NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Bernard Weatherill

Bruce Bernard Weatherill, Baron Weatherill PC, DL (25 November 1920 – 6 May 2007) was an English politician, and Speaker of the British House of Commons. In the United Kingdom, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, and is seen historically as the First Commoner of the Land. ... June 11 is the 162nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (163rd in leap years), with 203 days remaining. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... April 27 is the 117th day of the year (118th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 248 days remaining. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... The Right Honourable Thomas George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy (29 January 1909 - 22 September 1997) was a British Labour politician. ... Betty Boothroyd, Baroness Boothroyd, OM, PC (born October 8, 1929 in Dewsbury, England), is a British politician and was the first female Speaker of the House of Commons. ... November 25 is the 329th (in leap years the 330th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_England_(bordered). ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() â€“ on the European continent() â€“ in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy - Queen Queen Elizabeth II - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification - by Athelstan 967 Area... May 6 is the 126th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (127th in leap years). ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the CE era. ... Caterham is a town in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. ... Not to be confused with Surry. ... The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), the largest in terms of public membership, and is the second oldest extant political party in the world. ... Her Majestys Most Honourable Privy Council is a body of advisors to the British Sovereign. ... The Deputy Lieutenant is the deputy to the Lord Lieutenant of a county. ... November 25 is the 329th (in leap years the 330th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... May 6 is the 126th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (127th in leap years). ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the CE era. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() â€“ on the European continent() â€“ in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy - Queen Queen Elizabeth II - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification - by Athelstan 967 Area... In the United Kingdom, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, and is seen historically as the First Commoner of the Land. ...

Tailor

After attending Malvern College, he was apprenticed at age 17 as a tailor to the family firm Bernard Weatherill Ltd., Sporting Tailors of Savile Row He later became Director (1948), then Managing Director (1958), then Chairman (1967) of the firm. After it merged with Kilgour French & Stanbury Ltd., Tailors in 1969, he became Chairman of the combined firms. He resumed his role with the company after his retirement from the House of Commons in 1992, serving as President until the firm was acquired by others in 2003. Some of the clothes he designed are preserved in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Malvern College is a coeducational English public school for pupils aged 13 to 18, founded in 1865. ... A tailor attending to a customer in Hong Kong. ... Savile Row Savile Row Savile Row is a road in the City of Westminster in central London that runs parallel to Regent Street between Conduit Street at the northern end and Vigo Street at the southern. ... The Victoria and Albert Museum viewed from Thurloe Square. ...

Following his mother's advice, he always carried his tailoring thimble in his pocket as a reminder of his trade origins and the need for humility, no matter how high one rises. He said that he desired his epitaph to be "He always kept his word." He was a vegetarian. A thimble A thimble is a protective shield worn on the finger or thumb. ... An epitaph ( literally: on the gravestone in ancient Greek) is text honoring the deceased, most commonly inscribed on a tombstone or plaque. ... For animals adapted to eat primarily plants, sometimes referred to as vegetarian animals, see Herbivore. ...

British Army

Enlisting as an Army Private a few days after the start of World War II, Weatherill was commissioned as an officer after only one year, and reached the rank of Captain three years after that. Attached to an Indian regiment, he was posted to Burma. A year after the end of the war, he was discharged, having served for seven years. The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki TÅjÅ Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... An officer is a member of a military or naval service who holds a position of responsibility. ... Captain is a nautical term, an organizational title, and a rank in various uniformed organizations. ...

Member of Parliament

He was elected a Member of Parliament on 15 October 1964 for Croydon North East as a Conservative. He became a party whip only three years later, and chief deputy whip six years after that. He was reelected seven times to the same parliamentary seat until his retirement in 1992. A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a parliament. ... October 15 is the 288th day of the year (289th in leap years). ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... Croydon North East was formerly a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), the largest in terms of public membership, and is the second oldest extant political party in the world. ... In politics, a whip is a member of a political party in a legislature whose task is to ensure that members of the party attend and vote as the party leadership desires. ...

From October 1971 to April 1973, Weatherill was Vice-Chamberlain of Her Majesty's Household. This office is usually held by a Government whip, as Weatherill then was. As Vice-Chamberlain, he wrote a letter (hand-carried by messenger, or sent by telegram) directly to the Queen at the end of each day the House of Commons met, describing the debates, reactions, and political gossip of the day. His letters are believed to have been more entertaining to the Queen than the debates themselves. A junior whip in the House of Commons and an officer of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. ...

Elected as Speaker

He served as the 154th Speaker of the House of Commons from 1983 to 1992. As Speaker at the time television cameras were first allowed to cover proceedings in the House of Commons, he became widely known throughout the English-speaking world due to the regular international rebroadcasts of Prime Minister's Question Time. In the United Kingdom, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, and is seen historically as the First Commoner of the Land. ... The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... Question Time is a section of proceedings in the Parliaments of the United Kingdom and several other countries which use the Westminster system, including Australia and New Zealand, and in Canada, where it is called Question Period. ...

He was the last speaker to wear a wig while in the chair. He commented that the wig is a wonderful device that allows the speaker to pretend not to hear some things. He presided over the House with wit and humour, always honouring the traditions of the House and protecting the rights of backbenchers and members of the opposition parties. He also enforced the rights of Parliament to be publicly told of government policies before they were announced to the press or elsewhere. A portrait by Robin-Lee Hall of Speaker Weatherill hangs in Portcullis House. A backbencher is a Member of Parliament or a legislature who does not hold governmental office and is not a Front Bench spokesperson in the Opposition. ... Portcullis House is a building in Westminster, London, used as offices for members of Parliament. ...

Life Peer

He stood down in 1992, and was made a life peer that same year, as Baron Weatherill, of North East Croydon in the London Borough of Croydon. In an unusual move, the government put a petition before Parliament to be addressed to the Queen, asking that Weatherill be appointed a peer as a "Royal Favour". Given a rare opportunity to discuss constiutional arrangements relating to the monarch and the Upper House, left-wing members of Parliament forced a debate on the petition. In the United Kingdom, Life Peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles may not be inherited (those whose titles are inheritable are known as hereditary peers). ...

He sat in the House of Lords as a crossbencher. The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is also commonly referred to as the Lords. The Sovereign, the House of Commons (which is the lower house of Parliament and referred to as the Commons), and the Lords together comprise the Parliament. ... A cross-bencher is a member of the British House of Lords who is not aligned to any particular party. ...

In 1993, he was elected alternate convenor of the crossbenchers, and was a convenor from 1995 until 1999). In the House of Lords he made a major contribution to the House of Lords Act 1999 by stitching together the compromise that allowed a limited number of hereditary peers to remain as members. The House of Lords Act 1999, an Act of Parliament passed by the British Parliament, was a major constitutional enactment as it reformed greatly one of the chambers of Parliament, the House of Lords (see Lords Reform). ... The Peerage in the United Kingdom includes several hereditary peers, as well as life peers. ...

In 2006, he became Patron of the Better Off Out campaign, calling for Britain to leave the European Union[1]. Better Off Out is the name of a campaign run by the Freedom Association to call for Britains withdrawal from the European Union. ...

Personal Life

He was the son of Bernard Bruce Weatherill (1883–1962) and Annie Gertrude Weatherill (nee Creak) (1886–1966). He married Lyn Eatwell (1928–) in 1949 and they had 3 children: sons Bernard R., QC (born 1951) and H. Bruce (born 1953) and daughter Virginia (born 1955). Weatherill was known as "Jack", while his twin sister (baptismal name Margery) was called "Jill". Cherie Booth QC wearing her ceremonial robes (including full-bottomed wig) as Queens Counsel at the Bar of England and Wales. ...

He became a Freeman of the City of London in 1989, and of the Borough of Croydon in 1983. Freeman can mean: Under the medieval feudal system, an individual differentiated from a villein, a serf tied to the land A person who has been awarded Freedom of the City or Freedom of the Company in a Livery Company The Freeman, a publication of the Foundation for Economic Education Freeman... The City of London is a geographically-small city within Greater London, England. ... Croydon is a large town and major commercial centre in south London, and the principal settlement of the London Borough of Croydon. ...

He was a member of three City of London Livery Companies: the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors, the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths, and the Worshipful Company of Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers. Livery Companies are trade associations based in the City of London. ... The Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. ... The Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. ... The Worshipful Company of Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. ...

He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1980. Her Majestys Most Honourable Privy Council is a body of advisors to the British Sovereign. ...

In 1989, he succeeded the Lord Blake as High Bailiff and Searcher of the Sanctuary of Westminster Abbey. He [2] resigned both of those offices at the end of 1998 in protest of the manner in which the Dean and Chapter dealt with terminating the employment of the organist. He was succeeded by Sir Roy Strong. Robert Norman William Blake, Baron Blake (December 23, 1916 - September 20, 2003) was an English historian, best known for his 1966 biography of Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield. ... The High Baliff is the Head stipendiary magistrate in the Isle of Man. ... The Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster, which is almost always referred to by its original name of Westminster Abbey, is a mainly Gothic church, on the scale of a cathedral (and indeed often mistaken for one), in Westminster, London, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. ... Sir Roy Strong is an English arts curator, writer, broadcaster and garden designer. ...

He was Vice-Chancellor of the British charitable Order of St John of Jerusalem from 1983 through 2000, and was a knight thereof from 1992. HRH The Duke of Gloucester is Grand Prior of the Venerable Order of Saint John. ...

An Urdu-speaker, he was decorated with the Hilal-i-Pakistan (Crescent of Pakistan, second class) by the government of Pakistan in 1993. The phrase Zaban-e Urdu-e Mualla written in Urdu Urdu () is an Indo-European language of the Indo-Aryan family that developed under Persian, Turkish, Arabic, Hindi, and Sanskrit influence in South Asia during the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire (1200-1800). ...

In 1994, he was named a Deputy Lieutenant of Kent. Flag of a Lord Lieutenant The title Lord Lieutenant is given to the British monarchs personal representatives around the United Kingdom, usually in a county or similar circumscription, with varying tasks throughout history. ... coat of Arms of Kent For other uses, see Kent (disambiguation). ...

Lord Weatherill was a member of the European Reform Forum. The European Reform Forum (ERF) is a committee of senior British politicians, jounalists, academics, and businessmen who are seeking to produce a report on the future direction of the European Union. ...

On the night of Sunday, 6 May 2007 he died at the age of 86 in the Marie Curie Community Hospice in Caterham, Surrey after a short illness.^[1] May 6 is the 126th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (127th in leap years). ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the CE era. ... Madame Curie redirects here. ... Caterham is a town in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. ... Not to be confused with Surry. ...

Quotes

"The penalty that good men pay for failing to participate in public affairs is to be governed by others worse than themselves."

"A good speech will not be remembered; a bad one will never be forgotten — or forgiven."

References

Notes

Categories: 1920 births | 2007 deaths | People from Guildford | Speakers of the British House of Commons | Conservative MPs (UK) | Members of the United Kingdom Parliament from English constituencies | Life peers | Old Malvernians | Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom | Politics of Croydon | British Army officers | Knights of St John | Deputy Lieutenants | English vegetarians | UK MPs 1964-1966 | UK MPs 1966-1970 | UK MPs 1970-1974 | UK MPs 1974 | UK MPs 1974-1979 | UK MPs 1979-1983 | UK MPs 1983-1987 | UK MPs 1987-1992 The Houses of Parliament, as seen over Westminster Bridge The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. ... Vice-Admiral John Hughes-Hallett (December 1901 – 1972) was a British naval commander and politician. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a parliament. ... Croydon North East was formerly a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... The United Kingdom general election of 1964 result was a very slim majority for the Labour Party, of 4, and led to their first government since 1951. ... The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992. ... David Leonard Congdon was Conservative Member of Parliament for Croydon North East, South London (1992 - 1997), David Congdon was first elected in Croydon in April 1992, taking over from Bernard Weatherill. ... The Right Honourable Thomas George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy (29 January 1909 - 22 September 1997) was a British Labour politician. ... In the United Kingdom, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, and is seen historically as the First Commoner of the Land. ... Betty Boothroyd, Baroness Boothroyd, OM, PC (born October 8, 1929 in Dewsbury, England), is a British politician and was the first female Speaker of the House of Commons. ... Audrey Pellew Hylton-Foster, Baroness Hylton-Foster, DBE (May 19, 1908 â€“ October 31, 2002), was the daughter of Clifton Brown, 1st Viscount Ruffside, and the wife of Sir Harry Hylton-Foster. ... A cross-bencher is a member of the British House of Lords who is not aligned to any particular party. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Marshal of the Royal Air Force David Craig, Baron Craig of Radley GCB OBE (born 17 September 1929) is a retired Royal Air Force officer and member of the House of Lords. ... Jasper More (July 1907 - 28 October 1987) was a British Conservative Party politician. ... A junior whip in the House of Commons and an officer of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. ... Walter Clegg was a British Conservative Member of Parliament. ... Sir Reginald Edwin Eyre (born 28 May 1924) is a Conservative Party (UK) politician. ... The Comptroller of the Household is an ancient position in the English royal household, currently the second-ranking member of the Lord Stewards department, and often a cabinet member. ... Walter Clegg was a British Conservative Member of Parliament. ... Humphrey Atkins (August 12, 1922 - October 4, 1996) was a British Conservative politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 1979-1981 before being appointed in September 1981 as Lord Privy Seal in which he was the chief government spokesman in the House of Commons for Foreign... The position of Treasurer of the Household is theoretically held by a household official of the British monarch, under control of the Lord Stewards Department, but is, in fact, a political office held by one of the governments Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Commons. ... Walter Harrison has served as the fifth president of the University of Hartford since July 1998. ... In the United Kingdom, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, and is seen historically as the First Commoner of the Land. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s The 20th century lasted from 1901 to 2000 in the Gregorian calendar (often from (1900 to 1999 in common usage). ... Image File history File links Portcullis_parliament. ... William Court Gully, 1st Viscount Selby (August 29, 1835 - November 6, 1909), Speaker of the British House of Commons, was the son of Dr James Manby Gully of Malvern. ... James William Lowther, 1st Viscount Ullswater PC GCB JP DL (1 April 1855â€“27 March 1949) was a British Conservative politician. ... John Henry Whitley was a respected and successful British politician whose life and career spanned a period of significant social change, from roots in the heart of the Industrial Revolution through to the inter-war period. ... Edward Algernon Fitzroy was born on the 24 July 1869, second son of the 3rd Lord Southampton. ... Douglas Clifton Brown (16 August 1879 - 5 May 1958) was a British politician, and later was created Viscount Ruffside. ... Lord Dunrossil William Shepherd Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil (8 October 1893 - 3 February 1961), 14th Governor-General of Australia, was born in Scotland and educated at Edinburgh University. ... Sir Harry Braustyn Hylton-Foster, (April 10, 1905 â€“ September 2, 1965), was a British Conservative politician who served as an MP from 1950 until his death. ... Dr. Horace Maybray King, (May 25, 1901 â€“ September 3, 1986), was a British politician who served as a Labour MP from 1950 until 1970 before becoming a life peer. ... John Selwyn Brooke Lloyd, Baron Selwyn-Lloyd (28 July 1904 - 18 May 1978), known for most of his career as Selwyn Lloyd, was a British Conservative politician. ... The Right Honourable Thomas George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy (29 January 1909 - 22 September 1997) was a British Labour politician. ... Betty Boothroyd, Baroness Boothroyd, OM, PC (born October 8, 1929 in Dewsbury, England), is a British politician and was the first female Speaker of the House of Commons. ...

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