Richard Pilkington (politician, born 1908)

Richard Pilkington was born in St Helens to the Chairman of the Pilkington glass works, Arthur Pilkington, and Marjorie Cope, daughter of the painter Arthur Stockdale Cope. He was educated at Charterhouse and Christ Church, Oxford. He worked and travelled in North America from 1928 until 1930 when he joined the Coldstream Guards, serving in Sudan and Egypt.

In 1935 he resigned his commission to enter politics and was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Widnes in Lancashire. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Oliver Stanley. On the outbreak of the Second World War he rejoined the Army and travelled to France with the British Expeditionary Force. He was awarded the Military Cross after returning with one of the last groups from Dunkirk in 1940.

He left the Army again in 1942 and became a Civil Lord of the Admiralty, leading naval missions to India, Ceylon and Burma. He lost his seat to Christopher Shawcross in 1945 and lost again in 1950. In 1951 he won election as Member of Parliament for Poole in Dorset, a seat he held until his retirement from politics in 1964 after a car accident and the onset of Parkinson's disease. He died from the disease in 1976 at the age of 68.

Richard Pilkington married Rosemary Kidwell, née Russell-Roberts, in 1946 and had three daughters. He was also known for his collection of cars, all red...a passion shared by his nephew Sir Antony Pilkington.

• Obituaries, The Times, page 17, 13 December 1976.

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sir Richard Pilkington