William Wedgwood Benn, 1st Viscount Stansgate

William Wedgwood Benn, 1st Viscount Stansgate, PC (10 May 1877 - 17 November 1960) was a British Liberal MP who later joined the Labour Party.

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PC - 10 May - 1877 - 17 November - 1960 - British - Liberal - MP - Labour Party

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Benn was the son of Sir John Benn, MP, and his father-in-law Daniel Holmes was also an MP. He was educated at the Lycee Condorcet in Paris and at University College, London. In 1906 he was elected as a Liberal MP for the St George's division of Tower Hamlets in east London, a seat he held until 1918. He served with the Royal Navy during World War I, seeing service at Gallipoli. He was a Liberal Whip 1910-1915. In 1918 he was elected for Leith in Scotland, a seat he held until March 1927, when he resigned from the Liberal Party and from Parliament. In 1920 he married Margaret Holmes.

Related Topics:
John Benn - Daniel Holmes - Paris - University College, London - 1906 - 1918 - Royal Navy - World War I - Gallipoli - 1910 - 1915 - Leith - Scotland - 1927 - 1920

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In 1928 Benn was re-elected as a Labour member for Aberdeen North. He was Secretary of State for India in Ramsay MacDonald's second administration (1929-1931). He refused to follow MacDonald into the National Government coalition with the conservatives, and at the 1931 election he lost his seat.

Related Topics:
1928 - Aberdeen - Secretary of State for India - Ramsay MacDonald - 1929 - 1931

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Benn was elected as Labour MP for Gorton near Manchester in 1937. In 1940 he was created Viscount Stansgate and in 1943 he was appointed Vice President of the Allied Control Commission in Italy. In 1945 he became Secretary of State for Air in Clement Attlee's Labour government, a position he held until October 1946. He then sat as a backbench Labour peer until his death in 1960, when he was succeeded as Viscount Stansgate by his son Tony Benn.

Related Topics:
Gorton - Manchester - 1937 - 1940 - Viscount Stansgate - 1943 - Italy - 1945 - Secretary of State for Air - Clement Attlee - 1946 - 1960 - Tony Benn

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