Bert Hazell

Bert Hazell (born April 18, 1907 in Attleborough , Norfolk , † January 11, 2009 in York ), also called Bertie Hazell , was a British union leader and Labor Party politician .

Hazell was born in 1907 in Attleborough, Norfolk, the son of a farm laborer. At the age of 14, he dropped out of school to work at Park Farm , a farm in Wymondham . One of his tasks there was frightening crows. During his time as a MP, Hazell would often allude to this in relation to his work in Parliament. Due to the poor conditions for the farm workers and their families, which had deteriorated further in the course of the First World War and led to the Norfolk farm workers' strike of 1923, Hazell began to get involved in the National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers . When the Park Farm changed hands in 1933 , Hazell was fired for his involvement. Hazell was now working for the Labor Party in Norfolk.

In the years 1945 and 1950 ran unsuccessfully for the party for a seat in the lower house . It was not until October 1964 that he was elected to the House of Commons, to which he was a member of the electoral district of North Norfolk until 1970. In the House of Commons, Hazell was the first MP to raise the issue of coastal erosion in 1965 . 1984 he was at the University of York the honorary doctorate awarded.

Since the death of David Renton, Baron Renton in May 2007, Hazell has been the UK's oldest living ex-MP.

Hazell was married to Dora Barham († 1987) since 1936 and had one daughter. In 1946 he became a Member (MBE) of the Order of the British Empire , then Commander (CBE) in 1962 .

Web links

• Obituary in The Independent (English)
• Obituary in The Press (English)