Richard Hornby
Encyclopedia
Richard Phipps Hornby was a British
Conservative Party
politician and businessman. He was Member of Parliament
for Tonbridge
for over 17½ years, from June 1956 to February 1974, holding a junior ministerial position for a year in the mid-1960s. He worked for the J. Walter Thompson
advertising agency
before, during, and after his career in Parliament, and was Chairman the Halifax Building Society from 1983 to 1990.
in Lancashire
, the eldest son of Hugh Leycester Hornby
. His father won a Military Cross
as a military chaplain in France in 1916, and was Vicar of St Michael's on Wyre when Richard was born, later Archdeacon
of Lancaster
, Rector
of Bury
and Suffragan Bishop of Hulme
.
Hornby was a scholar at Winchester College
. He played occasional matches in the Football League for Bury F.C.
as a teenager. He studied history at Trinity College, Oxford
, winning a Blue for football. His studies were interrupted by five years of service as an officer in the King's Royal Rifle Corps
in the Second World War. He landed in France six weeks after D-Day
, fighting across France, the Low Countries
and into Germany
. He was involved in liberating concentration camps.
After completing his studies after the war, he taught history at Eton College
from 1948 to 1950. He married Stella Hichens, a professional soprano
, in 1951. They had three sons and one daughter. He spent a year as a marketing trainee with Unilever
from 1951 to 1952, and then moved to the J. Walter Thompson
advertising agency
as a copywriter, before concentrating on a political career.
in the 1955 UK general election, losing to the incumbent, leader of the Labour Party
and former Prime Minister
Clement Attlee
. He also contested, and lost, the by-election in March 1956 after Attlee moved to the House of Lords
as Earl Attlee
. Hornby was finally elected Member of Parliament
at the by-election
in June 1956 for the safe Conservative seat of Tonbridge
, although, against a local Labour politician and with the unpopular government of Anthony Eden
, the Conservative majority was cut to barely 1,600 votes.
He was Parliamentary Private Secretary
to Duncan Sandys
from 1959 to 1963, and continued to work for J Walter Thompson. He took leave of absence from his advertising job from October 1963 to until the October 1964 general election
, to serve as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, with responsibility for Africa and Commonwealth education, his only position in the government. He also served on the General Advisory Council of the BBC from 1969 to 1974, and was a member of the Committee of Enquiry into Intrusions into Privacy from 1970 to 1972, and was a member of the British Council
and the Institute of Race Relations
.
His liberal views led to trouble in his constituency—he supported sanctions against Ian Smith
's regime in Rhodesia
, and supported the abolition of capital punishment
. A true "wet", he served until the constituency was abolished in boundary changes at the February 1974 general election
. Declining the opportunity to stand in the new safe seat of Royal Tunbridge Wells
, he returned full-time to J. Walter Thompson, becoming a director.
, and the enactment of the Building Societies Act 1987. He was also a director of Cadbury Schweppes
, McCorquodale
and Business in the Community
.
He enjoyed outdoor activities—hill-walking, fishing, shooting and bird-watching. He died in Bowerchalke
in Wiltshire
. One son predeceased him. He was survived by his wife and three of their children.
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 and businessman. He was 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 Tonbridge
Tonbridge (UK Parliament constituency)
Tonbridge was a parliamentary constituency in Kent, centred on the town of Tonbridge. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
for over 17½ years, from June 1956 to February 1974, holding a junior ministerial position for a year in the mid-1960s. He worked for the J. Walter Thompson
JWT
JWT is one of the largest advertising agencies in the United States and the fourth-largest in the world. It is one of the key companies of Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP Group and is headquartered in New York. The global agency is led by Worldwide Chairman and Global CEO Bob Jeffrey who took over the...
advertising agency
Advertising agency
An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services...
before, during, and after his career in Parliament, and was Chairman the Halifax Building Society from 1983 to 1990.
Early and private life
Hornby was born in St Michael's on WyreSt Michael's On Wyre
St Michael's on Wyre is a village on the Fylde, in the Borough of Wyre, in Lancashire, England; it lies on the River Wyre. The village is centred on the church of St Michael's which was founded before AD 640...
in Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, the eldest son of Hugh Leycester Hornby
Hugh Leycester Hornby
Hugh Leycester Hornby was an Anglican clergyman.He was educated at Rugby School and Balliol College, Oxford. He was curate of St. Annes-on-Sea, Lancashire before the First World War, and in 1910 joined up as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 5th Battalion, K.O.R. Lancaster Regiment, T.A...
. His father won a Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
as a military chaplain in France in 1916, and was Vicar of St Michael's on Wyre when Richard was born, later Archdeacon
Archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, Chaldean Catholic, and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church...
of Lancaster
Lancaster, Lancashire
Lancaster is the county town of Lancashire, England. It is situated on the River Lune and has a population of 45,952. Lancaster is a constituent settlement of the wider City of Lancaster, local government district which has a population of 133,914 and encompasses several outlying towns, including...
, Rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
of Bury
Bury
Bury is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the River Irwell, east of Bolton, west-southwest of Rochdale, and north-northwest of the city of Manchester...
and Suffragan Bishop of Hulme
Bishop of Hulme
The Bishop of Hulme was an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Manchester, in the Province of York, England...
.
Hornby was a scholar at Winchester College
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
. He played occasional matches in the Football League for Bury F.C.
Bury F.C.
Bury Football Club is an association football team based in Bury, Greater Manchester. The team currently play in League One. The club's nickname is The Shakers which was bestowed upon them by club chairman JT Ingham, an industrialist and ironmonger of the late 1890s.-Formation of the club and the...
as a teenager. He studied history at Trinity College, Oxford
Trinity College, Oxford
The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...
, winning a Blue for football. His studies were interrupted by five years of service as an officer in the King's Royal Rifle Corps
King's Royal Rifle Corps
The King's Royal Rifle Corps was a British Army infantry regiment, originally raised in colonial North America as the Royal Americans, and recruited from American colonists. Later ranked as the 60th Regiment of Foot, the regiment served for more than 200 years throughout the British Empire...
in the Second World War. He landed in France six weeks after D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
, fighting across France, the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
and into Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. He was involved in liberating concentration camps.
After completing his studies after the war, he taught history at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
from 1948 to 1950. He married Stella Hichens, a professional soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
, in 1951. They had three sons and one daughter. He spent a year as a marketing trainee with Unilever
Unilever
Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products....
from 1951 to 1952, and then moved to the J. Walter Thompson
JWT
JWT is one of the largest advertising agencies in the United States and the fourth-largest in the world. It is one of the key companies of Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP Group and is headquartered in New York. The global agency is led by Worldwide Chairman and Global CEO Bob Jeffrey who took over the...
advertising agency
Advertising agency
An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services...
as a copywriter, before concentrating on a political career.
Political career
He fought (and lost) as Conservative candidate for Walthamstow WestWalthamstow West (UK Parliament constituency)
Walthamstow West was a borough constituency in what is now the London Borough of Waltham Forest, but was until 1965 the Walthamstow Urban District of Essex...
in the 1955 UK general election, losing to the incumbent, leader of the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
and former Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Clement Attlee
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
. He also contested, and lost, the by-election in March 1956 after Attlee moved to the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
as Earl Attlee
Earl Attlee
Earl Attlee is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 16 December 1955 for Clement Attlee, the former Labour Prime Minister. He was made Viscount Prestwood, of Walthamstow in the County of Essex, at the same time, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. As of 2010 the...
. Hornby was finally elected 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,...
at the by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
in June 1956 for the safe Conservative seat of Tonbridge
Tonbridge (UK Parliament constituency)
Tonbridge was a parliamentary constituency in Kent, centred on the town of Tonbridge. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
, although, against a local Labour politician and with the unpopular government of Anthony Eden
Anthony Eden
Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC was a British Conservative politician, who was Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957...
, the Conservative majority was cut to barely 1,600 votes.
He was Parliamentary Private Secretary
Parliamentary Private Secretary
A Parliamentary Private Secretary is a role given to a United Kingdom Member of Parliament by a senior minister in government or shadow minister to act as their contact for the House of Commons; this role is junior to that of Parliamentary Under-Secretary, which is a ministerial post, salaried by...
to Duncan Sandys
Duncan Sandys
Edwin Duncan Sandys, Baron Duncan-Sandys CH PC was a British politician and a minister in successive Conservative governments in the 1950s and 1960s...
from 1959 to 1963, and continued to work for J Walter Thompson. He took leave of absence from his advertising job from October 1963 to until the October 1964 general election
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...
, to serve as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, with responsibility for Africa and Commonwealth education, his only position in the government. He also served on the General Advisory Council of the BBC from 1969 to 1974, and was a member of the Committee of Enquiry into Intrusions into Privacy from 1970 to 1972, and was a member of the British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
and the Institute of Race Relations
Institute of Race Relations
The Institute of Race Relations is a think tank based in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1958 in order to publish research on race relations worldwide, and in 1972 was transformed into an 'anti-racist think tank'....
.
His liberal views led to trouble in his constituency—he supported sanctions against Ian Smith
Ian Smith
Ian Douglas Smith GCLM ID was a politician active in the government of Southern Rhodesia, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Rhodesia, Zimbabwe Rhodesia and Zimbabwe from 1948 to 1987, most notably serving as Prime Minister of Rhodesia from 13 April 1964 to 1 June 1979...
's regime in Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
, and supported the abolition of capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
. A true "wet", he served until the constituency was abolished in boundary changes at 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,...
. Declining the opportunity to stand in the new safe seat of Royal Tunbridge Wells
Tunbridge Wells (UK Parliament constituency)
Tunbridge Wells is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It returns one Member of Parliament , elected under the first-past-the-post voting system.-Boundaries:...
, he returned full-time to J. Walter Thompson, becoming a director.
Later life
He joined the London board of the Halifax Building Society in 1974, and joined its main board of directors in 1976. He was its vice-chairman from 1981 to 1983, and its chairman from 1983 until he retired in 1990, during a period which saw rapid expansion, the ending of interest rates being set by the Building Societies AssociationBuilding Societies Association
The Building Societies Association is the trade organisation of the building societies in the United Kingdom. In 2011 the 48 building societies in the UK had total assets of over £317 billion. 15 million adults have building society saving accounts and over 2.9 million adults are currently buying...
, and the enactment of the Building Societies Act 1987. He was also a director of Cadbury Schweppes
Cadbury Schweppes
Cadbury is a confectionery company owned by Kraft Foods and is the industry's second-largest globally after Mars, Incorporated. Headquartered in Uxbridge, London, United Kingdom, the company operates in more than 50 countries worldwide....
, McCorquodale
McCorquodale
-People with the surname McCorquodale:*Alastair McCorquodale, Scottish athlete and cricketer.*Corky McCorquodale, professional poker player.*Joe McCorquodale, American politician.*Malcolm McCorquodale, 1st Baron McCorquodale, British politician....
and Business in the Community
Business in the Community
Business in the Community is a British business-community outreach charity promoting responsible business, CSR, corporate responsibility, and is one of the Prince's Charities of Charles, Prince of Wales....
.
He enjoyed outdoor activities—hill-walking, fishing, shooting and bird-watching. He died in Bowerchalke
Bowerchalke
Bowerchalke or Bower Chalke is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about southwest of Salisbury. It is in the south of Wiltshire, about from the county boundary with Dorset and from that with Hampshire. It is in the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding...
in Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
. One son predeceased him. He was survived by his wife and three of their children.