Frank Beswick, Baron Beswick
Frank Beswick, Baron Beswick, PC (21 August 1911 – 17 August 1987) was a British Labour Co-operative politician.
Early life
[edit]Born in 1911 in Nottinghamshire,[1] Beswick's father was a coal miner. He was born and lived Hucknall. He attended the Hucknall Upper Standard School.[2] He had three sisters.[3]
He was educated at the Working Men's College in London.[1] He became a journalist and was elected to the London County Council.[1] He was in Spain during the Spanish Civil War.[1]
Career
[edit]Already a qualified pilot, he joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve during the Second World War and served with Transport Command. A Sergeant Pilot, he was commissioned Pilot Officer in April 1942, and promoted Flying Officer in October 1942 and Flight Lieutenant in March 1944. He remained in the RAFVR after the war, resigning his commission in 1952.
Parliament
[edit]Beswick was elected to Parliament for Uxbridge in 1945 and served until 1959. He was one of the British observers at the 1946 Bikini atomic tests.[1] Following Labour's loss at the 1951 election, he became civil aviation correspondent for the Reynolds News, having been Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Civil Aviation.[1] When he lost his seat in 1959, he was appointed political secretary of the London Co-operative Society.[1]
He was created Baron Beswick, of Hucknall in the County of Nottinghamshire, on 18 December 1964.[4] He served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Commonwealth Office from 1965 then became Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords in 1967. Continuing in the whip role into Opposition in 1970, in 1974 he was appointed Minister of State for Industry and Deputy Leader of the House of Lords, serving until 1975, and later became the first Chairman of British Aerospace.[1] In 1975 he was UK signatory of the convention establishing the European Space Agency.
In 1985 he opened the first ever televised debate in the Lords.[1]
Personal life
[edit]In 1945, he lived 8 Hardwick Road, Sherwood, and his parents, Mr & Mrs Jesse Smith Beswick, lived at Ebor Cottage on Wood Lane in Hucknall. His mother was Amy Adelaide Clarke[5]
His father Jesse died on Sunday 28 December 1947. Frank was at home in Hucknall, when his father died, aged 78.[6] He was the only person from Hucknall to sit as an MP.[7]
He married Dora Rafters (1910-94). He died at St George’s Hospital in Tooting,[8]
His sister, Amy Burton, died aged 86 on Sunday January 1991, and had lived on Perlethorpe Drive for 53 years.[9]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i 'Strong Co-op voices', The Co-operative News, p. 18, 13 May 2008.
- ^ Nottingham Evening Post Monday 1 January 1968, page 8
- ^ Nottingham Evening Post Saturday 17 February 1968, page 7
- ^ "No. 43519". The London Gazette. 18 December 1964. p. 10823.
- ^ Nottingham Journal Saturday 28 July 1945, page 4
- ^ Nottingham Journal Tuesday 30 December 1947, page 7
- ^ Hucknall Dispatch Friday 2 May 1997, page 10
- ^ Nottingham Evening Post Wednesday 19 August 1987, page 3
- ^ Hucknall Dispatch Friday 18 January 1991, page 4
External links
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- 1911 births
- 1987 deaths
- British male journalists
- Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms
- Labour Co-operative MPs for English constituencies
- Labour Party (UK) life 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 Wilson governments, 1964–1970
- UK MPs 1945–1950
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