Macmillan, (Maurice) Harold, 1st Earl of Stockton 1894-1986
English Conservative statesman

Born in London, he was educated at Eton, and Balliol College, Oxford, his studies having been interrupted by service with the Grenadier Guards during World War I, in which he was seriously wounded. In 1919-20 he was in Canada as aide-de-camp to the Governor-General, the Duke of Devonshire, whose daughter Lady Dorothy (d.1966) he married. Returning to Britain, he partnered his brother Daniel in the family publishing firm, but preserved his interest in politics and stood successfully as Conservative MP for Stockton-on-Tees in 1924; he was defeated in 1929, but re-elected in 1931. Not always willing to conform to the party line, he remained a backbencher until 1940, when Churchill made him Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Supply. After a brief spell as Colonial Under-Secretary, in 1942 he was sent to North Africa to fill the new Cabinet post of Minister Resident at Allied Headquarters where he showed great acumen and proved his ability as a mediator in the many clashes of factions and personalities. Defeated in the Labour landslide of 1945, he was returned later the same year for Bromley, which he held until he retired in 1964. He was Minister of Housing (1951-54), silencing general doubts by achieving his promised target of 300,000 houses in a year. He was Minister of Defence from autumn to spring 1954-55, and thereafter Foreign Minister to the end of 1955, when he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. On Anthony Eden's resignation in 1957 he emerged, in R A Butler's words, as 'the best Prime Minister we have', his appointment being received without enthusiasm, for as an intellectual and a dyed-in-the-wool aristocrat he was regarded with suspicion by many. Nevertheless, his economic expansionism at home, his resolution in foreign affairs, his integrity, and his infectious optimism inspired confidence, and his popularity soared. Having told the people in 1957 that most 'have never had it so good', he embarked upon a new term as Prime Minister in 1959. His 'wind of change' speech in Cape Town (1960) acknowledged the inevitability of African independence. In 1962, after some electoral setbacks, he carried out a drastic 'purge' of his government, involving seven Cabinet Ministers. Further setbacks followed, such as the Profumo scandal (1963), and ill health brought about his reluctant resignation in 1963. He wrote Winds of Change (1966), The Blast of War (1967), Tides of Fortune (1969), Riding the Storm (1971), Pointing the Way and At The End of the Day (both 1972). An earldom was bestowed upon him on his 90th birthday in 1984 and he took the title Earl of Stockton.

Bibliography: Nigel Fisher, Harold Macmillan (1982)