Richard Stokes | |
|---|---|
 Stokes in 1940 | |
| Shadow Minister of Defence | |
| In office 15 July 1955 – 30 November 1956 | |
| Leader | Clement Attlee Hugh Gaitskell |
| Succeeded by | George Brown |
| Minister of Materials | |
| In office 6 July 1951 – 26 October 1951 | |
| Prime Minister | Clement Attlee |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Viscount Swinton |
| Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal | |
| In office 26 April 1951 – 26 October 1951 | |
| Prime Minister | Clement Attlee |
| Preceded by | Ernest Bevin |
| Succeeded by | The Marquess of Salisbury |
| Minister of Works | |
| In office 28 February 1950 – 26 April 1951 | |
| Prime Minister | Clement Attlee |
| Preceded by | Charles Key |
| Succeeded by | George Brown |
| Member of Parliament forIpswich | |
| In office 16 February 1938 – 3 August 1957 | |
| Preceded by | John Ganzoni |
| Succeeded by | Dingle Foot |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Richard Rapier Stokes (1897-01-27)27 January 1897 |
| Died | 3 August 1957(1957-08-03) (aged 60) London, UK |
| Political party | Labour |
| Relations | Wilfred Stokes,Leonard Stokes (Uncles) |
| Parent(s) | Philip Folliot Stokes Mary Fenwick Rapier |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
Richard Rapier Stokes,MC (27 January 1897 – 3 August 1957) was a British soldier andLabour politician who served briefly asLord Privy Seal in 1951.
The second son of Philip Folliott Stokes, a barrister, and his wife Mary Fenwick Rapier, the only surviving child of Richard Christopher Rapier (1836–1897) ofRansomes & Rapier,[1] Richard Stokes was educated atDownside School,Sandhurst and after the warTrinity College, Cambridge. He served in theRoyal Artillery duringWorld War I, winning theMilitary Cross and bar and theCroix de Guerre.[2]
His uncle SirWilfred Stokes, chairman and managing director of the engineering firmRansomes & Rapier invented theStokes Mortar in World War I. His uncleLeonard Stokes was an architect who designed the new buildings atDownside School (built 1912, when Richard was at Downside). Another uncle was the landscape painterAdrian Scott Stokes.
Richard Stokes was the maternal uncle of Katharine Hull, coauthor of The Far Distant Oxus and its sequels, and was also a good friend of authorArthur Ransome, who helped with the books publication.
On going down from Cambridge he joined his family's business, Ransomes & Rapier, and was made managing director at the age of 30. When rearmament was proposed by theNational Government Stokes offered to charge the nation cost price for all his firm's rearmament work, although it was rejected by the National Government - a rejection he criticised in his maiden speech.[3] Though he held office under Labour governments he was said to have remained a backbencher at heart.[1]
Stokes was chairman (1939) and supporter of theSchool of Economic Science,[4] an economics study group that expounded the economic theories of the American economistHenry George.[5]
He unsuccessfully foughtGlasgow Central for Labour in1935.
He was a member of the antisemiticMilitant Christian Patriots.[6]
Stokes won theIpswich seat in a 1938by-election, which he kept in the1945,1950,1951 and1955 elections. He was known for his independence in parliament.
Prior to the war, he co-wrote a paper (withAndrew MacLaren andGeorge Lansbury) analysing the economic forces menacing peace in Europe.[7] He founded and led theParliamentary Peace Aims Group which was critical of the war, although his opposition was regarded as being a "fascist fellow traveller" rather than a pacifist.[8]
He was personally friendly with prominent English far-right figures such asHastings Russell, Marquis of Tavistock[9] andGerard Wallop, Viscount Lymington.[10][6]
In January 1940, Stokes wrote a self financed pamphlet entitledWhat is Happening in Europe? sent to every member of both Houses of Parliament which was sympathetic to German arguments, explicitly blaming Poland which he called "a state monstrously swollen by aggression" while Czechoslovakia was "a fortress state obviously directed against Germany".[8]
With BishopGeorge Bell and fellow LabourMember of Parliament (MP)Alfred Salter, he opposedareastrategic bombing duringWorld War II.[11] Stokes was seen as the most determined critic ofarea bombing in the House of Commons.[12]
It was Stokes's questions in the House of Commons[13] on thebombing of Dresden that were in large part responsible for the shift in British opinion against this type of raid. Frederick Taylor writes that Stokes repeated information from the German Press Agency (controlled by the Propaganda Ministry) and although the destruction of Dresden would have affected people's support for the Allies regardless of German propaganda, at least some of the outrage did depend on Goebbels' falsification of the casualty figures.[14]
Stokes raised other issues after the war relating toYalta and theforced repatriation of Yugoslavs, and the treatment of DrGeorge Chatterton-Hill in Germany. He was part of theHankey lobby that lobbied in favour ofWehrmacht generals so that they would be able to fight against the Soviet Union if needed. Stokes was also a prominent critic of the inadequacy of Allied tank design.
Following the1945 general election, Labour were returned to power. Stokes was denied office, possibly because of his war time politics,[2] devoted much of his energy to theFriends of Ireland group, of which he was treasurer.[15] He was a member of the Executive ofSave Europe Now, a group formed to improve the conditions for civilians in theBritish occupation zone in Germany.[16]
He was appointed Lord Privy Seal and the new position ofMinister of Materials in April 1951, succeedingErnest Bevin but served only a few months before Labour lost the1951 general election. He aimed to show that the proposed armaments programme could be carried out, contrary toAneurin Bevan andHarold Wilson (who had resigned over this and other issues). He was involved in the controversy over theAnglo-Persian Oil Company. After Labour lost power to the Conservatives he waselected to the Shadow Cabinet where he served asshadow Defence spokesman,[3] although he was voted out in1956.
Stokes died at home on 3 August 1957 inLondon of an apparent heart attack, according to his death notice. A few days before, on 23 July, he had been in a road accident when his car overturned during a thunderstorm on the flooded London road at Stanway near Colchester. The injuries which he sustained contributed to his death from apulmonary embolism.[17]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by SirJohn Ganzoni | Member of Parliament forIpswich 1938–1957 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Minister of Works 1950–1951 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Lord Privy Seal 1951 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
