William Francis Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel, (28 September 1906 – 12 March 1997), styled Viscount Ennismore between 1924 and 1931, was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

peer Peer may refer to: Sociology * Peer, an equal in age, education or social class; see Peer group * Peer, a member of the peerage; related to the term "peer of the realm" Computing * Peer, one of several functional units in the same layer of a ne ...

and Labour politician. He was the last

Secretary of State for India His (or Her) Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for India, known for short as the India Secretary or the Indian Secretary, was the British Cabinet minister and the political head of the India Office responsible for the governance of th ...

as well as the last Governor-General of Ghana.

Background and education

Lord Listowel was the eldest son of Richard Hare, 4th Earl of Listowel, and Freda, daughter of Francis Vanden-Bempde-Johnstone, 2nd

Baron Derwent Baron Derwent, of Hackness in the North Riding of the County of York, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 10 October 1881 for the former Liberal Member of Parliament for Scarborough, Sir Harcourt Vanden-Bempde- ...

. John Hare, 1st Viscount Blakenham, a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

Cabinet minister, was his younger brother. 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 ...

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...

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

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

(PhD, 1932).

Political career

Listowel served as a lieutenant in the Intelligence Corps. He entered the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

on the death of his father in November 1931, by right of the United Kingdom peerage of Baron Hare, and made his maiden speech in March of the following year. He was a Labour Party whip in the Lords from 1941 to 1944 and Deputy Leader of the House of Lords and Under-Secretary of State for India and Burma from 1944 to 1945. When Labour came to power in 1945 under

Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Mini ...

, Listowel was appointed

Postmaster General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having a government official responsib ...

, a post he held until April 1947, and was briefly

Minister of Information An information minister (also called minister of information) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with information matters; it is often linked with censorship and propaganda. Sometimes the position is given to ...

between February and March 1946, when the office was abolished. In April 1947 he entered the cabinet as

and Burma. Prime Minister Clement Attlee, however, made all the government's major decisions regarding India. After India gained independence in August 1947, his cabinet title became Secretary of State for Burma, working from the

Burma Office The Burma Office was a British government department created in 1937 to oversee the administration of Burma. The department was headed until 1947 by the Secretary of State for India and Burma, a member of the British cabinet, and then for a few ...

, but in January 1948 this too was abolished, when Burma also gained independence, and Listowel then left the cabinet. He continued to serve under Attlee as

Minister of State for Colonial Affairs The Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies was a junior Ministerial post in the United Kingdom government, subordinate to the Secretary of State for the Colonies and, from 1948, also to a Minister of State. Under-Secretaries of State for the Col ...

from 1948 to 1950 and as Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries from 1950 to 1951. In 1957 he was appointed Governor-General of Ghana, a post he held until 1960, when Ghana became a Republic. He was later Chairman of Committees in the House of Lords between 1965 and 1976. He remained an active member of the House of Lords, speaking for the last time in July 1995, aged 88. Apart from his career in national politics, Lord Listowel was a member of the

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 kn ...

for East Lewisham between 1937 and 1946, and for Battersea North between 1952 and 1957. He was appointed a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of ei ...

in 1946 and a GCMG in 1957.

Family

Lord Listowel married three times: * firstly, to Judith, daughter of Raoul de Marffy-Mantuana, in 1933. They had one daughter, Deirdre, who married firstly John Norton, 7th Baron Grantley and then after his death Ian Curteis; Lord and Lady Listowel were divorced in 1945. * secondly, to Stephanie Sandra Yvonne, daughter of Sam Wise, in 1958. They had one daughter; they were divorced in 1963. * thirdly, to Pamela (née Day) in 1963. They had two sons and one daughter. Pamela, Countess Listowel, lives in Hampstead.

Death

Lord Listowel died in March 1997, aged 90, and was succeeded by his elder son from his third marriage,

Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome * Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Francis (surname) Places *Rural ...

References

External links

*
Earl of Listowel's Memoirs
redrice.com. Retrieved 13 September 2014. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Listowel, William Hare, 5th Earl of 1906 births 1997 deaths 20th-century Anglo-Irish people Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Alumni of King's College London Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Earls of Listowel Foreign Office personnel of World War II Governors-General of Ghana Intelligence Corps officers Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Labour Party (UK) councillors Labour Party (UK) hereditary peers Members of London County Council Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Ministers in the Attlee governments, 1945–1951 Ministers in the Churchill wartime government, 1940–1945 Place of birth missing Place of death missing United Kingdom Postmasters General People educated at Eton College