Major (Honorary Colonel,
TA) Oliver Frederick George Stanley (4 May 1896 – 10 December 1950) was a prominent British
Conservative politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...
who held many ministerial posts before his relatively early death.
Background and education
Stanley was the second son of
Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby, by his wife
Lady Alice
Lady Alice is Child ballad 85. It may be a fragment of a longer ballad that has not been preserved. Synopsis
Lady Alice sees a corpse being carried by and is told it is her lover. She asks the bearers to leave the corpse, saying that she herself ...
, daughter of
William Montagu, 7th Duke of Manchester.
Edward Stanley, Lord Stanley was his elder brother. He was educated at
Eton, but did not proceed to the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
due to the outbreak of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
.
Military career
During the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, Stanley was commissioned into the
Lancashire Hussars, before transferring to the
Royal Field Artillery in 1915. He achieved the rank of
captain, and won both the
Military Cross
The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries.
The MC ...
and the
Croix de Guerre.
Political career
After he was demobilised, Stanley was
called to the bar by
Gray's Inn
The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...
in 1919.
In the
1924 general election he was elected as
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
Westmorland. From 1945 he sat for
Bristol West
Bristol West is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom since 2015 by Thangam Debbonaire of the Labour Party. It mostly covers the central and western parts of Bristol.
Constituency ...
.
Ministerial career
He soon came to the attention of the Conservative leaders and held a number of posts in the
National Government of the 1930s. As
Minister of Transport he was responsible for the introduction of a 30 miles per hour
speed limit
Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed - expre ...
and driving tests for new drivers. In May 1938 whilst
President of the Board of Trade he achieved a rare distinction in British politics when his brother
Lord Stanley became
Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs – a rare example of two brothers sitting in the same Cabinet, more so as their father, a former Conservative minister, was still alive. Nevertheless, five months later Edward died. (Another example is that of two Labour Party brothers,
David Miliband and his brother
Ed Miliband
Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliba ...
, who were appointed to the British Cabinet in June 2007.)
In January 1940 Stanley was appointed
Secretary of State for War after the previous incumbent,
Leslie Hore-Belisha, had been sacked after falling out with the leading officers. Much was expected of Stanley's tenure in this office, as his father had held it during the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, but four months later the government fell and Stanley was replaced by
Anthony Eden. Churchill offered Stanley the
Dominions Office
The position of Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs was a British cabinet-level position created in 1925 responsible for British relations with the Dominions – Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Newfoundland, and the Irish Fre ...
, which Stanley turned down.
Instead, Churchill made Stanley a personal link with intelligence agencies, notably as founder of the
London Controlling Section. Two years later Stanley's political fortunes revived when Churchill appointed him
Secretary of State for the Colonies, a post which he held until the end of the war.
Last years
After the Conservatives' massive defeat in the
1945 general election Stanley was prominent amongst those rebuilding the party and he came to be regarded as one of the most important Conservative MPs. He was a governor of
The Peckham Experiment
The Peckham Experiment was an experiment designed to determine whether people as a whole would, given the opportunity, take a vested interest in their own health and fitness and expend effort to maintain it. The experiment took place between 192 ...
in 1949. He succeeded his father as
Chancellor of the
University of Liverpool. By this time, however, his health was in decline; and he died on 10 December 1950 at his home in
Sulhamstead.
Had Stanley lived longer, he might well have been appointed
Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Conservatives formed a government the following year. Historian
Sir Charles Petrie went further, and insisted in his 1972 memoirs (''A Historian Looks At His World'') that "the greatest blow the Conservative Party has sustained since the late war was the premature death of Oliver Stanley. He was one of the most gifted men of the century, and would have made a very great Prime Minister. ... He was as brilliant a conversationalist as a public speaker."
Family
Stanley married Lady Maureen Vane-Tempest-Stewart, daughter of
Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry, and the Hon.
Edith Chaplin, in 1920. They had one son and one daughter:
*Michael Charles Stanley (1921–1990), who married (Aileen) Fortune Constance Hugh Smith and had two sons;
and
*Kathryn Edith Helen Stanley DCVO (1923–2004),
Lady-in-Waiting to
Queen Elizabeth II from 1955 to 2002 and who married Sir John Dugdale
KCVO (1923–1994) and had two daughters and two sons.
Lady Maureen died in June 1942, aged 41. Stanley survived her by eight years and died in December 1950, aged 54.
References
Books cited
*
Howard, Anthony ''RAB: The Life of R. A. Butler'', Jonathan Cape 1987
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanley, Oliver Frederick
1896 births
1950 deaths
20th-century British politicians
British Army personnel of World War I
British Secretaries of State for Education
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Foreign Office personnel of World War II
Lancashire Hussars officers
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Ministers in the Churchill caretaker government, 1945
Ministers in the Churchill wartime government, 1940–1945
People educated at Eton College
Presidents of the Board of Trade
Recipients of the Military Cross
Royal Artillery officers
Royal Field Artillery officers
Secretaries of State for Transport (UK)
Secretaries of State for War (UK)
Secretaries of State for the Colonies
Oliver
UK MPs 1924–1929
UK MPs 1929–1931
UK MPs 1931–1935
UK MPs 1935–1945
UK MPs 1945–1950
UK MPs 1950–1951
War Office personnel in World War II
Younger sons of earls
Ministers in the Chamberlain wartime government, 1939–1940
Ministers in the Chamberlain peacetime government, 1937–1939
Military personnel from London