Pierson John Shirley Dixon (29 December 1928 – 24 March 2017), known as Piers Dixon, was a British

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 who represented

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its ...

between 1970 and 1974.

Early life

The son of diplomat and writer, Sir

Pierson Dixon Sir Pierson John Dixon (13 November 190422 April 1965) was a British diplomat and writer. He was known to be a firm believer in the value of diplomacy to solve international issues. Career Dixon was the Principal Private Secretary to the Fore ...

, he was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

;

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

; and

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

. He worked as a stockbroker.

Career

Dixon contested

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...

at the 1966 general election and was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

. He was re-elected in

February 1974 The following events occurred in February 1974: February 1, 1974 (Friday) * A fire killed 177 people and injured 293 others in the 23-story Joelma Building at São Paulo in Brazil. Another 11 later died of their injuries. The blaze began on ...

, but lost the seat to the Liberal

David Penhaligon David Charles Penhaligon (6 June 1944 – 22 December 1986) was a British politician from Cornwall who was Liberal Member of Parliament for the constituency of Truro from 1974–86. He was a popular figure in all parties and had potential to ...

in the October 1974 general election, by 464 votes (0.8%). No Conservative MP represented Truro after Dixon's defeat until

Sarah Newton Sarah Louise Newton, ( Hick; 19 July 1961) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Truro and Falmouth from 2010 to 2019. Early life Born in Gloucestershire, Newton moved to Cornwall at an early ...

regained the seat from the Liberal Democrats in 2010.

Alan Clark Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark (13 April 1928 – 5 September 1999) was a British Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), author and diarist. He served as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's governments at the Departments of Employment, Tra ...

noted Dixon in his 1983–92 diaries, writing "when (the Liberals) get stuck in, really stuck in, they are devilish hard to dislodge".

Interests

Dixon was a member of the

Monday Club The Conservative Monday Club (usually known as the Monday Club) is a British political pressure group, aligned with the Conservative Party, though no longer endorsed by it. It also has links to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Ulster Unioni ...

and the

Bow Group The Bow Group is a UK-based think tank promoting conservative opinion. Founded in 1951, it is the oldest group of its kind, counting many senior Conservative Party MPs and peers among its members. It represents a forum for political debate with i ...

Personal life

Dixon married four times. His first wife was the sculptor

Edwina Sandys Edwina Sandys (born 22 December 1938) is an English artist and sculptor. She is the granddaughter of Winston Churchill. Early life Sandys was a debutante and was presented to Queen Elizabeth II. After attending a genteel girls’ school she wen ...

, a daughter of

Duncan Sandys Edwin Duncan Sandys, Baron Duncan-Sandys (; 24 January 1908 – 26 November 1987), was a British politician and minister in successive Conservative governments in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a son-in-law of Winston Churchill and played a key ro ...

and

Diana Churchill Diana Spencer-Churchill (11 July 1909 – 20 October 1963) was the eldest daughter of British statesman Sir Winston Churchill and Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill. Personal life Diana Churchill was born at 33 Eccleston ...

. They had two sons, Mark and

Hugo Hugo or HUGO may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese * Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback * Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise based on a ...

. The second was Janet, Countess of Cowley. In 1984, Dixon married Anne Cronin, daughter of

John Desmond Cronin John Desmond Cronin (1 March 1916 – 3 January 1986) was a British surgeon and Labour Party politician. Early life and education He was born in Simla, British India (since 1947 known as Shimla), the summer capital of India in the days of the ...

, former Labour MP; they had one son, Alexander. In 1994, he married Ann Mavroleon, daughter of John Davenport.

Death

He died in March 2017 at the age of 88.

References

External links

* 1928 births 2017 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Harvard Business School alumni Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Truro People educated at Eton College UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1920s-stub