Horace King, Baron Maybray-King

The Right Honourable Doctor The Lord Maybray-King PC
King in Bonn, 1966

Speaker of the House of Commons
In office 2 September 1965 – 12 January 1971
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Preceded by	Sir Harry Hylton-Foster
Succeeded by	Selwyn Lloyd
Chairman of Ways and Means
In office 15 October 1964 – 2 September 1965
Preceded by	William Anstruther-Gray
Succeeded by	Samuel Storey
Member of Parliament for Southampton Itchen
In office 26 May 1955 – 2 March 1971
Preceded by	Ralph Morley
Succeeded by	Bob Mitchell
Member of Parliament for Southampton Test
In office 23 February 1950 – 26 May 1955
Preceded by	Constituency Created
Succeeded by	John Howard
Personal details
Born	25 May 1901 Grangetown, United Kingdom
Died	3 September 1986(1986-09-03) (aged 85)
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Alma mater	King's College London

Horace Maybray King, Baron Maybray-King, PC (25 May 1901 – 3 September 1986), was a British politician who served as a Labour Member of Parliament (MP) from 1950 until 1970 before becoming a life peer. Following the death of Harry Hylton-Foster in September 1965, King, who had served as deputy speaker for ten months, became the Speaker of the House of Commons. He was the first person from the Labour Party ever to hold this position.

Early life

Horace King was born in Grangetown near Middlesbrough. His father John William King was an insurance salesman and Methodist local preacher. He was educated at Stockton Secondary School, Stockton-on-Tees, from 1912 to 1917 and never lost touch with these local roots. Horace attended King's College London and graduated with a first-class bachelor's degree in English.

Upon graduating in 1922 King worked as a teacher in Taunton's school in Southampton. He became head of the English department in 1927. He left in 1947 to become headteacher of Regent's Park Secondary School. While working as a teacher, King studied part-time for his Ph.D. His thesis was on the Folios of Shakespeare. He received his doctorate from King's College London in 1940. He had been excused from military service during World War II due to a duodenal ulcer. He and his family - first wife Victoria Florence (née Harris) and daughter Margaret - and Taunton's school were evacuated to Bournemouth from Southampton in 1940. Among the many pupils was 15-year-old Benny Hill. Dr King ("Doc") was always a keen musician - piano, piano-accordion and organ - and during the 2nd World War he formed various concert parties - "The V Concert Party" was one - which toured the smaller outlying military bases and entertained troops not often reached by ENSA.

He also raised funds by organising concerts to "buy" Spitfires and send aid to Russia. He is believed to have instigated fund raising in Hampshire by letters he wrote to the Hampshire Chronicle in July and August 1940. His "Spitfire Song" was recorded by Joe Loss and his Orchestra.^[1] He and a teacher colleague also were the first to translate "Lili Marlene" but were too slow to get their version to the song-publishing market.

Political career

King first stood as a Labour party candidate in the 1945 general election. Labour won with a massive landslide, but King was unsuccessful in his attempt to take the ultra-safe Conservative seat of New Forest and Christchurch. The following year he was elected to Hampshire County Council, on which he served until 1965 with only a single three-year break. His wife, Victoria Florence King, was also politically active - a town councillor and Mayor of Southampton in coronation year, 1953. She received a posthumous OBE.

Parliament

In the 1950 general election, King successfully fought the newly created Southampton Test seat, albeit with a very small majority. He successfully defended the seat in the 1951 election, which had been called after Labour's 1950 majority had proved unworkable. However, at the 1955 election, King switched his candidacy to the far safer neighbouring seat of Southampton Itchen, where he was re-elected until he left Parliament in 1971. During his time in Parliament he established links with the USA and Canada and lectured there on the British Constitution and Parliament. During one lecture trip in Georgia he and Dr Martin Luther King appeared on a local TV station together under the billing of "The Two Dr Kings". He was instrumental in gaining UK support for the UNESCO project of the raising of the temples at Abu Simbel after the flooding of the Nile by the Aswan dam. He promoted bills on corneal grafts and attempted to raise awareness in the 1960s of autism. A keen European, he served in the Council of Europe.

When Harold Wilson was elected as the first Labour Prime Minister for 13 years in 1964, King was selected as the Chairman of Ways and Means and the Deputy Speaker.

Speaker

On 9 September 1965 he was elected Speaker of the House of Commons, a position he held until his retirement on 12 January 1971. While serving as speaker, King was responsible for the speeding up of question time and for changing the dress code to allow women MPs to wear trousers in the House of Commons chamber.

After the Commons

After leaving the Commons, he entered the House of Lords and was created a life peer as Baron Maybray-King of the City of Southampton on 2 March 1971,^[2] and went on to serve as a Deputy Speaker. He took the "Maybray" from his own middle name which was his mother Margaret's maiden name. He was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Laws) by the University of Bath in 1969.^[3]

He was an active fraternalist with the Loyal Order of Moose in Great Britain. He was created an honorary Grand Governor in 1972 and served as Grand Governor in 1976-1977.

Family

He was married four times:

1) Victoria Florence Harris (one daughter, Margaret)
2) Una Porter, who predeceased him
3) Ivy (divorced)
4) Sheila Maybray-King, who survived him, returning to her home town of Stockton

An unpublished biography/autobiography (A Boy Called Horace) is in the Parliamentary Archives.

Titles and styles

Mr Horace King (1901–1940)
Dr Horace King (1940–1950)
Dr Horace King MP (1950–1965)
The Rt. Hon. Dr Horace King MP (1965–1971)
The Rt. Hon. The Lord Maybray-King PC (1971–1986)

References

↑ Songs of the 2nd World War, HMV
↑ The London Gazette: no. 45316. p. 1857. 4 March 1971.
↑ http://www.bath.ac.uk/ceremonies/hongrads/older.html

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Horace King.

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Horace King

Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Southampton Test 1950–1955	Succeeded by John Howard
Preceded by Ralph Morley	Member of Parliament for Southampton Itchen 1955–1971	Succeeded by Bob Mitchell
Preceded by Sir William Anstruther-Gray	Chairman of Ways and Means 1964–1965	Succeeded by Sir Samuel Storey
Preceded by Sir Harry Hylton-Foster	Speaker of the House of Commons 1965–1971	Succeeded by Selwyn Lloyd

Speakers of the House of Commons

House of Commons
of England

14th century	Hungerford De la Mare Pickering Guildesborough Waldegrave Pickering Bussy Cheney Doreward Savage Redford

15th century	Esturmy Tiptoft Chaucer Stourton Hungerford Chaucer Redman Beauchamp Flower Hunt Chaucer Baynard Russell Walton Vernon Tyrell Alington Bowes Burley Tresham Say Popham Oldhall Thorpe Charlton Wenlock Tresham Green Strangeways Wood Catesby Lovell Mordaunt Fitzwilliam Empson Drury Englefield

16th century	Dudley Sheffield Nevill More Audley Wingfield Rich Hare Moyle Baker Dyer Pollard Broke Higham Cordell Gargrave Williams Onslow Wray Bell Popham Puckering Snagge Coke Yelverton

17th century	Croke Phelips Crewe Richardson Crewe Finch Finch Glanville Lenthall Pelham Rous (Barebones Parliament) Widdrington (2nd Protectorate Parliament) Chute (3rd Protectorate Parliament) Long (3rd Protectorate Parliament) Bampfield (3rd Protectorate Parliament) Grimston Turnour Charlton Seymour Sawyer Gregory Williams Trevor Powle Foley Littleton

18th century	Harley Smith

House of Commons
of Great Britain

18th century	Smith R. Onslow Bromley Hanmer Compton A. Onslow Cust Norton Cornwall Grenville Addington

House of Commons
of the United Kingdom

19th century	Addington Mitford Abbot Manners-Sutton Abercromby Shaw-Lefevre Denison Brand Peel Gully

20th century	Lowther Whitley FitzRoy Brown Morrison Hylton-Foster King Lloyd Thomas Weatherill Boothroyd

21st century	Martin Bercow

Chairmen of Ways and Means

Grant Bernal Osborne Greene Bernal Osborne Wilson-Patten Pleydell-Bouverie Fitzroy Massey Dodson Bonham Carter Raikes Playfair Otway Courtney Mellor Lowther Lawson Emmott Whitley Hope Young Hope Herbert Clifton Brown Milner MacAndrew Touche Anstruther-Gray Maybray-King Storey Fletcher Irving Grant-Ferris Thomas Murton Weatherill Walker Morris Haselhurst Hoyle

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 6179443 LCCN: n50048077 SUDOC: 081788711

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