George Burnaby Drayson (9 March 1913 – 16 September 1983) was a British

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician. Drayson was educated at Borlase School and was a company director and a member of the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

1935–54. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he served in the Western Desert with the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

and was taken prisoner. He escaped in September 1943, and walked 500 miles, with a companion, through

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis *Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinate ...

-occupied Italy from north to south. He was a member of the Royal Agricultural Society and the Livestock Export Council of Great Britain. Drayson was

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Skipton Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Air ...

from 1945 to 1979, preceding John Watson. Drayson saw off strong

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

challenges to his position. He came closest to losing in the October 1974 general election to the ebullient, local Liberal candidate

Claire Brooks Kathleen Claire Brooks OBE (née Graham; 1931 – 13 March 2008) was a British lawyer and Liberal and Liberal Democrat party politician in the radical tradition. Personal life Claire Brooks was born at The Folly in Settle, a town in the York ...

just holding on with the narrow majority of 590 (1.4%).

References

*''Times Guide to the House of Commons October 1974'' *

External links

* 1913 births 1983 deaths Royal Artillery officers British Army personnel of World War II Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1910s-stub