Victor John Collins, Baron Stonham

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

PC (1 July 1903 – 22 December 1971) was a British Labour Party politician. Born in Whitechapel, London, he was the son of Victor and Eliza Sarah (Williams) Collins. Despite living in the East End he managed to get to

Regent Street Polytechnic The University of Westminster is a public university, public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first Polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic to open in London. The Po ...

(now Westminster University), and University of London. After graduating he joined the family firm J.Collins & Sons, a furniture and basket-making firm, started by his grandfather, John Collins. He was still aged 20. The firm acquired a 70-acre farm at

Earl Stonham Earl Stonham is a small village and civil parish (formerly called Stonham Earl) in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. It is between the A14 road (England), A14 and A140 road, A140 5 miles to the east of Stowmarket. The parish include ...

, where he grew willows for the industry. He held the chairs on a number of industry-based organizations, including president of the National Basket and Willow Trades Advisory Committee. On 30 April 1929, he married Violet Mary, daughter of T E Savage of Crouch End. During wartime, the Ministry of Supply recruited his assistance to buy and sell and distribute willows. At the height of the conflict Collins decided to join the Labour Party; part of which was actually in opposition to Churchill's National Coalition. Collins chose to contest a westcountry seat, and much to his surprise elected at the 1945 general election as Member of Parliament for

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...

, in

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

. He lost the seat at the

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

, to the

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

Henry Hopkinson. Collins has been the only Labour Member of Parliament for the Taunton constituency. He was appointed an

in 1946 for services to wartime industries. Collins returned to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

at a by-election in 1954, when he was elected as MP for the

inner London Inner London is the group of London boroughs that form the interior part of Greater London and are surrounded by Outer London. With its origins in the bills of mortality, it became fixed as an area for statistics in 1847 and was used as an area ...

constituency of Shoreditch and Finsbury, following the death of the Labour MP Ernest Thurtle. He left the Commons 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. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

as Baron Stonham, of

in the

County of Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

on 5 August 1958. His maiden speech on 19 November, was on racial prejudice and street violence. Stonham wished to include the trade unions in managing both immigration and the handling of black people. During

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx (11 March 1916 – 23 May 1995) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from 1964 to 1970 and again from 197 ...

's first spell as Prime Minister, Lord Stonham served as a

junior minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry (government department), ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is desi ...

at the

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

from 1964 to 1967, and was then promoted to

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

at the Home Office until 1969. As Minister of State with responsibility for

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, he made a three-day visit to the province starting on 4 June 1968. He contributed to a number of reforms of penal servitude policy, by including a more complex parole system contained in the

Criminal Justice Act 1967 The Criminal Justice Act 1967 (c. 80) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Section 9 allows uncontroversial witness statements to be read in court instead of having to call the witness to give live testimony in the courtroom, if ...

. Stonham believed that streamlined industries could provide a modern solution to prisoner rehabilitation, where unskilled and semi-skilled workers could be granted a better opportunity to stay out of prison. Stonham was appointed as a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council, formally His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its members, known as privy counsellors, are mainly senior politicians who are current or former ...

in 1969. He died in Enfield aged 68.''Who's Who and Who Was Who'', 'Stonham', (1972)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Victor John 1903 births 1971 deaths Stonham Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs who were granted peerages Hackney Members of Parliament Alumni of the London School of Economics People from Whitechapel Ministers in the Wilson governments, 1964–1970 Life peers created by Elizabeth II Alumni of the Regent Street Polytechnic Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire