Richard Stokes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of Materials | |
| In office 6 July 1951 – 26 October 1951 | |
| Leader | Clement Attlee |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Viscount Swinton |
| Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal | |
| In office 26 April 1951 – 26 October 1951 | |
| Leader | Clement Attlee |
| Preceded by | Ernest Bevin |
| Succeeded by | The Marquess of Salisbury |
| Minister of Works | |
| In office 28 February 1950 – 26 April 1951 | |
| Leader | Clement Attlee |
| Preceded by | Charles Key |
| Succeeded by | George Brown |
| Member of Parliament for Ipswich | |
| In office 16 February 1938 – 3 August 1957 | |
| Preceded by | John Ganzoni |
| Succeeded by | Dingle Foot |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Richard Rapier Stokes 27 January 1897 |
| Died | 3 August 1957 (aged 60) London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
| 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 and Labour politician who served briefly as Lord Privy Seal in 1951.
Early Life and Family
The second son of Philip Folliott Stokes and his wife Mary Fenwick Rapier, the only surviving child of Richard Christopher Rapier (1836–1897) of Ransomes & Rapier,[1] Richard Stokes was educated at Downside School, Sandhurst and after the war Trinity College, Cambridge. He served in the Royal Artillery during World War I, winning the Military Cross and bar and the Croix de Guerre.[2]
His uncle Sir Wilfred Stokes, chairman and managing director of the engineering firm Ransomes & Rapier invented the Stokes Mortar in World War I. His uncle Leonard Stokes was an architect who designed the new buildings at Downside School (built 1912, when Richard was at Downside). Another uncle was the landscape painter Adrian 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 author Arthur Ransome, who helped with the books publication.
Business Career
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 the National 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]
Pre Parliamentary Political Career
Stokes was chairman (1939) and supporter of the School of Economic Science,[4] an economics study group that expounded the economic theories of the American economist Henry George.[5]
He unsuccessfully fought Glasgow Central for Labour in 1935.
He was a member of the anti-semitic group, Militant Christian Patriots and was personally friendly with prominent English far-right figures such as Hastings Russell, Marquis of Tavistock and Gerard Wallop, Viscount Lymington.[6]
Parliamentary Career
Stokes won the Ipswich seat in a 1938 by-election, which he kept in the 1945, 1950, 1951 and 1955 elections. He was known for his independence in parliament.
Prior to the war, he co-wrote a paper (with Andrew MacLaren and George Lansbury) analysing the economic forces menacing peace in Europe.[7] He founded and led the Parliamentary 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]
In January 1940, Stokes wrote a self financed pamphlet entitled What 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 Bishop George Bell and fellow Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Alfred Salter, opposing area strategic bombing during World War II.[9] After the RAF's bombing of Dresden on the night of 13 February and the early hours of 14 February 1945, his questions in the House about the act[10] were in part responsible for the reappraisal of the Government's bombing policy in the last month of the war in Europe. Stokes was also a prominent critic of the inadequacy of Allied tank design.
He raised other issues after the war relating to Yalta and the forced repatriation of Yugoslavs, and the treatment of Dr George Chatterton-Hill in Germany. He was part of the Hankey lobby that lobbied in favour of Wehrmacht generals so that they would be able to fight against the Soviet Union if needed.
Post War Career
Following the 1945 general election, Labour were returned to power. Stokes was denied office, probably because of his war time politics,[2] devoted much of his energy to the Friends of Ireland group, of which he was treasurer.[11] He was appointed Lord Privy Seal and the new position of Minister of Materials in April 1951, succeeding Ernest Bevin but served only a few months before Labour lost the 1951 general election. He aimed to show that the proposed armaments programme could be carried out, contrary to Aneurin Bevan and Harold Wilson (who had resigned over this and other issues). After Labour lost power to the Conservatives he was elected to the Shadow Cabinet where he served as shadow Defence spokesman,[3] although he was voted out in 1956.
Death
Stokes died at home on 3 August 1957 in London of a 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.[12]
References
- 1 2 Obituary. Mr. R. R. Stokes. The Times, Monday, 5 August 1957; pg. 9; Issue 53911
- 1 2 Francis Beckett. "Richard Rapier Stokes". Dictionary of Labour Party Biography. pp. 546–8.
- 1 2 "Stokes, Richard Rapier". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ↑ Hodgkinson, Brian (2010). In Search of Truth. Shepheard-Walwyn. pp. 10, 20. ISBN 978-0-85683-276-5.
- ↑ Land and Liberty, Henry George Foundation of Great Britain, 1933 p.231; 1935 p.89; 1936 p.94, 1937 p.97.
- ↑ Crowcroft, Robert (October 2008). "'What is Happening in Europe?' Richard Stokes, Fascism, and the Anti-War Movement in the British Labour Party during the Second World War and After". History. 93 (4): 517. Retrieved 7 March 2023. Specific citation "17 Appointment diaries 1939 and 1940, Stokes Papers; David Cesarani, Justice Delayed (1992) [hereafter Cesarani, Justice Delayed], p. 173; Griffiths, Patriotism Perverted, pp. 225-6. See Thomas Linehan, British Fascism 1981-1939"
- ↑ Stewart, John (2009). Standing for Justice. Shepheard-Walwyn. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-85683-194-2.
- 1 2 Crowcroft, Robert (October 2008). "'What is Happening in Europe?' Richard Stokes, Fascism, and the Anti-War Movement in the British Labour Party during the Second World War and After". History. 93 (4): 514–530. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
- ↑ https://spartacus-educational.com/TUstokes.htm
- ↑ "AIR ESTIMATES, 1945". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 6 March 1945.
- ↑ Bob Purdie, "The Friends of Ireland", in: Tom Gallagher, Contemporary Irish Studies, pp.81–94
- ↑ The Times, London, 1957: 23 July p. 12; 5 August pp. 1,9
- The Times House of Commons 1945. 1945.
- The Times House of Commons 1950. 1950.
- The Times House of Commons 1955. 1955.