Frederick Bellenger: Difference between revisions

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{{short description|British politician (1894–1968)}}

Capt. Rt Hon. '''Frederick John Bellenger''' ([[23 July]] [[1894]] – [[11 May]] [[1968]]) was a British soldier and [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] politician.

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}}

{{Use British English|date=November 2016}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = [[Captain]] [[The Right Honourable]]

| name = Frederick Bellenger

| honorific-suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MP}}

| image = Frederick Bellenger.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = Bellenger in 1942

| order1 = [[Secretary of State for War]]

| term_start1 = 4 October 1946

| term_end1 = 7 October 1947

| monarch1 = [[George VI of the United Kingdom|George VI]]

| primeminister1 = [[Clement Attlee]]

| predecessor1 = [[Jack Lawson]]

| successor1 = [[Manny Shinwell, Baron Shinwell|Manny Shinwell]]

| birth_date = {{birth-date|23 July 1894|}}

| birth_place = [[Bethnal Green]], [[London]]

| death_date = {{death-date and age|11 May 1968|23 July 1894}}

| death_place = [[Kensington]], [[London]]

| nationality = [[British people|British]]

| party = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]

| alma_mater =

| spouse =

Bellenger| office2 was= [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] <br /> for [[Bassetlaw (UK Parliament constituency)|Bassetlaw]], [[Nottinghamshire]] from 1935 until 1968.

| successor2 = [[Joe Ashton]]

| predecessor2 = [[Malcolm MacDonald]]

| termstart2 = 14 November 1935

| termend2 = 11 May 1968

}}

[[Captain]] '''Frederick John Bellenger''' (23 July 1894 – 11 May 1968) was a [[British people|British]] surveyor, soldier and politician.<ref name="whowho">{{cite web|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U52328|title=BELLENGER, Capt. Rt Hon. Frederick John|date=December 2007|work=[[Who Was Who]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|accessdate=3 December 2011}}</ref><ref name="obit">{{cite news|title=Obituary: Mr Frederick Bellenger Labour MP and former Secretary of State for War Mr Frederick Bellenger Labour MP and former Secretary of State for War|date=13 May 1968|work=[[The Times]]|page=12}}</ref><ref name="odnb">{{cite web|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/92720|title=Bellenger, Frederick John (1894–1968)|last=Howell|first=David|date=October 2005|work=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|accessdate=3 December 2011}}</ref>

He served as a [[Lieutenant]] in the [[Royal Artillery]] in [[World War I]] and was twice wounded. He served again as a Captain in [[World War II]] in France in 1940. He worked as a surveyor and journalist.

==Early life==

Bellenger was [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Bassetlaw (UK Parliament constituency)|Bassetlaw]], [[Nottinghamshire]] from 1935 until 1968.

Born in [[Bethnal Green]], [[London]], he was the son of Eugene Bernard Bellenger, a dairyman, and his wife Isabella Annette ''née'' Henner.<ref name="whowho" /><ref name="obit" /><ref name="odnb" /> He received only an elementary education before starting work aged 14. He worked in various jobs: in a tea warehouse in [[Houndsditch]], as a messenger boy for the [[General Post Office|Post Office]] and as a clerk to an export company in the [[City of London]].<ref name="obit" /><ref name="odnb" />

He was [[Financial Secretary to the War Office]] from 1945-1946 and [[Secretary of State for War]] from 1946-1947. He was appointed a [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Privy Counsellor]] in 1946.

==SourcesWorld War I==

*{{Rayment}}

With the outbreak of [[World War I|the First World War]] in August 1914, Bellenger volunteered to join the [[British Army]].<ref name="obit" /><ref name="odnb" /> He became a gunner in the [[Royal Field Artillery]], arriving at the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] in the following year.<ref name="odnb" /> He was twice wounded, and rose through the ranks, being commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1917.<ref name="odnb" /> Following the [[Armistice with Germany|armistice]] in November 1918, he served in the [[Occupation of the Rhineland|forces occupying the Rhineland]]. He was demobilised in 1919.<ref name="obit" />

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In Cologne he had met Marion Theresa Stollwerck, daughter of Generalkonsul Karl Stollwerck, a wealthy German chocolate manufacturer; the couple married in 1922.<ref name="whowho" /><ref name="odnb" /> They had five sons and one daughter.<ref name="obit" /><ref name="odnb" />

==Early political career==

Following the war, Bellenger worked as a surveyor and [[realtor|estate agent]] in west London. He became active in the local [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] Association, and was elected to [[Metropolitan Borough of Fulham|Fulham Borough Council]] as a [[Municipal Reform Party]] councillor representing [[Baron's Court]] [[ward (politics)|ward]] in 1922 and 1925.<ref name="odnb" /> He did not stand for election in 1928, and shortly afterwards joined the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]].<ref name="obit" /><ref name="odnb" />

In June 1930, Bellenger was selected by the Labour Party as their prospective parliamentary candidate at [[Bethnal Green South West (UK Parliament constituency)|Bethnal Green South West]], but withdrew his candidature a year later on health grounds.<ref name="odnb" /> When the Labour Party split over the formation of a [[First National Government 1931|National Government]] in August 1931, he remained with the majority faction opposing the move.<ref name="obit" />

In November 1933, he was chosen to contest [[Bassetlaw (UK Parliament constituency)|Bassetlaw]] in [[Nottinghamshire]], a seat held by [[Malcolm MacDonald]] of the [[National Labour Organisation]] and son of its leader, [[Ramsay MacDonald]], a long-serving Secretary of State in the coalition National Government and first Labour Prime Minister. At the [[1935 United Kingdom general election|1935 general election]] Bellenger gained the seat for Labour, and held it comfortably at each election until his death.<ref name="obit" /><ref name="odnb" />

==World War II==

Bellenger remained in the army's [[Military reserve force|emergency reserve]], and when the [[World War II|Second World War]] broke out in 1939 he was automatically recalled to service. He was commissioned as a captain in the [[Royal Artillery]] in February 1940. He went to France as a staff officer in April of that year as part of the [[British Expeditionary Force (World War II)|British Expeditionary Force]]. He returned to the United Kingdom briefly in May to take part in the [[Norway Debate]] in the [[United Kingdom House of Commons|Commons]] that led to the fall of [[Neville Chamberlain]]'s government. [[Dunkirk evacuation|Evacuated]] from France in June 1940, two months later he resigned his commission.<ref name="odnb" /> Apart from his parliamentary activities, Bellenger wrote a column for the ''[[Sunday Pictorial]]'' under the [[byline]] "''Voice of the Services''".<ref name="obit" /><ref name="odnb" />

==Attlee government==

When the Labour Party returned to government with a [[List of landslide victories|landslide]] at the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945 general election]], Bellenger was appointed [[Financial Secretary to the War Office]]. In October 1946, he became [[Secretary of State for War]]. Although not a cabinet position he was appointed a [[Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council|Privy Counsellor]] at the same time.<ref name="whowho" /><ref name="odnb" /> He proved an unpopular minister with Labour backbenchers, and was attacked by those on the left of the party. It came as no surprise when he was removed from office at a [[Cabinet shuffle|ministerial reshuffle]] in October 1947.<ref name="obit" /><ref name="odnb" />

==Later life==

Bellenger remained on the Labour backbenches for the rest of his life. He became increasingly disconnected from the mainstream of the party, being unsympathetic to [[trade union]]s, opposing the decriminalisation of homosexuality and supported the [[Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence|Unilateral Declaration of Independence]] by white [[Rhodesia]]ns. He was close to members of the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]], including their Chief Whip [[Martin Redmayne, Baron Redmayne of Rushcliffe|Martin Redmayne]] and, against the arguments of his dining companion, [[Margaret Thatcher]], privately supported the retention of prime minister [[Harold Macmillan]] at the time of the [[Profumo affair|Profumo scandal]] in 1963 along with [[Julian Critchley]], another of his Conservative friends.<ref>{{cite news|last=D'Ancona|first=Matthew|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/05/sex-scandals-tories-profumo-affair-sexual-misconduct|title=Sex scandals will always hit the Tories hardest|work=The Guardian|date=5 November 2017|accessdate=5 November 2017}}</ref> Following the [[1966 United Kingdom general election|1966 general election]], the Bassetlaw Constituency Labour Party [[Preselection|deselected]] him (for any future election) over his opposition to steel nationalisation and his position on Rhodesia.

Bellenger was still Bassetlaw's MP when he died at his [[Kensington]], [[London]], home in May 1968, aged 73.<ref name="odnb" /> He had received the [[Honorary Freedom of Boroughs Act 1885|honorary freedom]] of the [[municipal borough|Borough]] of [[Worksop]] two days earlier.<ref name="obit" />

==References==

*{{Rayment-hc|date=March 2012}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==

* {{Hansard-contribs | mr-frederick-bellenger | Frederick Bellenger }}

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{{succession box

| title = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Bassetlaw (UK Parliament constituency)|Bassetlaw ]]

| years = [[1935 United Kingdom general election, 1935|1935]]&ndash;–[[1968 Bassetlaw by-election, 1968|1968]]

| before = [[Malcolm MacDonald]]

| after = [[Joseph Ashton (politician)|Joe Ashton]]

}}

{{s-off}}

{{succession box | title = [[Financial Secretary ofto State forthe War Office]] | years = 1945–1946 | before = [[JackMaurice LawsonPetherick]] | after = [[EmanuelJohn Freeman (British politician)|John ShinwellFreeman]]|years=1946-1947}}

{{succession box|title=[[Secretary of State for War]]|before=[[Jack Lawson]]|after=[[manny Shinwell, Baron Shinwell|Manny Shinwell]]|years=1946–1947}}

{{s-end box}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Labour-UK-MP-stub}}

[[Category{{DEFAULTSORT:1894 births|Bellenger, Frederick John]]}}

[[Category:19681894 deaths|Bellenger, Frederick Johnbirths]]

[[Category:1968 deaths]]

[[Category:Members of the United Kingdom Parliament from English constituencies|Bellenger, Frederick John]]

[[Category:LabourBritish MPsArmy (UK)|Bellenger,personnel Frederickof JohnWorld War I]]

[[Category:British Secretaries of State|Bellenger,state for Frederickwar John(UK)]]

[[Category:Conservative Party (UK) councillors]]

[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Bellenger, Frederick John]]

[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]]

[[Category:UK MPs 1931-1935|Bellenger, Frederick John]]

[[Category:Labour Party (UK) MPs 1935-1945|Bellenger,for FrederickEnglish Johnconstituencies]]

[[Category:UKMembers MPsof 1945-1950|Bellenger,Fulham FrederickMetropolitan JohnBorough Council]]

[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Bellenger, Frederick John]]

[[Category:UK MPs 1950-1951|Bellenger, Frederick John]]

[[Category:UKMinisters MPsin 1951-1955|Bellenger,the FrederickAttlee governments, John1945–1951]]

[[Category:UKMunicipal MPsReform 1955-1959|Bellenger,Party Frederick Johnpoliticians]]

[[Category:UKRoyal MPsField 1959-1964|Bellenger,Artillery Frederick Johnofficers]]

[[Category:UK MPs 1964-1966|Bellenger, Frederick John1935–1945]]

[[Category:UK MPs 1966-1970|Bellenger, Frederick John1945–1950]]

[[Category:UK MPs 1950–1951]]

[[Category:UK MPs 1951–1955]]

[[Category:UK MPs 1955–1959]]

[[Category:UK MPs 1959–1964]]

[[Category:UK MPs 1964–1966]]

[[Category:UK MPs 1966–1970]]

[[Category:War Office personnel in World War II]]

[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]