Harold Keates Hales (22 April 1868 – 7 November 1942) was a British shipping magnate, politician and founder of the Hales Trophy for the

Blue Riband The Blue Riband () is an unofficial accolade given to the passenger liner crossing the Atlantic Ocean in regular service with the record highest average speed. The term was borrowed from horse racing and was not widely used until after 1910. T ...

award for the ship with the record for the fastest

transatlantic crossing Transatlantic crossings are passages of passengers and cargo across the Atlantic Ocean between Europe or Africa and the Americas. The majority of passenger traffic is across the North Atlantic between Western Europe and North America. Centuries ...

. Known for his eccentricity, he was the inspiration for the title character of

Arnold Bennett Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist. He wrote prolifically: between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaboratio ...

's ''

The Card ''The Card'' is a comic novel written by Arnold Bennett in 1911 (entitled ''Denry the Audacious'' in the American edition). It was later made into a 1952 movie, starring Alec Guinness and Petula Clark. Like much of Bennett's best work, it is ...

''. He was the sole proprietor of Hales Brothers, an export and import shipping line.

Early life and education

He was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

in 1868, to Lewis George Hales, a draper, and Sarah Elizabeth Keates. Hales was educated in Manchester and

Burslem Burslem ( ) is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Tunstall, Fenton, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent form part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. It is often referred to as the "mother town" of Stoke on Trent. T ...

, where his schoolmate was

. Bennett later admitted that Hales was the inspiration for the title character in ''

''.

Career

Hales worked in the pottery and china business in the

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

area, founding "Hales Brothers", an export and import shipping line, of which he was the sole proprietor. He first owned a car in 1897, and later bragged that he had never blown his horn, and tried to make it illegal for anyone else to blow theirs. In 1904, he drove the first non-stop car from London to Edinburgh. He flew an airship around St. Paul's Cathedral in 1908. In 1910, he was one of the first people to survive an airplane crash. After serving in Turkey during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he travelled the world promoting British industry. He was Conservative MP for Hanley from 1931–1935. He enlivened a

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

debate on the herring industry by gesturing with a dead herring as he argued. In 1935, he inaugurated the

Hales Trophy The Hales Trophy (officially the North Atlantic Blue Riband Challenge Trophy) is an award for the fastest Atlantic crossing by a commercial passenger vessel. The award was created in 1935 when Harold K. Hales, a British politician and owner of Ha ...

for the

award for the ship with the record for the fastest transatlantic crossing. It was commissioned in 1933 and designed by Charles Holliday, designer for the firm of James Dixon and Sons, silversmiths of Cornish Place

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, working to very specific instructions supplied by Hales. The trophy is almost tall, almost , made of solid silver, onyx and heavy gilt, showing Victory, Neptune and Amphitrite upholding a globe and topped by a figure called Speed urging a liner into the face of a figure called The Force of the Atlantic. An enameled blue ribbon surrounds the middle of the prize, and there are memorials to past record-holders, with Harold Hales's name at the base.

Death

He died on 7 November 1942 aged 74, accidentally drowning in the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

, near

Shepperton Shepperton is an urban village in the Borough of Spelthorne, Surrey, approximately south west of central London. Shepperton is equidistant between the towns of Chertsey and Sunbury-on-Thames. The village is mentioned in a document of 959 AD ...

. His body was recovered on 8 December in

Weybridge Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a crossing point of the ...

. He married Ethel King. Their only son, Ormonde Keates Hales (1915–1979) was a businessman and archaeologist.

Publications

*''Harold's Adventures'', his autobiography (1926) *''Chariots Of The Air'' (1936) *''The Road To Westminster, And My Impressions Of Parliament'' (1936) *''The Autobiography Of 'The Card (1936) *''Keeling And Son'' (1938)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hales, Harold 1868 births 1942 deaths Deaths by drowning in the United Kingdom British businesspeople in shipping Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Accidental deaths in England UK MPs 1931–1935