David Eccles, 1st Viscount Eccles
The Right Honourable The Viscount Eccles CH KCVO PC | |
---|---|
1953 photograph of Eccles by Stoneman. | |
Paymaster General and Minister for the Arts | |
In office 20 June 1970 – 5 June 1973 | |
Prime Minister | Edward Heath |
Preceded by |
Harold Lever (Paymaster General) Jennie Lee (Minister for the Arts) |
Succeeded by |
Maurice Macmillan (Paymaster General) Norman St John-Stevas (Minister for the Arts) |
Minister of Education | |
In office 14 October 1959 – 13 July 1962 | |
Prime Minister | Harold Macmillan |
Preceded by | Geoffrey Lloyd |
Succeeded by | Edward Boyle |
In office 18 October 1954 – 13 January 1957 | |
Prime Minister | Anthony Eden |
Preceded by | Florence Horsbrugh |
Succeeded by | Quintin Hogg |
President of the Board of Trade | |
In office 13 January 1957 – 14 October 1959 | |
Prime Minister | Harold Macmillan |
Preceded by | Peter Thorneycroft |
Succeeded by | Reginald Maudling |
Minister of Works | |
In office 1 November 1951 – 18 October 1954 | |
Prime Minister | Winston Churchill |
Preceded by | George Brown |
Succeeded by | Nigel Birch |
Member of Parliament for Chippenham | |
In office 24 August 1943 – 13 July 1962 | |
Preceded by | Victor Cazalet |
Succeeded by | Daniel Awdry |
Personal details | |
Born | 18 September 1904 |
Died | 24 February 1999 94) | (aged
Nationality | British |
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse(s) |
The Hon. Sybil Dawson (1929-1977) Mary, Viscountess Eccles (1984-death) |
Children |
Selina Petty-FitzMaurice, Marchioness of Lansdowne The Hon. Simon Eccles The Hon. John Eccles; later 2nd Viscount Eccles |
Alma mater | New College, Oxford |
Occupation | Politician and Businessman |
Religion | Church of England |
David McAdam Eccles, 1st Viscount Eccles CH KCVO PC (18 September 1904 – 24 February 1999) was an English Conservative politician.
Education and early career
Eccles was educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford, where he obtained a second-class degree in PPE. He worked with the Central Mining Corporation in London and Johannesburg. During the Second World War he worked for the Ministry of Economic Warfare from 1939 to 1940 and for the Ministry of Production from 1942 to 1943 and was Economic Adviser to the British ambassadors at Lisbon and Madrid from 1940 to 1942.
Political career
Eccles was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Chippenham in a wartime by-election in 1943, a seat he held until 1962. He served in the Conservative administrations of Churchill, Eden and Macmillan respectively as Minister of Works from 1951 to 1954 (in which position he helped organise the 1953 Coronation and was appointed KCVO), as Minister of Education from 1954 to 1957 and again from 1959 to 1962 and as President of the Board of Trade from 1957 to 1959. Eccles was also President of the Board of Trade in January 1957.[1]
In 1962 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Eccles, of Chute in the County of Wiltshire, and in 1964 he was created Viscount Eccles, of Chute in the County of Wiltshire. Lord Eccles returned to the government in 1970 when Edward Heath appointed him Paymaster-General and Minister for the Arts, a post he held until 1973. As Minister for the Arts he clashed with the Chairman of the Arts Council of Great Britain Arnold Goodman over the funding of controversial plays and exhibitions and introduced mandatory admission charges at public museums and galleries. Lord Eccles was made a Doctor of Science (DSc) in 1966 by Loughborough University.[2] He also received an Honorary Science Doctorate from the University of Bath in 1972.[3]
Personal life
Eccles married, firstly, the Hon. Sybil Frances Dawson (1904–1977), daughter of Bertrand Dawson, 1st Viscount Dawson of Penn, on 1 October 1929. They had three children:
- The Hon. Selina Eccles; m. George Petty-FitzMaurice, 8th Marquess of Lansdowne; became The Marchioness of Lansdowne
- The Hon. Simon Dawson Eccles
- The Hon. John Dawson Eccles; later 2nd Viscount Eccles (born on 20 April 1931)
Widowed, he married again, this time to the book collector and philanthropist Mary Morley Crapo Hyde (1912–2003) on 26 September 1984. He died at age 94 at home of natural causes leaving an estate of approximately £2.4 million.[4]
Styles and honours
- Mr David Eccles (1904–1943)
- Mr David Eccles MP (1943–1953)
- Sir David Eccles KCVO MP (1953–1962)
- The Rt. Hon. The Lord Eccles KCVO PC (1962–1964)
- The Rt. Hon. The Viscount Eccles KCVO PC (1964–1984)
- The Rt. Hon. The Viscount Eccles CH KCVO PC (1984–1999)
Notes
- ↑ List of Presidents/Secretaries of State (2007), Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, London, UK, viewed 8 May 2008, http://www.berr.gov.uk/about/about-berr/history/presidents-secretaries/page13935.html
- ↑ Honorary Graduates and University Medallists since 1966 (2008), Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK, viewed 29 April 2008, http://www.lboro.ac.uk/service/publicity/degree_days/hon_grads_66to79.html
- ↑ http://www.bath.ac.uk/ceremonies/hongrads/older.html
- ↑ http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/71965
References
- Mary, Viscountess Eccles: obituary, The Independent, 5 September 2003
- The Times House of Commons 1945. 1945.
- The Times House of Commons 1950. 1950.
- The Times House of Commons 1955. 1955.
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Viscount Eccles
Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by Victor Cazalet |
Member of Parliament for Chippenham 1943 – 1962 |
Succeeded by Daniel Awdry |
Political offices | ||
Preceded by Harold Lever |
Paymaster General 1970 – 1973 |
Succeeded by Maurice Macmillan |
Preceded by Jennie Lee |
Minister for the Arts 1970 – 1973 |
Succeeded by Norman St John-Stevas |
Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
New creation | Viscount Eccles 1964 – 1999 |
Succeeded by John Dawson Eccles |
Baron Eccles 1962 – 1999 |