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John Hill (UK politician)
Encyclopedia
John Edward Bernard Hill (13 November 1912 – 6 December 2007) was a barrister, farmer, and British
Conservative Party
politician. He served as Member of Parliament
for South Norfolk
for 19 years, from 1955 to 1974. He was also one of the UK's first MEP
s, serving from 1973-74.
Hill was the only son of Captain Robert Hill, an officer in the Cambridgeshire Regiment
. He was educated at Charterhouse School
and Merton College, Oxford
, where he gained a football
Blue
in 1934. After two year travelling in Asia and the Middle East, he became was a barrister
, called to the Bar at Inner Temple
in 1938. He was commissioned into 64th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery
in 1939, on the outbreak of the Second World War, and was attached for some time to the skiing unit of the 5th Battalion Scots Guards
. From 1942 served as an air observation pilot, flying spotter planes in Tunisia with No. 651 Squadron RAF
. He was severely wounded, and invalided out of the Army in 1945 with the rank of Captain
.
After the war, he took up farming, buying a 700 acres (2.8 km²) farm near Halesworth
in Suffolk
. He was a councillor on Wainford Rural District Council, Suffolk
from 1946–53, and a senior member of various East Anglia
n river and flood defence boards. He served as a governor of Charterhouse School
from 1958–90, and on the council of the University of East Anglia
from 1975-1982.
Hill was elected to the House of Commons
on 13 January 1955, in a by-election
caused by the expulsion of the sitting Conservative MP, Captain Peter Baker
, after Baker's conviction for uttering, forgery and fraud and subsequent imprisonment for seven years. Hill scraped home with a majority reduced to only 865. He held then seat later that year at the 1955 general election
, and was re-elected in four subsequent general elections (in 1959
, 1964
, 1966
and 1970
). His majority fell to only 119 in 1966. He did not stand in the February 1974 general election
and was succeeded as MP by John MacGregor
.
In Parliament, he concentrated mainly on the agricultural interests of his mainly rural constituency. He was elected to the executive of the 1922 Committee
in November 1956, in the aftermath of the Suez Crisis
, and he became an assistant government whip in January 1959 alongside Willie Whitelaw. While an MP, he pressed for the introduction of a small clock in the corner of the internal monitors, which tell everyone within the Palace of Westminster
how long a member
has been speaking.
He served as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury from 1960–64 and as Opposition spokesman on education and science briefly in 1965-66. He was later active on the education and agriculture select committees. He supported Edward Heath
's policy of joining the European Economic Community, and was a delegate to the Council of Europe
and the Western European Union
. When the UK joined the EEC in 1973, Hill was appointed as a Member of the European Parliament
(MEP), and served from January 1973 until July 1974. At that time, MEPs were appointed by national parliaments, rather than being directly elected.
He concentrated on farming in later life. He collected British art, particularly paintings by Samuel Palmer
. He married Edith Luard (née Maxwell) in 1944. His wife died in 1995. He was survived by their adopted daughter.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
politician. He served as Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for South Norfolk
South Norfolk (UK Parliament constituency)
South Norfolk is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. From 1868 until 1885 it returned two members but thereafter elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
for 19 years, from 1955 to 1974. He was also one of the UK's first MEP
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
s, serving from 1973-74.
Hill was the only son of Captain Robert Hill, an officer in the Cambridgeshire Regiment
Cambridgeshire Regiment
The Cambridgeshire Regiment was a territorial infantry regiment of the British Army from 1908 to 1961.-Pre 1908:The regiment had its origins in the rifle volunteer corps formed in Cambridgeshire in 1860. By 1880 the volunteer units in the county had amalgamated as the battalion-size 1st...
. He was educated at Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...
and Merton College, Oxford
Merton College, Oxford
Merton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to...
, where he gained a football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
Blue
University Sporting Blue
A Blue is an award earned by sportsmen and women at a university and some schools for competition at the highest level. The awarding of Blues began at Oxford and Cambridge Universities...
in 1934. After two year travelling in Asia and the Middle East, he became was a barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
, called to the Bar at Inner Temple
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
in 1938. He was commissioned into 64th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
in 1939, on the outbreak of the Second World War, and was attached for some time to the skiing unit of the 5th Battalion Scots Guards
Scots Guards
The Scots Guards is a regiment of the Guards Division of the British Army, whose origins lie in the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland...
. From 1942 served as an air observation pilot, flying spotter planes in Tunisia with No. 651 Squadron RAF
No. 651 Squadron RAF
No. 651 Squadron RAF was a unit of the Royal Air Force in Italy and North Africa during the Second World War and afterwards in Egypt. Numbers 651 to 663 Squadrons of the RAF were Air Observation Post units working closely with Army units in artillery spotting and liaison. A further three of these...
. He was severely wounded, and invalided out of the Army in 1945 with the rank of Captain
Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)
Captain is a junior officer rank of the British Army and Royal Marines. It ranks above Lieutenant and below Major and has a NATO ranking code of OF-2. The rank is equivalent to a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and to a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force...
.
After the war, he took up farming, buying a 700 acres (2.8 km²) farm near Halesworth
Halesworth
Halesworth is a small market town in the northeastern corner of Suffolk, England. It is located south west of Lowestoft, and straddles the River Blyth, 9 miles upstream from Southwold. The town is served by Halesworth railway station on the Ipswich-Lowestoft East Suffolk Line...
in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
. He was a councillor on Wainford Rural District Council, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
from 1946–53, and a senior member of various East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
n river and flood defence boards. He served as a governor of Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...
from 1958–90, and on the council of the University of East Anglia
University of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia is a public research university based in Norwich, United Kingdom. It was established in 1963, and is a founder-member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities.-History:...
from 1975-1982.
Hill was elected to the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
on 13 January 1955, in a by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
caused by the expulsion of the sitting Conservative MP, Captain Peter Baker
Peter Baker (UK politician)
Peter Arthur David Baker MC was a British Conservative politician and Member of Parliament . He was the last MP to be expelled from the House of Commons....
, after Baker's conviction for uttering, forgery and fraud and subsequent imprisonment for seven years. Hill scraped home with a majority reduced to only 865. He held then seat later that year at the 1955 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1955
The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election. It resulted in a substantially increased majority of 60 for the Conservative government under new leader and prime minister Sir Anthony Eden against Labour Party, now in their 20th year...
, and was re-elected in four subsequent general elections (in 1959
United Kingdom general election, 1959
This United Kingdom general election was held on 8 October 1959. It marked a third successive victory for the ruling Conservative Party, led by Harold Macmillan...
, 1964
United Kingdom general election, 1964
The United Kingdom general election of 1964 was held on 15 October 1964, more than five years after the preceding election, and thirteen years after the Conservative Party had retaken power...
, 1966
United Kingdom general election, 1966
The 1966 United Kingdom general election on 31 March 1966 was called by sitting Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Wilson's decision to call an election turned on the fact that his government, elected a mere 17 months previously in 1964 had an unworkably small majority of only 4 MPs...
and 1970
United Kingdom general election, 1970
The United Kingdom general election of 1970 was held on 18 June 1970, and resulted in a surprise victory for the Conservative Party under leader Edward Heath, who defeated the Labour Party under Harold Wilson. The election also saw the Liberal Party and its new leader Jeremy Thorpe lose half their...
). His majority fell to only 119 in 1966. He did not stand in the February 1974 general election
United Kingdom general election, February 1974
The United Kingdom's general election of February 1974 was held on the 28th of that month. It was the first of two United Kingdom general elections held that year, and the first election since the Second World War not to produce an overall majority in the House of Commons for the winning party,...
and was succeeded as MP by John MacGregor
John MacGregor
John Roddick Russell MacGregor, Baron MacGregor of Pulham Market, OBE PC FKC , is a politician in the United Kingdom. He was educated at Merchiston Castle School, then at the University of St Andrews and at King's College London...
.
In Parliament, he concentrated mainly on the agricultural interests of his mainly rural constituency. He was elected to the executive of the 1922 Committee
1922 Committee
In British politics, the 1922 Committee is a committee of Conservative Members of Parliament. Voting membership is limited to backbench MPs although frontbench Conservative MPs have an open invitation to attend meetings. While the party was in opposition, frontbench MPs other than the party leader...
in November 1956, in the aftermath of the Suez Crisis
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
, and he became an assistant government whip in January 1959 alongside Willie Whitelaw. While an MP, he pressed for the introduction of a small clock in the corner of the internal monitors, which tell everyone within the Palace of Westminster
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
how long a member
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
has been speaking.
He served as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury from 1960–64 and as Opposition spokesman on education and science briefly in 1965-66. He was later active on the education and agriculture select committees. He supported Edward Heath
Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George "Ted" Heath, KG, MBE, PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and as Leader of the Conservative Party ....
's policy of joining the European Economic Community, and was a delegate to the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
and the Western European Union
Western European Union
The Western European Union was an international organisation tasked with implementing the Modified Treaty of Brussels , an amended version of the original 1948 Treaty of Brussels...
. When the UK joined the EEC in 1973, Hill was appointed as a Member of the European Parliament
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
(MEP), and served from January 1973 until July 1974. At that time, MEPs were appointed by national parliaments, rather than being directly elected.
He concentrated on farming in later life. He collected British art, particularly paintings by Samuel Palmer
Samuel Palmer
Samuel Palmer was a British landscape painter, etcher and printmaker. He was also a prolific writer. Palmer was a key figure in Romanticism in Britain and produced visionary pastoral paintings.-Early life:...
. He married Edith Luard (née Maxwell) in 1944. His wife died in 1995. He was survived by their adopted daughter.