 1960 Lennox-Boyd was after his departure from the House of Commons as Viscount Boyd of Merton , of Merton-in-Penninghame in the County of Wigtown , in the hereditary nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom collected and was a member of the House of Lords until his death. In 1960 he was also accepted into the Order of the Companions of Honor (CH). After joining the House of Lords, he took part in meetings until shortly before his death and dealt in particular with foreign and colonial policy issues. In 1965 he also took on the role of Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Cornwall .

Marriage and offspring

On December 29, 1938, Lennox-Boyd married Lady Patricia Florence Susan Guinness, a daughter of Rupert Guinness, 2nd Earl of Iveagh , who was a member of the House of Commons between 1908 and 1910 and from 1912 to 1927, and of Gwendolen Guinness, Countess of Iveagh , a daughter of William Onslow, 4th Earl of Onslow , who was also a member of the House of Commons between 1927 and 1935.

From this marriage three sons were born. The eldest son Simon Donald Rupert Neville Lennox-Boyd inherited the title of 2nd Viscount Boyd of Merton on the death of his father on March 8, 1983 and was also a member of the House of Lords until the House of Lords Act 1999 came into force . The second son was Christopher Alan Lennox-Boyd. The third son from this marriage was Mark Alexander Lennox-Boyd , who between 1983 and 1997 represented the Conservative Party as a member of the House of Commons, was Parliamentary Private Secretary and Whip several times and most recently between 1990 and 1994 the office of Parliamentary Undersecretary in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth affairs covered.

Web links

• Alan Lennox-Boyd, 1st Viscount Boyd of Merton at Hansard (English)
• Entry in Cracroft's Peerage
• Entry in Leigh Rayment Peerage
• Alan Tindal Lennox-Boyd, 1st Viscount Boyd of Merton on thepeerage.com , accessed October 10, 2016.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ London Gazette . No. 41676, HMSO, London, April 7, 1959, p. 2268 ( PDF , accessed October 10, 1959, English).
2. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 41909, HMSO, London, December 29, 1959, p. 27 ( PDF , accessed October 10, 1959, English).

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Viscount Boyd of Merton 1960-1983	Simon Lennox-Boyd