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 is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
.
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 after studying at Oxford,
set up a studio in Paris, but found little success.
Spanish civil-war
He abandoned his artistic endeavours to join
Medical Aid to Spain, acting as an
ambulance driver for the Republicans in the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
.
[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, in 1937 he joined the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), which led his father to
disinherit him.
Post-war life and career
Having worked as an agricultural labourer in Gloucestershire during the war, Wogan became involved in the
National Union of Agricultural Workers.
In 1946, Philipps was elected as a Communist
councillor
A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...
on
Cirencester
Cirencester ( , ; see #Pronunciation, below for more variations) is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames. It is the List of ...
Urban District Council
In England and Wales, 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 government responsibilities with a county council. ...
, but soon lost the seat.
In the
1950 general election, he stood for 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 ...
in the
Cirencester and Tewkesbury
Cirencester and Tewkesbury was a United Kingdom constituencies, parliamentary constituency in Gloucestershire which returned one Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House ...
constituency, but took only 432 votes. During the campaign, opponents - described by Hymie Fagan as
fascist
Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...
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 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
.
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
Harry Pollitt (22 November 1890 – 27 June 1960) was a British communist who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) from July 1929 to September 1939 and again from 1941 until his death in 1960. Pollitt ...
persuaded him to stay on; in his
maiden speech
A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament.
Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...
he called for the abolition of the institution.
Personal life and death
In 1928, he married the novelist
Rosamond Lehmann. The couple had two children:
Hugo, who became 3rd Baron Milford on his father's death, and Sarah. 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 Anglo-Irish poet and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1968 until his death in 1972. He also wrote mystery stories under the pseudony ...
, but she and Philipps did not divorce until 1944.
['']Who's Who
A Who's Who (or Who Is Who) is a reference work consisting of biographical entries of notable people in a particular field. The oldest and best-known is the annual publication ''Who's Who (UK), Who's Who'', a reference work on contemporary promin ...
'' 1970, p. 2163;
Philipps' second marriage was to Cristina Casati, Viscountess Hastings, in 1944.
She was previously married to
Francis Hastings, 16th Earl of Huntingdon and was the only child of the eccentric Italian arts patron
Luisa Casati
Luisa, Marchesa Casati Stampa di Soncino (born Luisa Adele Rosa Maria Amman; 23 January 1881 – 1 June 1957), was an Italian heiress, socialite, and patroness of the arts in early 20th-century Europe.
Early life
Luisa Adele Rosa Maria Amman wa ...
. 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 Chicago founded by communists, socialists, union members, and other activists. Publication began in 1924. It generally reflected the prevailing views of members of the Communist Party USA (CPU ...
''. 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
Phillips, Wogan
Phillips, Wogan
International Brigades personnel
Communist Party of Great Britain peers
British people of the Spanish Civil War