Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...

Sir Otho Leslie Prior-Palmer, DSO (28 October 1897 – 29 January 1986) was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer and

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. He served for nearly twenty years as a

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

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...

. His main contributions were on the subject of defence, on which he was sometimes roused to outspoken criticism of the opposition Labour Party.

Early career

Prior-Palmer was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Ireland, where his father, Spunner Prior-Palmer, was a landowner in

County Sligo County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in the county. Sligo County Council is the local ...

. 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, New Z ...

for his schooling, and joined the

immediately on leaving school. In 1916 he was commissioned into the

9th Lancers The 9th Queen's Royal Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1715. It saw service for three centuries, including the First and Second World Wars. The regiment survived the immediate post-war reduction in forces, but w ...

. He trained at the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infantry a ...

. Later his younger brother George Erroll Prior-Palmer followed him through Wellington and Sandhurst into the same regiment.

Recreations and family

During the inter-war period, Prior-Palmer took an interest in equestrianism while continuing in service with the Lancers. He owned a stud which bred horses for the

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

Hounds,"Tattersalls' Sale", ''The Times'', 20 January 1925. although he sometimes had to sell up when his leave was cancelled and he was posted abroad."Tattersalls' Sale", ''The Times'', 9 February 1926. He also enjoyed sailing in the late 1920s,"Thames Boat Sailing", ''The Times'', 15 June 1926. and was a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron. In July 1926 Prior-Palmer married Hon. Barbara Frankland."Marriages", ''The Times'', 7 July 1926. His interest in horses was also manifest in

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

: he was at first a

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...

. In the

Sandown Park Sandown Park is a horse racing course and leisure venue in Esher, Surrey, England, located in the outer suburbs of London. It hosts 5 Grade One National Hunt races and one Group 1 flat race, the Eclipse Stakes. It regularly has horse racing ...

Grand Military Gold Cup of 1932, he rode "''Master of Orange''" and led in the early stages, before coming in second at the finish."Racing", ''The Times'', 12 March 1932. Later he was an active trainer of race horses. In March 1936, Prior-Palmer was promoted

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

."The Army", ''The Times'', 4 March 1936. However, he sued for and was granted a

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

in 1936 on the grounds of his wife's adultery with

Edward Agar, 5th Earl of Normanton Edward John Sidney Christian Welbore Ellis Agar, 5th Earl of Normanton (29 March 1910 – 28 January 1967) was a British and Irish peer, soldier, and landowner, a member of the House of Lords from 1933 until his death. From birth until 1933 he wa ...

,"Probate, Divorce, And Admiralty Division", ''The Times'', 22 December 1936. whom she subsequently married. On 11 May 1940 Prior-Palmer took as his second wife, Sheila Weller-Poley."Marriages", ''The Times'', 14 May 1940. His second wife was to be active in politics later as a Conservative and as Chairman of

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

County Council Education Committee."Plea For Change in School Holidays", ''The Times'', 24 June 1960.

Second World War

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 opposin ...

, Prior-Palmer was placed in command of the

2nd Northamptonshire Yeomanry The Northamptonshire Yeomanry was a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1794 as volunteer cavalry. It served in the Second Boer War, the First World War and the Second World War before being reduced to squadron level in 1956. It cease ...

in 1940. In March 1942, he was transferred to command the

30th Armoured Brigade The 30th Armoured Brigade was an armoured formation of the British Army that served in Western Europe Campaign as part of the 79th Armoured Division. After the reformation of the Territorial Army in 1947, the brigade was re-created within the T ...

, and in August he moved to the 29th Armoured Brigade; both of these units were stationed in Britain. In 1943 Prior-Palmer was put in command of the 7th Armoured Brigade in Italy; this involved heavy fighting. In October 1944 his brigade made a particularly effective contribution to fighting around the

Savio River The Savio is a river in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. Its source is in the province of Forlì-Cesena near Montecoronaro on Mount Castelvecchio which is near the western side of Mount Fumaiolo. The source is at an elevation of and ...

."Swift Advance By Eighth Army", ''The Times'', 23 October 1944. In 1945 he was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...

."Army Awards", ''The Times'', 18 September 1945.

Political career

At 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 Bulgaria ...

, Prior-Palmer was selected as the

candidate for

, a new constituency which had been created in boundary changes just before the election. He was placed on retired pay by the army in 1946 with the honorary rank of brigadier. In parliament, Prior-Palmer began his career by voting (along with many backbench Conservative MPs) against the large loan from the United States that the Labour government had negotiated after the end of

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

. However, these were the only dissenting votes he ever cast against the Conservative whip. Philip Norton, "Dissension in the House of Commons 1945–74", Macmillan, 1975. In 1946 he argued for retaining conventional defence in addition to nuclear arms, because an answer would be found to the atomic bomb."Mr. Attlee on Defence Policy", ''The Times'', 5 March 1946. With an interest in army training and the cadet services, in May 1947 Prior-Palmer moved a new clause to the National Service Bill which would give an incentive to those who were called up for

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 l ...

after achieving a level of efficiency in the cadets."Competing Claims on Man-Power", ''The Times'', 10 May 1947. In March 1948 he went on a Parliamentary delegation to East Africa (

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

Tanganyika Tanganyika may refer to: Places * Tanganyika Territory (1916–1961), a former British territory which preceded the sovereign state * Tanganyika (1961–1964), a sovereign state, comprising the mainland part of present-day Tanzania * Tanzania Main ...

and

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...

)."M.P.'s visit to East Africa", ''The Times'', 17 March 1948. Later that year he warned of the danger of invasion of the United Kingdom by air, and urged the creation of a force to tackle it."House of Commons", ''The Times'', 24 November 1948. His constituency was safely Conservative and Prior-Palmer had a majority of over 21,000 in the 1951 general election. In the first month of the new Parliament, with a Conservative government once again, he was required to apologise after being overheard saying that the Labour frontbencher and former Minister Jim Griffiths "had never done a damned day's work in his life"."Government's Plans For Steel Industry", ''The Times'', 13 November 1951. Griffiths had worked as a miner from the age of 13. In May 1953 he launched a debate on the need for voluntary defence services."Parliament", ''The Times'', 16 May 1953. In September 1954 he was named on a delegation to visit the

Soviet Union 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 national ...

."British Visitors To Moscow", ''The Times'', 16 September 1954. Prior-Palmer supported abolition of

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

in an unwhipped House of Commons vote in February 1956, one of only 48 Conservative MPs to do so."Vote Against Hanging", ''The Times'', 18 February 1956. He backed the Eden government on Suez, arguing that it took British and French intervention to get a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

force to come in."House of Commons", ''The Times'', 7 November 1956. Having served as chair of the Conservative Backbenchers' Army sub-committee for most of the 1950s, he was made vice-chairman of the Defence Committee from 1958.

Knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in 1959, Prior-Palmer was regarded as an 'elder statesman' but could still be angered by pacifist sentiment. In February 1960 he claimed that the Labour Party had "sent one of their chief leaders to Swaythling to stop men making

Spitfires The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griff ...

". Despite uproar among Labour MPs present, he refused to withdraw."House of Commons", ''The Times'', 1 March 1960. In February 1961, Prior-Palmer signed, but later withdrew his name from, a motion critical of the constitutional development of

Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in southern Africa, south central Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-West ...

."More Conservatives Reassured", ''The Times'', 25 February 1961.

Retirement

On 7 November 1963, Prior-Palmer announced that owing to "personal reasons and reasons of ill-health", he would not be a candidate at the next general election."Worthing M.P. Not To Seek Reelection", ''The Times'', 8 November 1963. He had in the meantime become involved in business in the field of commercial radio, as an investor."Pressure Grows For Private Local Radio", ''The Times'', 1 June 1964. In 1964 he divorced his second wife and married his third, Elizabeth Henderson. They had two sons in the mid-1960s.

References

Sources

*M. Stenton and S. Lees, "Who's Who of British MPs" Vol. IV (Harvester Press, 1981) *"Who Was Who", A & C Black
Thepeerage.com

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prior-Palmer, Otho Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 9th Queen's Royal Lancers officers People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire Knights Bachelor Companions of the Distinguished Service Order 1897 births 1986 deaths Northamptonshire Yeomanry officers Politicians awarded knighthoods British Army brigadiers of World War II British Army personnel of World War I Military personnel from Dublin (city)