John Dugdale (16 March 1905 – 12 March 1963) was a British newspaper journalist and politician. Well-connected with the Labour Party establishment, he worked as Private Secretary to Clement Attlee and was appointed a Minister in his post-war government.

Early career

Dugdale was from an upper-class family, the only son of Ethel Innes "Outoo" (née) Sherston and Colonel

Arthur Dugdale Colonel Arthur Dugdale (2 February 1869 – 27 April 1941) was a British Army officer. He was Commander of the Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars during the First World War. Dugdale was born in Burnley, Lancashire, the son of James Dugdale (1835� ...

who was Commander of the

Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars The Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars (QOOH) was a Yeomanry Cavalry regiment of the British Army's auxiliary forces, formed in 1798. It saw service in the Second Boer War with 40 and 59 Companies of the Imperial Yeomanry and was the first Yeomanry ...

during the

First World War 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 was first cousin to Door de Graaf and second cousin of Conservative MP Thomas Dugdale, who was

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was a United Kingdom cabinet position, responsible for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The post was originally named President of the Board of Agriculture and was created in 1889. ...

from 1951 to 1954. He was sent to

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: *Wellington College, Berkshire, an independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England ** Wellington College International Shanghai ** Wellington College International Tianjin * Wellington College, Wellington, Ne ...

, from where he moved to Christ Church,

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. On leaving Oxford, Dugdale joined the Diplomatic Service and was stationed in

Peking } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

as an Attaché in the British embassy.

Journalism and politics

This life did not suit him and Dugdale then went into journalism. He was a correspondent for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' on the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...

during troubles there in 1930. In the 1931 general election, Dugdale fought the constituency of

Leicester South Leicester South is a constituency, recreated in 1974, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2011 by Jonathan Ashworth of the Labour Co-op Party (which denotes he is a member of the Labour Party and Co-operative Part ...

as a Labour Party candidate. In the new Parliament, he was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary by Clement Attlee, who had become Deputy Leader of the Labour Party largely by default of being the only former Minister to survive the election.

Local government

He was elected to

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

in 1934 from Islington South. He enjoyed his time on the LCC and local government in general, becoming Vice-President of the Association of Municipal Corporations. At the 1935 general election he tried again to get into Parliament, this time for Cardiff Central, but was again defeated; he fought a byelection in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

in 1937. Dugdale married Irene Haverson, granddaughter of

George Lansbury George Lansbury (22 February 1859 – 7 May 1940) was a British politician and social reformer who led the Labour Party from 1932 to 1935. Apart from a brief period of ministerial office during the Labour government of 1929–31, he spe ...

, in December 1938.

Entry to Parliament

Dugdale resigned as Attlee's Secretary and enlisted in the Army during the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

and was an Officer. He had edited a book of Attlee's speeches called ''The Road to War'' which was published in 1940. However, when the Labour

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 o ...

(MP) for

West Bromwich West Bromwich ( ) is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is north-west of Birmingham. West Bromwich is part of the area known as the Black Country, in terms of geography, c ...

Frederick Roberts resigned due to ill health, Dugdale was chosen to follow him, and he was elected unopposed at the by-election in April 1941. In December 1941, Dugdale was an organiser of a Labour rebellion in the House of Commons over

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

. His group put down an amendment insisting that National Service in industry should happen in conjunction with nationalisation of industries involved in the war effort. The Labour whips did not support the amendment. In 1942 he was part of an all-party group which pressed for wider Sunday opening of cinemas and theatres, decrying the campaigning of the

Lord's Day Observance Society Day One Christian Ministries, formerly known as the Lord's Day Observance Society (LDOS), is a Christian organisation based in the United Kingdom that lobbies for no work on Sunday, the day that many Christians celebrate as the Sabbath, a day of r ...

. He also took up his interest in China, becoming Secretary of the All-Party Group on China when it was formed in 1943.

Ministerial Office

During the last months of the war, Dugdale was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Clement Attlee. When Attlee formed his government after the

1945 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1945. Africa * 1945 South-West African legislative election Asia * 1945 Indian general election Australia * 1945 Fremantle by-election Europe * 1945 Albanian parliamentary election * 1945 Bulgarian ...

, Dugdale was made

Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty The Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty also known as the Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Board of Admiralty was a position on the Board of Admiralty and a civil officer of the British Royal Navy. It was usually ...

. The job involved a great deal of travelling to visit

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

bases which were scattered across the world. His health was not always good during his time in office. In 1949 he was named to the Privy Council.

Colonial office

In a reshuffle in February 1950, Dugdale was moved to be Minister of State at the Colonial Office. He endorsed the fight against communist insurgents in the Federation of Malaya. In the summer of 1950 he went on a tour of East Africa, including the

Tanganyika groundnut scheme The Tanganyika groundnut scheme, or East Africa groundnut scheme, was a failed attempt by the British government to cultivate tracts of its African trust territory Tanganyika (now part of Tanzania) with peanuts. Launched in the aftermath of Worl ...

Opposition spokesman

When the Labour Party went into opposition in 1951, Dugdale remained a spokesperson on Colonial affairs. He opposed the plan to unite Northern Rhodesia,

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kno ...

and

Nyasaland Nyasaland () was a British protectorate located in Africa that was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Between 1953 and 1963, Nyasaland was part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasala ...

. In 1956 he asked Parliamentary questions on the mysterious death of

Lionel Crabb Lieutenant-Commander Lionel Kenneth Phillip Crabb, (28 January 1909 – presumed dead 19 April 1956), known as Buster Crabb, was a Royal Navy frogman and diver who vanished during a reconnaissance mission for MI6 around a Soviet cruiser bert ...

, who had disappeared while apparently on an intelligence mission to spy on a visiting

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

warship. In 1958 Dugdale stood for the Shadow Cabinet, but finished bottom of the poll with only 36 votes. He kept up travelling, including a visit to

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

in 1959, during which he opposed the government's policy of reserving seats in the Uganda Parliament for the Indian minority after independence, which he blamed for civil unrest in the colony.

Campaigns

After the 1959 general election, Dugdale took issue with those who claimed that a pledge of nationalisation had cost votes for the Labour Party. In late 1959 he was one of the first to call for a cricket boycott on

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

until the policy of

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

was ended. When he won a place in the ballot for

Private Members' Bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

s in November 1960, he introduced a Bill to make the conditions of farm animals more humane, although it was unsuccessful. Dugdale's deep belief in the Commonwealth led him to oppose the Macmillan government's application to join the European Economic Community. He demanded that Macmillan accept the resignation of the

First Lord of the Admiralty The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...

over the Vassall spy case. While speaking on the Defence Estimates in the House of Commons on 11 March 1963, Dugdale was taken ill and rushed to hospital; he died during the night. He had some degree of

deafness Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

hearing loss Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterwards. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to acquire spoken ...

after childhood illness, and in 1959 he co-founded the Commonwealth Society for the Deaf, now Sound Seekers with Lady Edith Templer, wife of

Gerald Templer Field Marshal Sir Gerald Walter Robert Templer, (11 September 1898 – 25 October 1979) was a senior British Army officer. He fought in both the world wars and took part in the crushing of the Arab Revolt in Palestine. As Chief of the Imperi ...

.The Commonwealth Society for the deaf is only ten years old... 1969 p.1

References

*M. Stenton and S. Lees, "Who's Who of British MPs" Vol. IV (Harvester Press, 1981) *Obituary, ''The Times'', 13 March 1963.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dugdale, John 1905 births 1963 deaths Members of London County Council Councillors in Greater London Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Lords of the Admiralty UK MPs 1935–1945 UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire British Army personnel of World War II British Army officers Members of HM Diplomatic Service Admiralty personnel of World War II Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Ministers in the Attlee governments, 1945–1951 20th-century British diplomats