Sir Kenneth Ronald Stowe (17 July 1927 – 29 August 2015) was a senior British

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

. He was Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister 1975 to 1979, and the

Permanent Under-Secretary of State A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior civil servant of a department or ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are the non-political civil ...

of the

Northern Ireland Office The Northern Ireland Office (NIO; ga, Oifig Thuaisceart Éireann, Ulster-Scots: ''Norlin Airlann Oaffis'') is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for Northern Ireland affairs. The NIO is led by the Secretary of State for N ...

1979 to 1981. From 1981 to 1987 he was

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day ...

of the

Department of Health and Social Security The Department of Health and Social Security (commonly known as the DHSS) was a ministry of the British government in existence for twenty years from 1968 until 1988, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Services. His ...

. He was made a CB in 1977, CVO in 1979, and KCB in 1980 and a GCB in 1986.

Biography

Stowe was born in

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

on 17 July 1927. His father Arthur Percy Stowe was maker of spectacles and his mother was Emmie Louise (Emma), née Webb. Stowe attended Dagenham County High School and studied history, under a scholarship, at

Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth-oldest college of the un ...

. On 20 August 1949, Stowe married Joan Frances Randall Cullen, a teacher, in Essex. The couple went on to have two sons and a daughter. He was widowed in 1995 Stowe graduated in 1951, he joined the civil service's

National Assistance Board The National Assistance Board was established by the National Assistance Act 1948 and abolished in by the Ministry of Social Security Act 1966. It was preceded by the Unemployment Assistance Board (known from 1941 as the Assistance Board) and ...

(later to become the

Ministry of Social Security Ministry of Social Security or Department of Social Security is the government entity responsible for social security affairs. It may be a ministry office, a department, or, as in the United States, a nominally independent agency. Notable ones ar ...

), working directly with those people who were asking for help. In 1973, he began employment as under-secretary at the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government objecti ...

in the Legislation Committee. When Robert Armstrong retired in 1975, he was recommended to

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...

as Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister. He remained in the role for 4 years, serving under

James Callaghan Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005), commonly known as Jim Callaghan, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980. Callaghan is ...

and for the first few months of Margaret Thatcher's premiership. Thatcher appointed Stowe as

of the

in 1979, where he brokered an agreement during the 1980 hunger strike at

Maze prison Her Majesty's Prison Maze (previously Long Kesh Detention Centre, and known colloquially as The Maze or H-Blocks) was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house alleged paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from August 1971 to Sept ...

, although it did not hold. He became

permanent secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day ...

for the

in 1981, responsible for over a million individuals in the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

and social services departments. After retirement in 1987, Stowe spent a period advising public service reform in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

and

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

, as well as reform programs in the UK. He received multiple honours during his time in the

civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

, a CB in 1977, CVO in 1979, and KCB in 1980 and a GCB in 1986. He spent his later years with his partner Judith Mary Phillips and died at his home in Lingen, Herefordshire on 29 August 2015.

References

External links

The Papers of Sir Kenneth Stowe
held at

Churchill Archives Centre The Churchill Archives Centre (CAC) at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge is one of the largest repositories in the United Kingdom for the preservation and study of modern personal papers. It is best known for housing the papers of ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stowe, Kenneth 1927 births 2015 deaths Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for Social Services Private secretaries in the British Civil Service Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Fellows of Exeter College, Oxford Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Principal Private Secretaries to the Prime Minister