Horace King

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Horace King (2nd from left) and Ludwig Erhard in Bonn in 1966

Horace Maybray King, Baron Maybray-King (born May 25, 1901 in Grangetown ( Middlesbrough ), † September 3, 1986 ) was a British Labor Party politician and Speaker of the House of Commons .

Family, professional career and World War II

The son of an insurance salesman and Methodist lay preacher, after attending school in Stockton-on-Tees, he studied English at King's College London from 1917 to 1922 . After graduating, he first became a teacher and in 1927 head of the English department at Taunton's School in Southampton . In addition to his work as a teacher, he later completed a correspondence course at King's College and received his doctorate there in 1940 with a thesis on William Shakespeare as a Philosophiae Doktor (Ph.D.) .

During the Second World War he was exempted from military service because of a stomach ulcer . Nevertheless, he contributed as a composer (“The V Concert Party”, “Spitfire Song”) and musician to the troop entertainment and also organized concerts to buy Spitfire interceptors and fundraising for Russia . With a teacher colleague he was the first to translate the song Lili Marleen into English. In 1940 he was evacuated from Southampton to Bournemouth with his family and Taunton's School . Among his students was the future comedian Benny Hill . In 1947 he moved to Regent's Park Grammar (secondary school) as principal .

His first wife Victoria Florence King was also politically active and for several years councilwoman and in the year of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953 mayor of Southampton . She was later awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) posthumously.

Political career

MP

King began his political career in the elections for the lower house (House of Commons) as an unsuccessful candidate of the Labor Party under Clement Attlee for the traditionally conservative constituency New Forest - Christchurch . In 1946, however, he was elected a member of the Hampshire County Council, which he served with a three-year break until 1965.

In 1950 he ran successfully with a narrow majority as a candidate for the Labor Party for the newly created constituency Southampton Test . In 1951 he was able to defend this seat in the elections after the failure of the majority of the Labor Party around Attlee in the lower house. In 1955 he ran as a Labor candidate for the much safer constituency of Southampton-Itchen , of which he was a member until he left the House of Commons in 1970. As a member of the European Parliament, he was also a member of the Council of Europe at times .

While serving as a Member of Parliament, he built relationships with the United States and Canada , where he also lectured on British constitutional and parliamentary law . During a series of lectures he appeared on a local broadcaster's show entitled "The Two Dr Kings" with US civil rights activist Martin Luther King .

He also organized British support for the UNICEF project to relocate the Abu Simbel temples in Egypt as part of the construction work on the Aswan Dam . He was also one of the first in the UK to raise awareness of autism .

Speaker of Parliament and member of the House of Lords

After the election victory of the Labor Party under Harold Wilson in the general election on October 10, 1964, he became First Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons and Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means. After the death of the lower house speaker Harry Hylton-Foster on 2 September 1965, he was as his successor even finally Speaker of the House of Commons ( Speaker ). In the same year he was appointed a member of the Privy Council  (PC). King was the first Labor politician to ever hold this post.

During his tenure, which lasted until 1970, he introduced an acceleration of Question Time and the use of trousers for women MPs. In 1971, Selwyn Lloyd followed him as speaker.

After retiring from the House of Commons he was raised on March 2, 1971 as Baron Maybray-King of the City of Southampton to the nobility and was at the same time the upper house ( House of Lords ) to. There he was also deputy spokesman for a time.

Publications

Web links

Commons : Horace King  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME King, Horace
ALTERNATIVE NAMES King, Horace Maybray
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British politician (Labor Party) and Speaker of the House of Commons
DATE OF BIRTH May 25, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Grangetown ( Middlesbrough )
DATE OF DEATH 3rd September 1986