William Stephen Richard King-Hall, Baron King-Hall of Headley (21 January 1893 – 2 June 1966) was a British naval officer, writer, politician and playwright who served as the member of parliament for

Ormskirk Ormskirk is a market town in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England, north of Liverpool, northwest of St Helens, southeast of Southport and southwest of Preston. Ormskirk is known for its gingerbread. Geography and administr ...

from 1939 to 1945.

Early life and career

The son of Admiral Sir George Fowler King-Hall and Olga Felicia Ker; theirs was an artistic naval family, King-Hall's sisters Magdalen and Lou also being writers. He married Kathleen Amelia Spencer (died 14 August 1950), daughter of Francis Spencer, on 15 April 1919 and they had three children, Ann, Frances Susan and Jane. He was educated at

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

in Switzerland and at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth. He fought in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

between 1914 and 1918, with the Grand Fleet, serving on and 11th Submarine Flotilla. He gained the rank of commander in the service of the Royal Navy in 1928, before resigning in 1929. He wrote several plays between 1924 and 1940, including ''Posterity'' accepted by

Leonard Woolf Leonard Sidney Woolf (; – ) was a British political theorist, author, publisher, and civil servant. He was married to author Virginia Woolf. As a member of the Labour Party and the Fabian Society, Woolf was an avid publisher of his own work ...

for the Hogarth Essays. He joined the

Royal Institute of International Affairs Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

in 1929, having previously been awarded their gold medal for his 1920 thesis on submarine warfare.

Member of Parliament

He entered the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

in 1939 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 of ...

(MP) for

unopposed, standing as the National Labour candidate. He later changed his affiliation and continued to stand as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

, subsequently losing the seat to future Prime Minister

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...

in the 1945 general election. During his term, he served in the

Ministry of Aircraft Production Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian ...

under

Max Aitken William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (25 May 1879 – 9 June 1964), generally known as Lord Beaverbrook, was a Canadian-British newspaper publisher and backstage politician who was an influential figure in British media and politics o ...

as Director of the Factory Defence Section. In 1944 he founded and chaired the

Hansard Society The Hansard Society was formed in the United Kingdom in 1944 to promote parliamentary democracy. Founded and chaired by Commander Stephen King-Hall, the first subscribers were Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee. The society's co-presidents a ...

to promote

parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...

democracy. He presented a programme for children on current affairs on both BBC radio and television.

Life after Parliament and death

He was invested as a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...

on 6 July 1954 and 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 ...

as Baron King-Hall of

Headley Headley may refer to: Places * Headley, Basingstoke and Deane in the civil parish of Ashford Hill with Headley * Headley, East Hampshire ** Headley Grange, Hampshire * Headley, Surrey Other uses * Headley (surname) * Baron Headley, a title in t ...

on 15 January 1966. He lived at Hartfield House,

until his death in

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

on 2 June 1966.

Bibliography

Political and Historical

* ''A Naval Lieutenant, 1914–1918'' as ''Etienne''

Who Was Who ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It is a book, and also a CD-ROM and a website, giving information on influential people from around the world. Published annually as a book since 1849, it lists people who influence British life, according to i ...

, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007, accessed 17 November 2012
King-Hall
* ''Diary of a U-Boat-Commander'' 1918, as "Etienne", 1918 * ''Western Civilisation and the Far East'', 1924 * ''Imperial Defence'' * ''The China of To-day'' * ''The War at Sea'', 1914–1918 * ''Submarines in the Future of Naval Warfare'', 1920. Thesis. * ''Our Own Times'', 2 vols, 1935 * ''London Newsletter'' (a.k.a. ''K-H Weekly News Letter Service'', National News Letter), 1936. * ''Total Victory'', 1941 * ''Britain's Third Chance'', 1943 * ''My Naval Life'', 1952 * ''History in Hansard'' (with Ann Dewar), 1952 * ''The Communist Conspiracy'', 1953 * ''Defence in the Nuclear Age''. Gollancz, London, 1958; Nyack, N.Y.: Fellowship, 1959. * ''Common Sense in Defence'', 1960 * ''Men of Destiny'', 1960 * ''Our Times'', 1900–1960, 1961 * ''Power Politics in the Nuclear age''. Gollancz, London, 1962.
In ''Defence in the Nuclear Age'' he advocated a British policy of unilateral nuclear disarmament and national defence involving some reliance on conventional military force. This was to be supplemented by "a defence system of non-violence against violence" - what is often called "defence by

civil resistance Civil resistance is political action that relies on the use of nonviolent resistance by ordinary people to challenge a particular power, force, policy or regime. Civil resistance operates through appeals to the adversary, pressure and coercion: i ...

" or "

social defence Civilian-based defense or social defence describes non-military action by a society or social group, particularly in a context of a sustained campaign against outside attack or dictatorial rule – or preparations for such a campaign in the event of ...

". In ''Men of Destiny'' he criticised all sides for the creation of the Cold War and further promoted his aim of nuclear disarmament. There have been several accounts and appraisals of his work advocating unilateral nuclear disarmament and defence by civil resistance.

Children

* ''Letters to Hilary'', 1928 * ''Hilary Growing Up'', 1929, E. Benn, London. The latter described by the author as building ''"upon the foundations laid down in its predecessor Letters to Hilary. This book is for children from twelve to ninety... a series of essays, or talks... on sociology."''

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

''Hilary Growing Up''
/ref>

Novels

* ''Moment of No Return'',

Ballantine Books Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains ...

(No. F543), New York, 1961. A Cold - War novel about tensions between the Soviet Bloc and the West.

Plays

* ''Posterity'', 1927 * '' The Middle Watch'', 1929 * ''

The Midshipmaid ''The Midshipmaid'' is a 1932 British comedy film directed by Albert de Courville and starring Jessie Matthews, Frederick Kerr, Basil Sydney and Nigel Bruce. The film is based on the 1931 play of the same title by Ian Hay and Stephen King-Hall. ...

'', 1931 * ''

Admirals All ''Admirals All'' is a 1935 British comedy film directed by Victor Hanbury and starring Wynne Gibson, Gordon Harker, Anthony Bushell and George Curzon. It was based on the 1934 play of the same title by Ian Hay and Stephen King-Hall. Premise ...

'', 1934 * ''Tropical Trouble'', 1936 * ''The Middle Watch'', 1940 * '' Off the Record'', 1947 * ''Carry on Admiral'', 1957 * ''Girls at Sea'', 1958

Radio

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...