Maurice Macmillan

Maurice Victor Macmillan, Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden (27 January 1921 – 10 March 1984), was a British Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament. He was the only son of Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963.


Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden
Macmillan in 1957
Paymaster General
In office
2 December 1973  4 March 1974
Prime MinisterEdward Heath
Preceded byThe Viscount Eccles
Succeeded byEdmund Dell
Secretary of State for Employment
In office
7 April 1972  2 December 1973
Prime MinisterEdward Heath
Preceded byRobert Carr
Succeeded byWilliam Whitelaw
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In office
23 June 1970  7 April 1972
Prime MinisterEdward Heath
Preceded byJack Diamond
Succeeded byPatrick Jenkin
Member of Parliament
for Halifax (1955–1964)
Farnham (1966-1983)
South West Surrey (1983-1984)
In office
26 May 1955  10 March 1984
Preceded byDryden Brook (Halifax)
Succeeded byVirginia Bottomley
Personal details
Born(1921-01-27)27 January 1921
Westminster, London, England
Died10 March 1984(1984-03-10) (aged 63)
Westminster, London, England
Spouse(s)
(m. 1942)
Children
Parents
EducationEton College
Alma materBalliol College, Oxford

Background and education

Macmillan was the only son of Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, and Lady Dorothy Cavendish, daughter of Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire. He was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford. He served with the Sussex Yeomanry in Europe in the Second World War. Like his father, he was chairman of Macmillan Publishers, as well as a director of two news agencies.

Political career

Macmillan contested Seaham at the 1945 election, Lincoln in 1951 and Wakefield at a 1954 by-election. He served on Kensington Borough Council from 1949 to 1953, then was elected MP for Halifax at the 1955 general election but lost this seat in 1964. He was then elected for Farnham in 1966. This latter seat became South West Surrey at the 1983 election. He served as Economic Secretary to the Treasury (1963–64) under Alec Douglas-Home, and as Chief Secretary to the Treasury (1970–72), Secretary of State for Employment (1972–73) and Paymaster General (1973–74) under Edward Heath. He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1972.

Family

Macmillan married the Honourable Katharine Ormsby-Gore, daughter of William Ormsby-Gore, 4th Baron Harlech, on 22 August 1942. They had four sons and a daughter:

Macmillan was for a time the owner of Highgrove House, which he sold to the Prince of Wales in 1980. Upon his father's elevation to the peerage as Earl of Stockton on 10 February 1984, Macmillan acquired the courtesy title Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden. He died suddenly in Westminster, London,[3] on 10 March 1984, aged 63, following a heart operation. His father outlived him by almost three years, dying in December 1986 at the age of 92.[4]

Macmillan's son Alexander has held the title 2nd Earl of Stockton since the death of the first Earl.

References

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Dryden Brook
Member of Parliament for Halifax
19551964
Succeeded by
Dr Shirley Summerskill
Preceded by
Godfrey Nicholson
Member of Parliament for Farnham
19661983
Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament for South West Surrey
19831984
Succeeded by
Virginia Bottomley
Political offices
Preceded by
John Diamond
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
1970–1972
Succeeded by
Patrick Jenkin
Preceded by
Robert Carr
Secretary of State for Employment
1972–1973
Succeeded by
William Whitelaw
Preceded by
The Viscount Eccles
Paymaster General
1973–1974
Succeeded by
Edmund Dell
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