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

Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton (10 February 1894 - 29 December 1986) was a British politician who served as a conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963.

 Birth and Family 

Maurice Harold Macmillan was born on the 10th February 1894 at 52 Cadogan Place, Chelsea, the youngest child and third son of Maurice Crawford Macmillan (1853-1936) and his wife Helen Artie Tarleton Belles (1856-1937). Macmillan had two elder siblings: Daniel De Mendi Macmillan (1886-1965) and Arthur Tarleton Macmillan (1890-1968), both of whom were his senior.

 Career 

After graduating from Oxford University, he enlisted in the army at the outbreak of World War One; where he served eventually as a captain in the Grenadier Guards. Six years after the end of the war, Macmillan was elected to the House of Commons as MP for Stockton-on-Tees, though he lost the seat in 1929, but regained it in 1931.

During World War Two, Macmillan was elected to higher parliamentary posts (notably the Minister Resident in the Mediterranean), though he lost his positions after the Labour Party defeated the Conservative Party in the general election. Despite this, Macmillan became Housing Minister after the Conservtatives regained power in 1951, and subsequently became Defence Minister, Foreign Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer within the space of six years; which ended when Macmillan was elected Prime Minister in 1957 - a post which he held for six years until his resignation in 1963.

Macmillan retired from politics at this point due to ill health, however he was awarded a peerage ('Earl of Stockton') in 1984.

 Marriage and Issue 

Macmillan married Lady Dorothy Evelyn Cavendish (1900-1966), the daughter of Victor Christian William Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire (1868-1938) and Lady Evelyn Emily Mary FitzMaurice (1870-1960), on the 20th April 1920 at St. Margaret's, Westminster Abbey. The marriage produced four children: Maurice Victor Macmillan, Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden (1921-1984), Lady Ann Caroline Macmillan (1923), Lady Catherine Macmillan (1926-1991) and Sarah Macmillan (1930-1970).

Death

Macmillan died on the 29th December 1986 at the family home of Birch Grove, Ashdown Forest at the aged of 92.