John Stonehouse
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John Thomson Stonehouse (born July 28, 1926 , † April 14, 1988 ) was a British politician and Secretary of State under Harold Wilson . Stonehouse became well known in 1974 for his unsuccessful attempt to fake his own death .
Life
Education and early career
Stonehouse was educated at Taunton's Secondary School in Southampton and the London School of Economics and Political Science . As an economist, he dealt with cooperatives and was manager of African cooperative societies in Uganda from 1952 to 1962 . He was Director (1956–62) and President (1962–64) of the London Co-operative Society .
Stonehouse becomes a Member of Parliament
Stonehouse was first elected as a Labor candidate in the Wednesbury by-election in 1957, having previously run unsuccessfully in Twickenham in 1950 and Burton in 1951 . He was then undersecretary for aviation, then in the colonial office, then post office minister under Harold Wilson until the post was abolished in 1969. When Labor lost the 1970 elections, Stonehouse was not accepted into the shadow cabinet. When his constituency Wednesbury was deleted in 1974, he ran in the constituency of Walsall North and was also elected there.
Economic interests
After 1970, Stonehouse founded various companies. By 1974 these were in financial trouble and Stonehouse began manipulating the books. When he realized that the Ministry of Commerce was investigating his case, he decided to flee. British secret documents released in 2005 suggest that Stonehouse spent months practicing for his new identity - that of Joseph Markham, the late husband of a woman from his constituency.
Feigning one's own death
Stonehouse pretended to be normal until the November 10, 1974, date of his alleged suicide. He left his clothes on a beach in Miami and made his way to Australia . He was believed dead and obituaries were published. Meanwhile, Stonehouse wanted to start a new life in Melbourne with his secretary and lover Sheila Buckley . Just a few weeks after his "suicide" on December 24, 1974, he was arrested by Australian police following a tip from a postal worker. He had noticed "Joseph Marksman", who kept inquiring about letters from Great Britain, because of his aristocratic appearance and good manners. He was therefore believed to be Lord Lucan, who had also recently disappeared . While still in Australia, he applied for the Chiltern Hundreds (one of the ways for a British MP to resign) but never signed the petition.
The Australian authorities were initially reluctant to extradite a British MP. After six months, he was deported, despite having applied for asylum in Sweden and Mauritius in the meantime . In June 1975 he was back in England, where he was held in Brixton Prison until August . He was still active as a member of parliament as the Labor Party did not expel him despite the circumstances. In April 1976, he announced that he would no longer adhere to the parliamentary group , which cost Labor the parliamentary majority and made it a minority government . A few days later he joined the English National Party .
In court
In the process that followed, Stonehouse took on his own defense. He was found guilty of fraud and sentenced to seven years in prison. He was serving his imprisonment at Wormwood Scrubs , where he complained that the asylum workshop where he was forced to work was playing radio stations with pop music. On August 28, 1976, he was finally persuaded to resign as a member of the Privy Council - only three people left the Privy Council voluntarily in the 20th century. The by-election for his constituency was won by Robin Hodgson, a member of the Conservative Party .
After discharge
He was released early in 1979 after three heart attacks and one heart operation. He then worked for a number of years for the East London charity Community Links.
He married his mistress in 1981, wrote several books and died of a heart attack in 1988 after a brief illness. During his lifetime he often met the British comedian Kenneth Williams and repeatedly assured him of his appreciation.
Stonehouse's son attended school in Millfield , which was the most expensive private school in the country at the time.
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Stonehouse, John |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Stonehouse, John Thomson (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British politician, Member of the House of Commons and Secretary of State |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 28, 1926 |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 14, 1988 |