The Viscount Crookshank | |
|---|---|
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| Minister of Health | |
| In office 30 October 1951 – 7 May 1952 | |
| Prime Minister | Winston Churchill |
| Preceded by | Hilary Marquand |
| Succeeded by | Iain Macleod |
| Leader of the House of Commons | |
| In office 30 October 1951 – 20 December 1955 | |
| Prime Minister | Winston Churchill Sir Anthony Eden |
| Preceded by | James Chuter Ede |
| Succeeded by | Rab Butler |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 27 May 1893 (1893-05-27) |
| Died | 17 October 1961(1961-10-17) (aged 68) |
| Nationality | British |
| Party | Conservative |
| Alma mater | Magdalen College, Oxford |
Harry Frederick Comfort Crookshank, 1st Viscount Crookshank,CH, PC (27 May 1893 – 17 October 1961), was a BritishConservative politician. He wasMinister of Health between 1951 and 1952 andLeader of the House of Commons between 1951 and 1955.
Crookshank was born inCairo,Egypt, the son of Harry Maule Crookshank and Emma, daughter of Major Samuel Comfort, ofNew York City. On his father's side, he descended fromAlexander Crookshank, ofCounty Longford,Ireland, who representedBelfast in theIrish House of Commons and served as a Justice of theCourt of Common Pleas inIreland. He was educated atEton andMagdalen College, Oxford. In theFirst World War, he joined theHampshire Regiment and served as a captain in theGrenadier Guards.[citation needed] On one occasion he was buried alive by an explosion for twenty minutes, and on another in 1916 he was castrated by shrapnel, requiring him to wear asurgical truss for the rest of his life.[1] He was awarded bySerbia theOrder of the White Eagle andGold Medal for Valour.[2]
He joined the Diplomatic Service in 1919 and worked at theBritish Embassy inWashington, D.C., until 1924.
Crookshank was electedMember of Parliament (MP) forGainsborough in 1924, a seat he held for the next 32 years.[3] He entered the government asUnder-Secretary of State for the Home Department in 1934 underRamsay MacDonald. WhenStanley Baldwin became prime minister in 1935 Crookshank was appointedSecretary for Mines, a post he retained whenNeville Chamberlain became prime minister in 1937 until February 1939. Crookshank called Chamberlain "crazed and hypnotised by a loony" to have accepted theMunich Agreement and sent a letter of resignation in protest, but was convinced to rescind it.[4] In the latter year, he was sworn of thePrivy Council[5] and madeFinancial Secretary to the Treasury. He continued in this post also whenWinston Churchill came to power in 1940, and was thenPostmaster General under Churchill between 1943 and 1945.[3] In 1942 he was offered the post of British Minister Resident in the Mediterranean atAlgiers following the liberation of Algeria byOperation Torch but he declined,Harold Macmillan being appointed instead.[6]
When the Conservatives returned to office under Churchill in 1951, Crookshank was appointedMinister of Health andLeader of the House of Commons, with a seat in the cabinet. In 1952 exchanged his post at theMinistry of Health for the sinecure post ofLord Privy Seal, while he remained as Commons Leader. He continued in these two positions until December 1955, the last year under the premiership ofSir Anthony Eden.[citation needed] In the1955 New Year Honours he was made aMember of the Order of the Companions of Honour.[7][3] He retired from theHouse of Commons in 1956 and was raised to the peerage as theViscount Crookshank, ofGainsborough in theCounty of Lincoln, in January of that year.[3][8] He had been offered a peerage in February 1940 but declined, having considered it at the time an insult because his First World War wounds had left him incapable of fathering any heir to a title.[9]
Papers released byThe National Archives, London, November 2007, show that Crookshank, withHarold Macmillan, led a faction within thethird Churchill ministry who opposed what they perceived to be an attempt to bounce the Cabinet into a premature decision to authorise aBritish thermonuclear bomb programme in July 1954.[citation needed]
Lord Crookshank was aScottish RiteFreemason and Grand Master of Lincolnshire.[10]
Incapable as result of his First World War wounds of fathering children, Crookshank was a lifelong bachelor. He was also (not publicly) known as ahomosexual and caused a near scandal when a male lover of his was adopted asConservative Party candidate for theGrimsby constituency in 1958 but later withdrawn.[9][11] According toChris Bryant he was a member of theGlamour Boys.[12]
His home from 1937 was at 51Pont Street,Kensington, London, where in 1947 he hosted a meeting of like-minded backbench MPs who unsuccessfully demanded Churchill's removal asLeader of the Conservative Party.[9]
He died ofcancer[9] atChelsea,London, in October 1961, aged 68. The viscountcy died with him.[citation needed] Having been since 1960 High Steward of the City of Westminster, his funeral service took place atWestminster Abbey, followed by burial atLincoln Cathedral.[9] His sister, Helen Elizabeth Comfort Crookshank (1895–1948), lies next to him.
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| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forGainsborough 1924–1956 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department 1934–1935 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary for Mines 1935–1939 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1939–1943 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Postmaster General 1943–1945 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Health 1951–1952 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Leader of the House of Commons 1951–1955 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Lord Privy Seal 1952–1955 | |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Viscount Crookshank 1956–1961 | Extinct |
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| Other | |
