Wogan Philipps, 2nd Baron Milford (25 February 1902 – 30 November 1993) was the only member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) ever to sit in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

Early life

Philipps was the eldest son of

Laurence Philipps, 1st Baron Milford Laurence Richard Philipps, 1st Baron Milford (24 January 1874 – 7 December 1962), was a British peer. He was a founder and chairman of the shipping company Court Line. Philipps was the sixth son of Reverend Sir James Erasmus Philipps, 12th ...

. Philipps aimed to become an artist and set up a studio in Paris, but found little success. He abandoned this to join Medical Aid to Spain, acting as an ambulance driver for the Republicans in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

.Michael Walker
Wogan Philipps
, Compendium of Communist Biography During the conflict, he was wounded and had to return to Britain. On his return, he encouraged Nan Green to take his place and, in her absence, paid for the education of her children. At the end of the Spanish Civil War, Phillips chartered a ship, paid for by donations, to transport 5000 Spanish Republicans from France to Mexico. Following his experiences, he joined the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), a choice which led him to be disinherited by his father.

Post-war life and career

In 1946, Philipps was elected as a Communist

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

on Cirencester

Urban District Council In England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected urban district council (UDC), which shared local gove ...

, but soon lost the seat. In the 1950 general election, he stood for the House of Commons in the Cirencester and Tewkesbury constituency, but took only 432 votes. During the campaign, opponents described by Hymie Fagan as "

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

s" threw rotten food, and an attempt was made to force his car off the road. In 1959, he narrowly lost a rural council by-election. Following this, he and his third wife went to study in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. In 1962, Philipps inherited his father's title and agreed to sit in the House of Lords as the second Baron Milford. Ironically, this meant that the CPGB's last Parliamentary representative was in the House of Lords. He intended to disclaim the peerage but the CPGB leader Harry Pollitt persuaded him to stay on; in his maiden speech he called for the abolition of the institution.

Personal life and death

In 1928, he married the novelist

Rosamond Lehmann Rosamond Nina Lehmann (3 February 1901 – 12 March 1990) was an English novelist and translator. Her first novel, ''Dusty Answer'' (1927), was a ''succès de scandale''; she subsequently became established in the literary world and intimate ...

. The couple had two children: Hugo, who became 3rd Baron Milford on his father's death, and Sarah, also known as Sally. By the end of the 1930s, Lehmann had left Philipps for poet

Cecil Day-Lewis Cecil Day-Lewis (or Day Lewis; 27 April 1904 – 22 May 1972), often written as C. Day-Lewis, was an Irish-born British poet and Poet Laureate from 1968 until his death in 1972. He also wrote mystery stories under the pseudonym of Nicholas Bla ...

, but she and Philipps did not divorce until 1944. Philipps' second marriage was to Cristina Casati, Viscountess Hastings, in 1944. She was previously married to

Francis Hastings, 16th Earl of Huntingdon Francis John Clarence Westenra Plantagenet Hastings, 16th Earl of Huntingdon (30 January 1901 – 24 August 1990), Courtesy title, styled ''Viscount Hastings'' until 1939, was a British artist, academic, and later a Labour Party (UK), Labour pa ...

and was the only child of the eccentric Italian arts patron Luisa Casati. The couple ran a progressive farm in Gloucestershire. His wife Christina died in 1953. A year later, Philipps married Tamara Kravetz, the widow of William Rust, editor of the ''

Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, attempts were m ...

''. The couple moved to Hampstead, where they lived until Philipps' death. Philipps died in London on 30 November 1993, aged 91.

Arms

References

External links

Wogan Philipps profile
Retrieved 21 September 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Philipps, Wogan 2nd Baron Milford Communist Party of Great Britain members Communist Party of Great Britain councillors Councillors in Gloucestershire

Milford Milford may refer to: Place names Canada * Milford (Annapolis), Nova Scotia * Milford (Halifax), Nova Scotia * Milford, Ontario England * Milford, Derbyshire * Milford, Devon, a place in Devon * Milford on Sea, Hampshire * Milford, Shro ...

Phillips, Wogan Phillips, Wogan International Brigades personnel