The Viscount Hall | |
|---|---|
 | |
| First Lord of the Admiralty | |
| In office 4 October 1946 – 24 May 1951 | |
| Monarch | George VI |
| Prime Minister | Clement Attlee |
| Preceded by | A. V. Alexander |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Pakenham |
| Secretary of State for the Colonies | |
| In office 3 August 1945 – 4 October 1946 | |
| Prime Minister | Clement Attlee |
| Preceded by | Hon. Oliver Stanley |
| Succeeded by | Arthur Creech Jones |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 25 September 1943 – 26 May 1945 | |
| Prime Minister | Winston Churchill |
| Preceded by | Richard Law |
| Succeeded by | Alec Douglas-Home Simon Fraser |
| Financial Secretary to the Admiralty | |
| In office 4 February 1942 – 25 September 1943 | |
| Prime Minister | Winston Churchill |
| Succeeded by | James Thomas |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies | |
| In office 12 May 1940 – 4 February 1942 | |
| Prime Minister | Winston Churchill |
| Preceded by | Basil Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood |
| Succeeded by | Harold Macmillan |
| Civil Lord of the Admiralty | |
| In office 7 June 1929 – 24 August 1931 | |
| Prime Minister | Ramsay MacDonald |
| Preceded by | James Stanhope |
| Succeeded by | Euan Wallace |
| Member of theHouse of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| In office 28 October 1946 – 8 November 1965 Hereditary Peerage | |
| Preceded by | Peerage created |
| Succeeded by | The 2nd Viscount Hall |
| Member of Parliament forAberdare | |
| In office 15 November 1922 – 4 October 1946 | |
| Preceded by | Charles Stanton |
| Succeeded by | David Thomas |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1881-12-31)31 December 1881 |
| Died | 8 November 1965(1965-11-08) (aged 83) |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
George Henry Hall, 1st Viscount Hall,PC (31 December 1881 – 8 November 1965), was a BritishLabour Party politician. He served asSecretary of State for the Colonies between 1945 and 1946 and asFirst Lord of the Admiralty between 1946 and 1951.
Hall was born inPenrhiwceiber,Glamorganshire, son of George Hall, a miner who was from Marshfield, Gloucestershire and his wife Anne (née Guard), a native of Midsomer Norton, Somerset.[1] Hall was the second of six children (four sons and two daughters) born between 1880 and 1889. His parents were among the thousands of people who migrated to the South Wales Valleys from the West Country in the late nineteenth century, following the expansion of the steam coal trade. George Hall snr. died in 1889 and the young George was compelled to leave Penrhiwceiber elementary school at the age of twelve, in order to start work at the Penrhiwceiber colliery.[1] His widowed mother had been left with a large family to support.[2]
Following an accident at the colliery requiring a prolonged period of recovery, Hall replaced his relative lack of formal education with extensive reading and self-education.[1] This may well have been a factor in his becoming involved in politics. He was elected as a Labour member of theMountain Ash Urban District Council (the first Labour member for the Penrhiwceiber Ward) in 1908.[1] On his election, when he defeated sitting Liberal member J.P. Davies by 31 votes, theAberdare Leader described him as "a young man with very sturdy views. He is bent on backing up Labour principles, and with all his life before him looks like shaping into a leader to be dealt with in that party."[3]
Hall later chaired both the Education Committee and the Urban Council itself and he remained a member until 1926.[1] Hall continued to work as a collier until appointedcheckweigher in 1911, and then to act as checkweigher Local Agent at theSouth Wales Miners' Federation until elected to Parliament in 1922.
Hall was electedMember of Parliament (MP) forAberdare at the1922 general election when he gained the seat for Labour, defeatingCharles Stanton who on this occasion stood at the election as aNational Liberal having held the seat since a 1915 by-election.[1] Stanton had been a militant trade unionist before the war and had won the seat as a pro-war candidate.
Hall represented Aberdare from 1922 to 1946 and served underRamsay MacDonald asCivil Lord of the Admiralty from 1929 to 1931. During the 1930s, with the Labour Party numbers in the Commons severely depleted after the 1931 General Election, Hall began to speak on a broader range of subjects having previously focused mainly on issues relating to his mining background.[1]
During his long political career, Hall remained closely tied to his native town and valley and was regarded as an effective and approachable constituency MP.[1] He devoted considerable energy to attract alternative industries to the Aberdare area following the decline of coal mining. It was largely through his efforts that a major new employer, Aberdare Cables, established a factory in the town in 1937 and Hall later became a director of the company. He was instrumental in establishing Royal Ordnance Factories at Robertstown and Rhigos duringWorld War II as well as the new Hirwaun Trading Estate in 1945. These developments, at least to some extent, offset the impact of the closure of coal mines from the 1930s onwards.[1]
Hall served underWinston Churchill asUnder-Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1940 to 1942, asFinancial Secretary to the Admiralty from 1942 to 1943, and asParliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1943 to 1945 and underClement Attlee asSecretary of State for the Colonies from 1945 to 1946.[1]
He was appointed aPrivy Counsellor in 1942, and on retirement from the House of Commons in 1946, he was raised to the peerage asViscount Hall, of Cynon Valley in the County of Glamorgan, He then served asFirst Lord of the Admiralty under Attlee from 1946 to 1951 and as DeputyLeader of the House of Lords from 1947 to 1951.
He married Margaret Jones fromYnysybwl on 12 October 1910. They had two sons, one who inherited his father's title while the other was killed while serving in the Royal Navy during World War II. She died on 24 July 1941. Towards the end of his life, he married Alice Martha Walker fromBrinklow, a member of Leicestershire County Council, in 1964.[1]
He was a member of theChurch in Wales and was elected to its Representative Body[1]
Lord Hall died inLeicester in November 1965, aged 83, and was succeeded by his sonWilliam.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forAberdare 1922–1946 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Civil Lord of the Admiralty 1929–1931 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies 1940–1942 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 1943–1945 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for the Colonies 1945–1946 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | First Lord of the Admiralty 1946–1951 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Viscount Hall 1946–1965 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
