800px-Alec_Douglas-Home_(c1963)

October 10, 2018 by Alexander Meldrum

Photo 983 of 6615
Previous
Next

Sir Alec Douglas-Home, British Prime Minister (1963–64). Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel, KT, PC (/'hju?m/ (About this sound listen); 2 July 1903 – 9 October 1995) was a British statesman of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1963 to October 1964. He is notable for being the most recent Prime Minister to hold office while being a member of the House of Lords, before renouncing his peerage and taking up a seat in the House of Commons for the remainder of his premiership. His reputation, however, rests more on his two spells as Britain's foreign secretary than on his brief premiership. Early years Douglas-Home was born in Mayfair, London, the first of seven children of Lord Dunglass (the eldest son of The 12th Earl of Home) and his wife, the Lady Lilian Lambton (daughter of The 4th Earl of Durham). The boy's first name was customarily abbreviated to "Alec".Among the couple's younger children was the playwright William Douglas-Home. In 1918 the 12th Earl of Home died, Dunglass succeeded him in the earldom, and the courtesy title passed to Alec Douglas-Home, who was styled Lord Dunglass until 1951. The young Lord Dunglass was educated at Ludgrove School, followed by Eton College. At Eton his contemporaries included Cyril Connolly, who later described him as: Prime Minister (1963–64) Further information: Douglas-Home ministry On 23 October 1963, four days after becoming Prime Minister, Home disclaimed his earldom and associated lesser peerages, under the Peerage Act 1963.[n 10] Having been made a knight of the Order of the Thistle in 1962, he was known after stepping down from the Lords as Sir Alec Douglas-Home. The safe Unionist seat of Kinross and West Perthshire was vacant, and Douglas-Home was adopted as his party's candidate. Parliament was due to meet on 24 October after the summer recess, but its return was postponed until 12 November pending the by-election. For twenty days Douglas-Home was Prime Minister while a member of neither house of Parliament, a situation without modern precedent.He won the by-election with a majority of 9,328; the Liberal candidate was in second place and Labour in third. Go to Wikipedia for full History.

View Less

Report this photo