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 cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...
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 For ...
, he was educated at
Eton College
Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...
;
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 Ma ...
; 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 ...
. 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 cent ...
at the
1966 general election and was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for
Truro
Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...
in
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 of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...
. He was re-elected in
February 1974, but lost the seat to the Liberal
David Penhaligon 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 ear ...
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, ...
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 r ...
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. 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