Harold Watkinson

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British businessman and politician

title: "Harold Watkinson" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1910-births", "1995-deaths", "alumni-of-king's-college-london", "conservative-party-(uk)-mps-for-english-constituencies", "members-of-the-order-of-the-companions-of-honour", "members-of-the-privy-council-of-the-united-kingdom", "ministers-in-the-eden-government,-1955–1957", "ministers-in-the-macmillan-and-douglas-home-governments,-1957–1964", "ministers-in-the-third-churchill-government,-1951–1955", "people-educated-at-queen's-college,-taunton", "royal-naval-volunteer-reserve-personnel-of-world-war-ii", "royal-navy-officers", "secretaries-of-state-for-defence-(uk)", "secretaries-of-state-for-transport-(uk)", "uk-mps-1950–1951", "uk-mps-1951–1955", "uk-mps-1955–1959", "uk-mps-1959–1964", "uk-mps-who-were-granted-peerages", "viscounts-created-by-elizabeth-ii", "people-from-walton-on-thames"] description: "British businessman and politician" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Watkinson" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary British businessman and politician ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
honorific-prefix	The Right Honourable
name	The Viscount Watkinson
honorific-suffix
image	Lord Watkinson.jpg
imagesize	165px
order1	Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation
term_start1	20 December 1955
term_end1	14 October 1959
monarch1	Elizabeth II
primeminister1	Sir Anthony Eden
Harold Macmillan
predecessor1	John Boyd-Carpenter
successor1	Ernest Marples
order2	Minister of Defence
term_start2	14 October 1959
term_end2	13 July 1962
monarch2	Elizabeth II
primeminister2	Harold Macmillan
predecessor2	Duncan Sandys
successor2	Peter Thorneycroft
order3	Member of Parliament
for Woking
term_start3	23 February 1950
term_end3	26 June 1964
predecessor3	Constituency created
successor3	Cranley Onslow
birth_date
birth_place	Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England
death_date
death_place	Bosham, West Sussex, England
nationality	British
party	Conservative
alma_mater	King's College London
::

Harold Arthur Watkinson, 1st Viscount Watkinson, (25 January 1910 – 19 December 1995, was a British businessman and Conservative Party politician. He was Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation between 1955 and 1959 and a cabinet member as Minister of Defence between 1959 and 1962, when he was sacked in the Night of the Long Knives. In 1964 he was ennobled as Viscount Watkinson.

Education and early life

Educated at Queen's College, Taunton, and at King's College London, Watkinson worked for the family engineering business between 1929 and 1935 and in technical and engineering journalism between 1935 and 1939. He saw active service as a Lieutenant-Commander in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during the Second World War.

Political career

Watkinson was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for the new constituency of Woking, Surrey in 1950, holding the seat until 1964, and was initially Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, John Maclay, from 1951 to 1952. He became a government member under Winston Churchill as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour and National Service in 1952, a post he held until December 1955, He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1955, a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1962, and raised to the peerage as Viscount Watkinson, of Woking in the County of Surrey, in 1964.

Business career

Lord Watkinson held a number of public and business appointments, including senior positions in the British Institute of Management; President of the Confederation of British Industry between 1976 and 1977; and Chairman of Cadbury Schweppes Ltd between 1969 and 1974.

Personal life

Watkinson had been an active rock climber in his younger days. He married Vera (Peggy) Langmead in 1939 and they had two daughters. Lord Watkinson died in December 1995, aged 85, and the viscountcy became extinct.

Arms

|image = [[File:Coronet of a British Viscount.svg|centre|150px]] [[File:Watkinson Escutcheon.png|centre|200px]] |escutcheon = Vert fretty and three fleeces Or. |crest = A ram passant Proper on an antique cannon Sable garnished Or. |supporters = Dexter a weaver holding in the exterior hand a shuttle, sinister a shepherd with the exterior hand a crook, all Proper. |motto = Laborare Est Orare}}

References

| years = 1950–1964}}

| years = 1952–1955}}

| years = 1955–1959}} | as = Minister of Transport}}

| years = 1959–1962}}

| years = 1964–1995}}

References

Cosgrave, Patrick. (2004). "Watkinson, Harold Arthur, Viscount Watkinson (1910–1995)".
"leighrayment.com House of Commons: Witney to Wythenshawe and Sale East".
when he was made [[Secretary of State for Transport. Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation]] by [[Anthony Eden. Sir Anthony Eden]], entering the [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom. Minister of Defence]] under [[Harold Macmillan]] in 1959. Watkinson was one of seven cabinet ministers sacked in July 1962 in Macmillan's [[Night of the Long Knives (1962). Night of the Long Knives]].{{usurped
{{London Gazette. (20 July 1962)
{{London Gazette. (26 June 1964)
(1973). "Debrett's Peerage".

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