Willoughby Hyett Dickinson, 1st Baron Dickinson, KBE, PC (9 April 1859 – 31 May 1943), was a British

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

politician. He was Member of Parliament for St. Pancras North from 1906 to 1918. He was an influential proponent of establishing a League of Nations after WWI.

Background

Dickinson was the son of Sebastian Stewart Dickinson,

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

Stroud Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the Five ...

. 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 ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

. He married Elizabeth, daughter of General Sir Richard John Meade, in 1891. They had three children, one of whom was Frances Joan Dickinson, Baroness Northchurch. On 18 January 1930 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Dickinson, of

Painswick Painswick is a town and civil parish in the Stroud District in Gloucestershire, England. Originally the town grew from the wool trade, but it is now best known for its parish church's yew trees and the local Rococo Garden. The village is mainly ...

in the

County of Gloucester Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Glouce ...

. Lord Dickinson died in May 1943, aged 84, and was succeeded in the barony by his grandson

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

, his only son the Hon. Richard Sebastian Willoughby Dickinson having predeceased him. Willoughby Dickinson's sister, Frances May, an anaesthetist, was the first wife of surgeon Sir James Berry.

Political career

He served as vice-chairman of the recently formed

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

from 1892 to 1896 and then its chairman from March 1900 to March 1901. From 1896 until 1918, he was chair of the London Liberal Federation. He was an assiduous supporter of

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

, promoting a number of measures in Parliament to get the vote for women. Dickinson was made a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a privy council, formal body of advisers to the British monarchy, sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises Politics of the United King ...

in 1914. He did not stand for parliament again. He was later secretary-general of the

World Alliance for International Friendship In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

, and from 1931 chairman of its International Council.Mentioned i
Nobel Peace Prize speech 1930
by

Nathan Söderblom Lars Olof Jonathan Söderblom (; 15 January 1866 – 12 July 1931) was a Swedish clergyman. He was the Church of Sweden Archbishop of Uppsala between 1914 and 1931, and recipient of the 1930 Nobel Peace Prize. He is commemorated in the Calen ...

. In 1930, he joined the Labour Party, but the following year he was part of the

National Labour Organisation The National Labour Organisation, also known as the National Labour Committee or simply as National Labour, was a British political group formed after the 1931 creation of the National Government to co-ordinate the efforts of the supporters of ...

split.

Electoral record

Arms

References

* Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990. . * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dickinson, Willoughby 1859 births 1943 deaths People educated at Eton College Labour Party (UK) hereditary peers Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire UK MPs 1906–1910 UK MPs 1910 UK MPs 1910–1918 UK MPs who were granted peerages Members of London County Council Progressive Party (London) politicians Hyett family Barons created by George V