Charles Leslie Hale, Baron Hale (13 July 1902 – 9 May 1985) was a British

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 ...

then Labour Party politician.

Background

Hale was the son of Benjamin George Hale, a managing director. He went to the

Ashby Grammar School Ashby School, formerly known as Ashby Grammar School, is a co-educational day secondary school and sixth form in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, England. The school is situated in the centre of Ashby on two sites. History Ashby Grammar Schoo ...

and trained to be a solicitor in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

. Thereafter Hale practised first in his hometown

Coalville Coalville is an industrial town in the district of North West Leicestershire, Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England, with a population at the 2011 census of 34,575. It lies on the A511 trunk road between Leicester and Burton upon Tr ...

, later in

Nuneaton Nuneaton ( ) is a market town in the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth in northern Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire and West Midlands County.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Nuneaton's ...

and finally in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Career

Hale joined

Leicestershire County Council Leicestershire County Council is the county council for the English non-metropolitan county of Leicestershire. It was originally formed in 1889 by the Local Government Act 1888. The county is divided into 52 electoral divisions, which return a to ...

in 1925, aged twenty-three.Who's Who (1963), p. 1280 Four years later he contested

Nottingham South Nottingham South is a constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, represented since 2010 by Lilian Greenwood of the Labour Party. Members of Parliament Since 2010, the seat has been represented by Lilian Greenwood, who succeede ...

unsuccessfully for the

.Dod (1984), p. 124 Hale entered the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...

as a

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member in 1945, having been elected as one of the MPs in of the two-member constituency of

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...

. He represented this constituency until 1950, when it was abolished and split into two divisions. Hale was subsequently returned to Parliament for

Oldham West Oldham West was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Oldham in the north-west of Greater Manchester. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament ...

, a seat he held for eighteen years until 1968, when he resigned for health reasons. On 24 April 1972, he was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

with the title Baron Hale of Oldham. Hale acted as the solicitor for the Spiritualists National Union, and spoke in Parliament for the repeal of the

Witchcraft Act 1735 The Witchcraft Act 1735 (9 Geo. 2 c. 5) was an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1735 which made it a crime for a person to claim that any human being had magical powers or wa ...

in favour of the Fraudulent Mediums Act.

Family

In 1926 Hale married Dorothy Ann Latham; the couple had a son as well a daughter.Kelly (1969), p. 906 He died in 1985.Vacher (1985), p. 91

Works

*''Thirty Who Were Tried''; (1955) *''John Philpot Curran''; (1958) *''Blood on the Scales''; (1960) *''Hanged in Error''; (1961) *''Hanging in the Balance''; (1962)

Notes

References

* * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hale, Leslie 1902 births 1985 deaths Politicians from Leicester Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Labour Party (UK) life peers Politics of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham 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 who were granted peerages Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates 20th-century English politicians Life peers created by Elizabeth II