53-577: Herbert Stanley Morrison, Baron Morrison of Lambeth , CH , PC (3 January 1888 – 6 March 1965) was a British politician who held a variety of senior positions in the Cabinet as a member of the Labour Party . During the inter-war period, he was Minister of Transport during the Second MacDonald ministry , then after losing his parliamentary seat in the 1931 general election , he became Leader of
106-542: A baby, he permanently lost the sight in his right eye due to infection. He attended Stockwell Road Primary School and, from the age of 11, St Andrew's Church of England School. He left school at 14 to become an errand boy. His early politics were radical, and he briefly flirted with the Social Democratic Federation over the Independent Labour Party (ILP). As a conscientious objector , he worked in
159-520: A businesswoman of Conservative politics. The pair married on 6 January 1955 and their relationship appeared much more successful. Morrison's grandson Peter Mandelson was a cabinet minister in the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown . Morrison died from a stroke at Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup , on 6 March 1965, aged 77. His death occurred the same month the London County Council
212-818: A market garden in Letchworth in World War One. Morrison eventually became a pioneer leader in the London Labour Party. He was elected to the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney in 1919 when the Labour Party won control of the Borough, and he was Mayor in 1920–21. Morrison was a follower of Clapton Orient FC and became a shareholder in the club. He was elected to the London County Council (LCC) in 1922 and at
265-478: A national monopoly. The management remained the same, only now they became public servants working for the government. For the Labour Party leadership, nationalisation was a method to consolidate national planning in their own hands. It was not designed to modernise old industries, make them efficient, or transform their organisational structure. In July 1946, Morrison, together with US ambassador Henry F. Grady proposed "The Morrison-Grady Plan ", intended to resolve
318-504: A poor third in the 1955 Labour Party leadership election . Morrison was born in Stockwell, Lambeth, London , youngest child (there being three boys and four girls) of police constable Henry Morrison (died 1917) and Priscilla Caroline, née Lyon (died 1907), daughter of an East End carpet fitter. Henry Morrison had a "weakness for the bottle", and held Conservative political opinions with which his son would later come to disagree strongly. As
371-552: A secretary and daughter of a railway clerk. The couple married on 15 March 1919. His total involvement in politics, however, meant that theirs was not a happy marriage; his later autobiography made no mention of Kent or their daughter, Mary. Morrison had a protracted affair with Labour MP and Minister Ellen Wilkinson , who died in 1947, although views differ as to whether this was a platonic or sexual relationship. Following Kent's death in July 1953, Morrison married Edith Meadowcroft (b. 1908),
424-541: A substantial number of sex relations between white women and coloured troops and the procreation of half-caste children." That was in a memorandum for the cabinet in 1942. In 1942, Morrison was confronted with an appeal from the Central British Fund for German Jewry (now World Jewish Relief ) to admit 350 Jewish children from Vichy France . Although Case Anton ensured the scheme's failure, Morrison had been reluctant to accept it beforehand, wanting to avoid provoking
477-734: A tax on similar lines to Land Value Tax , in the old London County Council area. In 1945 he attended the World Trade Union Conference at County Hall . By the late 1960s, long after Morrison had left the leadership of the London County Council, London Conservatives frequently accused him of seeking to "build the Tories out of London", the implication being that the LCC would deliberately build council houses in order to affect local voting patterns. His biographers, Bernard Donoghue and George W. Jones , have written that "Morrison never said or wrote"
530-647: Is the Sovereign of the Order of the Companions of Honour, and a maximum of 65 members. Additionally, foreigners or Commonwealth citizens from outside the Commonwealth realms may be added as honorary members. Members are organised into a single class and are appointed by the monarch of the Commonwealth realms in their capacity as sovereign of the order. While membership of the order confers no title or precedence , those inducted into
583-481: The 1923 general election he became Member of Parliament (MP) for Hackney South , but lost that seat the following year when Ramsay MacDonald 's first administration lost the general election. Morrison returned to Parliament in the 1929 general election, and MacDonald appointed him Minister of Transport. Morrison, like many others in the party, was deeply disheartened by MacDonald's national government, and he lost his seat again in 1931. Morrison continued to sit on
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#1732848700345636-657: The County of London on 2 November 1959. He was appointed President of the British Board of Film Censors . During 1961–65, Morrison was Director of the FCI News Agency, an organisation reporting on events behind the Iron Curtain and run by exiles from Marxist regimes such as the journalist Josef Josten . While working in a market garden in Letchworth during World War One, Morrison met his first wife, Margaret Kent (1896–1953),
689-621: The Festival of Britain . Morrison supervised the major Labour programme of nationalising large sectors of industry. As Lord President he chaired the committee on the Socialization of Industries, and followed the model that was already in place of setting up public corporations, such as the BBC in broadcasting (1927). The owners of corporate stock were given government bonds, and the government took full ownership of each affected company, consolidating it into
742-515: The Great Exhibition of 1851 . However, the plans were changed. It was not to be another World Fair , and international themes were absent; even the Commonwealth was ignored. Instead, the Festival focused entirely on Britain and its achievements; it was funded chiefly by the government, with a budget of £12 million. The Conservatives gave little support. The Labour government was losing support, and
795-634: The London County Council in the 1930s. After returning to the Commons, he was defeated by Clement Attlee in the 1935 Labour Party leadership election but later acted as Home Secretary in the wartime coalition. Morrison organised Labour's victorious 1945 election campaign, and was appointed Leader of the House of Commons and acted as Attlee's deputy in the Attlee ministry of 1945–51. Attlee, Morrison, Ernest Bevin , Stafford Cripps , and initially Hugh Dalton formed
848-565: The Metropolitan Green Belt around the suburbs. He confronted the Government over its refusal to finance the replacement of Waterloo Bridge , and eventually they agreed to pay 60% of the cost of the new bridge. In the 1935 election, Morrison was once again elected to the House of Commons and immediately challenged Attlee for the leadership of the party. He was defeated by a wide margin in
901-599: The Palestine conflict , calling for federalisation under overall British trusteeship. Morrison was a longtime sympathizer with Zionism , but the plan was ultimately rejected by both Palestinians and Zionists. Following Ernest Bevin 's resignation as Foreign Secretary, Morrison took over his role, but did not feel at ease in the Foreign Office. He took an aggressive stance against Iran 's nationalist Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddeq and approved his overthrow. His tenure there
954-799: The RT-type bus . Although curtailed and delayed by the outbreak of World War Two, the programme nevertheless delivered some key elements of the present overground sections of the Underground system. However, the most profound change enacted by the board, through the new works, was the transition from tram to trolleybus operation alluded to earlier. In 1933, the LPTB had operated 327 route miles of tramways and 18 route miles of trolleybuses. By 1948, these totals were 102 and 255 miles respectively, mainly by eliminating trams in North London. The final disappearance of trams, in 1952,
1007-604: The "Big Five" who dominated those governments. Morrison oversaw Labour's nationalisation programme, although he opposed Aneurin Bevan 's proposals for a nationalised hospital service as part of the setting up of the National Health Service . Morrison developed his social views from his work in local politics and always emphasised the importance of public works to deal with unemployment. In the final year of Attlee's premiership, Morrison had an unhappy term as Foreign Secretary . He
1060-489: The 'anti-foreign and anti-semitic feeling which was quite certainly latent in this country (and in some isolated cases not at all latent)'. In 1943, he ran for the post of Treasurer of the Labour Party but lost a close contest to Arthur Greenwood . Following the end of the war, Morrison was instrumental in drafting the Labour Party's 1945 manifesto Let us Face the Future . He organised the general election campaign and enlisted
1113-592: The Act the LPTB acquired the following concerns: The LPTB was a quasi-public organisation akin to a modern quango with considerable autonomy granted to its senior executives. It enjoyed a more or less full monopoly of transport services within its area, with the exception of those provided by the Big Four railway companies such as the Southern Railway . Consequently, it was empowered to enter into co-ordination agreements with
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#17328487003451166-628: The Act: The Act required that the board members should be ' persons who have had wide experience, and have shown capacity, in transport, industrial, commercial or financial matters or in the conduct of public affairs and, in the case of two members, shall be persons who have had not less than six years' experience in local government within the London Passenger Transport Area." The first chairman and vice-chairman were Lord Ashfield and Frank Pick , who had held similar positions with
1219-611: The Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms . It was founded on 4 June 1917 by King George V as a reward for outstanding achievements. It was founded on the same date as the Order of the British Empire . The order was originally intended to be conferred upon a limited number of persons for whom this special distinction seemed to be the most appropriate form of recognition, constituting an honour dissociated from either
1272-660: The LPTB were often of exemplary quality and are still much sought after. The LPTB was replaced in 1948 by the London Transport Executive , under the Transport Act 1947 . It was effectively nationalised, being taken under the wing of the British Transport Commission , which also ran much of the nation's other bus companies, an amount of road haulage, as well as the nation's railways, but it still retained considerable autonomy. The LPTB continued to exist as
1325-599: The London County Council and in 1933 was elected to lead the Labour Group. He wrote a book Socialisation and Transport : the Organisation of Socialised Industries with Particular Reference to the London Passenger Transport Bill which encapsulated his ideas on nationalisation. Managers would be appointed to run monopoly industries in the public interest. He did not, however, envisage democratic control by
1378-560: The London Passenger Transport Act 1933 enacted on 13 April 1933. The bill had been introduced by Herbert Morrison , who was Transport Minister in the Labour Government until 1931. Because the legislation was a hybrid bill it had been possible to allow it to 'roll over' into the new parliament under the incoming National Government . The new government, although dominated by Conservatives , decided to continue with
1431-816: The North, Brentwood in the East, Horsham in the South and High Wycombe in the West. The LPTA had an area of 1,986 square miles (5,140 km ). The LPTA overlapped with the London Traffic Area (LTA) defined by the London Traffic Act 1924 and the part of the LPTA that was within the LTA was defined as the "special area" within which the LPTB had a monopoly of local road public transport. Under
1484-519: The Underground Group. Members of the board had a term of office of between three and seven years, and were eligible for reappointment. Latham and Cliff became Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the successor London Transport Executive in 1947. The London Passenger Transport Area (LPTA) had an approximate radius of 30 miles (48 km) from Charing Cross , extending beyond the boundaries of what later officially became Greater London , to Baldock in
1537-478: The acceptance of title or the classification of merit. It is now described as being "awarded for having a major contribution to the arts, science, medicine, or government lasting over a long period of time". The first recipients of the order were all decorated for "services in connection with the war " and were listed in The London Gazette . The order consists of the monarch of the Commonwealth realms, who
1590-402: The allocation of this award to that country's citizens in preference to other Australian honours. The last Australian member, Doug Anthony , former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, died on 20 December 2020. Companions from other Commonwealth realms continue to be appointed, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa , a New Zealand soprano, was given the award in 2018 and Canadian author Margaret Atwood was given
1643-519: The award in 2019. Sebastian Coe , Baron Coe CH represented the Order at the 2023 Coronation . The insignia of the order is in the form of an oval medallion, surmounted by a royal crown (but, until recently, surmounted by an imperial crown ), and with a rectangular panel within, depicting on it an oak tree, a shield with the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom hanging from one branch, and, on
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1696-400: The bill, with no serious changes, despite its extensive transfer of private undertakings into the public sector. On 1 July 1933, the LPTB came into being, covering the "London Passenger Transport Area". The LPTB's financial structure was not the same as that of outright nationalisation, which did not occur until the London Transport Executive was established on 1 January 1948. When the LPTB
1749-514: The capital was spent before World War Two broke out, it allowed extensions to the Central, Bakerloo, Northern and Metropolitan lines; built new trains and maintenance depots, with extensive rebuilding of many central area stations (such as Aldgate East); and replacement of much of the tram network by what was to become one of the world's largest trolleybus systems. During this period, two icons of London Transport were first seen: 1938 tube stock trains and
1802-421: The early 1950s and fought the 1955 election, finally announcing his retirement after Labour's defeat. Morrison was then 67, and was seen to be too old to embark on a new leadership role. During the leadership election, he was the interim Leader of the Labour Party . Although he stood, he finished last, by a wide margin, of the three candidates, with many of his supporters switching to Hugh Gaitskell . Gaitskell won
1855-527: The election, and Morrison resigned as Deputy Leader. Ironically, Gaitskell's early death in 1963 meant he predeceased Morrison by two years. During the Suez Crisis , Morrison advocated unilateral action by the United Kingdom against Egypt, following Colonel Nasser's seizure of the Suez Canal. Morrison stood down at the 1959 general election and was made a life peer as Baron Morrison of Lambeth , of Lambeth in
1908-527: The final ballot, a defeat ascribed to his unfamiliarity with the MPs who had served in the previous Parliament. Both he and his supporter Hugh Dalton put some of the blame on the Masonic New Welcome Lodge , who, they claimed, backed the third-place leadership candidate Arthur Greenwood and then switched their votes to Attlee. After losing, Morrison concentrated on his LCC work. He convinced Labour to adopt
1961-415: The help of left-wing cartoonist Philip Zec , with whom he had clashed during the early stages of the war when, as Minister of Supply, he took exception to an illustration commenting on the costs of supplying the country with petrol. Labour won a massive and unexpected victory, and Morrison was appointed Leader of the House of Commons, having switched his own seat to Lewisham East . He was the chief sponsor of
2014-454: The implicit goal of the festival was to give the people a feeling of successful recovery from the war's devastation, as well as promoting British science, technology, industrial design, architecture and the arts. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" as thousands: Although Morrison had effectively been Attlee's heir presumptive since the 1930s, Attlee had always distrusted him. Attlee remained as Leader through
2067-450: The left shoulder. London Passenger Transport Board The London Passenger Transport Board was the organisation responsible for local public transport in London and its environs from 1933 to 1948. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and brand was London Transport . The London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) was established pursuant to
2120-514: The left, a mounted knight in armour. The insignia's blue border bears in gold letters the motto IN ACTION FAITHFUL AND IN HONOUR CLEAR , Alexander Pope 's description (in iambic pentameter ) in his Epistle to Mr Addison of James Craggs the Younger , later used on Craggs's monument in Westminster Abbey . Men wear the badge on a neck ribbon (red with golden border threads) and women on a bow at
2173-511: The mainline railway companies concerning their suburban services. It was, to a limited extent, accountable to users via The London and Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee. Ninety-two transport and ancillary undertakings, with a capital of approximately £120 million, came under the LPTB. Central buses, trolleybuses, underground trains and trams were painted in "Underground" and "London General" red, coaches and country buses in green, with coaches branded Green Line . Already in use on most of
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2226-586: The nature of wartime circumstances. On 21 January 1941, he banned the Daily Worker for opposing war with Germany and supporting the Soviet Union. The ban lasted for a total of 18 months before it was rescinded. The arrival of black American troops caused concern in the government, leading Morrison, the Home Secretary, to comment "I am fully conscious that a difficult social problem might be created if there were
2279-545: The new electioneering techniques that opponents had been using, especially using advertising agencies in the 1937 local elections. For example, he stressed housing, education and his own leadership with posters featuring Morrison alongside children and with a backdrop of new LCC flats above slogans such as "Labour Puts Human Happiness First", "Labour Gets Things Done" and "Let Labour Finish the Job." In 1939, Conservative MPs defeated Herbert Morrison's bill introducing "site value rating",
2332-560: The order are entitled to use the post-nominal letters CH . Appointments to the order are generally made on the advice of prime ministers of the Commonwealth realms. For Canadians, the advice to the Sovereign can come from a variety of officials. Originally, the order was limited to 50 ordinary members, but in 1943 it was enlarged to 65, with a quota of 45 members for the United Kingdom , seven for Australia , two each for New Zealand and South Africa , and nine for India , Burma , and
2385-482: The other British colonies . The quota numbers were altered in 1970 to 47 for the United Kingdom, seven for Australia, two for New Zealand, and nine for other Commonwealth realms. The quota was adjusted again in 1975 by adding two places to the New Zealand quota and reducing the nine for the other countries to seven. Whilst still able to nominate candidates to the order, the Cabinet of Australia has effectively stopped
2438-515: The tube system, "U NDERGROUN D" branding was extended to all lines and stations. The name was said to have been coined by Albert Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield in 1908, when he was general manager of the Underground Group . The LPTB embarked on a £35 million capital investment programme that extended services and reconstructed many existing assets, mostly under the umbrella of the 1935–1940 New Works Programme . Although only about £21 million of
2491-644: The words attributed to him. In 1940, Morrison was appointed the first Minister of Supply by Winston Churchill , but shortly afterwards succeeded John Anderson as Home Secretary. Morrison's London experience in local government was particularly useful during the Blitz , and the Morrison shelter was named after him. He made radio appeals for more fire guards in December 1940 ('Britain shall not burn'). Morrison had to take many potentially unpopular and controversial decisions by
2544-531: The workers. Unexpectedly, Labour won the 1934 LCC election and Morrison became Leader of the council. This gave him control of almost all local government services in London. His main achievements here included the unification of bus, tram and trolleybus services with the Underground, by the creation of the London Passenger Transport Board (colloquially known as London Transport) in 1933, and creating
2597-646: Was abolished, and he had advocated against its replacement. Morrison was Foreign Secretary at the time of the defection of the double agents Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean . In the 1977 Granada TV play Philby, Burgess and Maclean by Iain Curteis, Arthur Lowe appeared as Morrison – glowering to the camera in his final shot to show the opaque right lens of his spectacles. Herbert Morrison published his Autobiography in 1960. His other publications included: The main biography is: Biographical essays include: Scholarly studies: Companion of Honour The Order of
2650-465: Was cut short by Labour's defeat in the 1951 general election, and he was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in November that year. Morrison lacked a deep concern for foreign affairs, but he was an enthusiastic leader of a major domestic project, the Festival of Britain . Starting in 1947, he was the prime mover of the 1951 fair. The original goal was to celebrate the centenary of
2703-456: Was formed in 1933, the companies taken over, notably the Underground Group and Thomas Tilling 's London operations, were 'bought' partially with cash and partially by the issue of interest-bearing stock – C stock – authorised by the enabling Act, which meant that those former businesses continued to earn yields from their holdings. The LPTB had a chairman and six other members. The members were chosen jointly by five appointing trustees listed in
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#17328487003452756-442: Was hailed as "Lord Festival" for his successful leadership of the Festival of Britain , a critical and popular success in 1951 that attracted millions of visitors to fun-filled educational exhibits and events in London and across the country. Morrison was widely expected to succeed Attlee as Labour leader but Attlee, who disliked him, postponed stepping down until 1955. Morrison, who was by then nearing 70 and considered too old, came
2809-601: Was regretted by some sections of the staff and the public, but in terms of impact on users, this was probably the most visible and dramatic change in the period. The last of the 653 trolleybuses which ran were replaced by buses by 1961. The LPTB continued to develop its corporate identity, design and commercial advertising that had been put in place by the Underground Group. This included stations designed by Charles Holden ; bus garages by architects such as Wallis, Gilbert & Partners; and even more humble structures such as bus stops and shelters. The posters and advertising issued by
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