DEATH OF MR. SPEAKER HYLTON-FOSTER (Hansard, 27 October 1965)

§ The First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (Mr. George Brown)
It falls to me, in the absence of my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, to move the Motion on the Order Paper: That this House records its deep regret at the sudden death of the Right Honourable Sir Harry Hylton-Foster, Q.C., Speaker and servant of this House; acknowledges the debt owed to him for the six years during which he devoted his authority, dignity and wisdom to the high office he held; recognises, as a fitting tribute to his memory, his constant and unremitting service to the House and the Members thereof and the fairness, wit and ability with which he carried out his duties; and, conscious of her own special contribution to the Parliamentary scene, offers to Lady Hylton-Foster condolences in her tragic loss. It is obviously unnecessary for me to say that my right hon. Friend would have wished to have been here to move the Motion himself. He is very sorry that he is not here to move it.
The Motion indicates the sense of personal loss which came to all of us with the news of the death of Harry Hylton-Foster, our last Speaker. It was not only the outstanding impression which he made in his occupancy of the Chair. It was 166 that he always appeared, and indeed was, a friend to everyone of us. So it is as a friend that we mourn his passing. Indeed, we do more than mourn. We do something quite different. We applaud and acclaim him and his achievements. He occupied the Chair for more than six years, and each year that passed increased our respect of his judgment and deepened our admiration for the way in which he could so often turn anger into laughter.
It was said of a previous Speaker that he owed much of his success to the great love which he had for his fellow hon. Members. Harry Hylton-Foster had all of that and many other attributes besides. He came to the Chair with already a distinguished legal career behind him. For five years he held the post of Solicitor-General, and he discharged his duties in the House with courtesy and charm, even, as I well remember, when times were at their most trying.
As Speaker, elected after a conflict, he did more than justify himself to us. He proved himself to be one in whom the quality of good fellowship was there however the official exterior might have to look at any particular moment. Yet, although we all saw him as a friend, the relationship was never such that the Chair ever lost any of its dignity. He gave us faithful guidance, allowing much time and thought to the judgments which he had to pass and the decisions which he had to make. He never spared himself. Perhaps I may be allowed to say that those of us who sat nearer to him than others could on many occasions see as well as sense the intense strain which many of those occasions imposed on him.
There are many here who came new to this House after 1959 who will feel the sense of personal loss more deeply than most. They found how much help was readily given by Mr. Speaker as they sought their way through the strange paths which our procedure so often takes. Whatever their party, whatever their views, Harry Hylton-Foster, in the Chair or in the relaxed atmosphere of his room, was willing to put his great knowledge and experience at their service. I can personally testify to the enormous help which I received when sitting on the Opposition benches; I was not only seeking my way through the procedural paths but also trying to see whether I could test their elasticity a bit.
167 At all times he was a doughty champion of the liberties and privileges of the House. He was not a man easily roused to passion, but any attack on our rights found him immediately on guard, while being exceedingly steady whenever he felt that we might be pushing those rights a little too hard. We can truly say of our late Speaker that he had in full measure the respect, confidence and friendship of his fellow hon. Members.
I cannot resume my seat without expressing a word of sympathy for Lady Hylton-Foster, whose loss is a heavy one indeed. We all know Lady Hylton-Foster and are well aware of the great help which she gave her husband. I am sure that I speak for all hon. Members when I say that we are therefore all the more pleased at the news that we shall still see her around the place and that, from now on, she will be able to make her voice heard in her own right in another place.
Lady Hylton-Foster has the tremendous distinction of being both the daughter of a very good Speaker and, later, the wife of a very good Speaker. This is not only a great distinction; it also suggests quite a bit of managerial capability. But, certainly, she came for the second time to the Speaker's House with a wealth of knowledge which no other woman could have. He was a fortunate man, indeed, to have such a helpmate. Tomorrow, we as a House hope to show our appreciation in a more practical way. Today, Sir, our sympathy goes out to her in her most grievous loss.

§ Mr. Edward Heath (Bexley)
On behalf of my right hon. and hon. Friends, I should like to support the Motion which has just been so eloquently moved by the First Secretary. We, too, share the grief and the sense of personal loss which he has expressed. The late Speaker was a friend, a close friend, of so many of us, and we mourn him deeply.
In October, 1959, his proposer, in moving his election as Speaker, stressed how important it was that he was of an age where his health and strength could bear the heavy burden of the Speaker-ship. Alas, those onerous duties which the First Secretary has just described, and the diligence with which he always attended to them, proved more than even his health could stand. We remember 168 him here today as back bencher, charming the House with his eloquence; as Solicitor-General, impressing us all with his fairness in debate and his courtesy to Members in all parts of the House, and we remember him as Speaker.
His qualities have often been enumerated, and the First Secretary has mentioned many of them this afternoon. I would only add a word on a few. His appearance and his bearing well became the dignity of the House. His almost limitless patience was often demonstrated to us. His legal training and experience led to clarity in his rulings, and his wit and humour often spiced our proceedings and speedily reduced tension. I think, looking back, that this wit was more to the fore during this present Session than ever before. Connoisseurs of Parliamentary humour will find many delightful examples in the OFFICIAL REPORT of the last year. But I think that the main characteristic for which some of us will remember him was his intense belief in conciliation. This was really the basis of his whole political philosophy, and it was that belief which governed his actions.
We know how much he was helped by his wife, and we are grateful to her for the part she played so graciously here in the Palace of Westminster. To her we extend in fullest measure our deepest sympathy. We also welcome the conferment of a life peerage on her yesterday. It will, as the First Secretary said, not only enable her to maintain her connection with Westminster but also to contribute to the discussions in another place on those matters of social welfare in which she has always taken a very close interest.
We are too close to recent events to be able to offer any judgment on the place the late Speaker will occupy in our Parliamentary history. I would only say this. In his speech submitting himself to the House in 1959, he used these words: I cannot claim the qualities which, in their kindness, they bestow upon me, but I can and do claim this: that I love and revere this House—its long history and the gay vigour of its modern life; the good humour, most of the time; the friendships it makes; the quick changes of mood: the sure collective judgment of this House about a man—this House, an institution so much greater than the sum of all of us of whom at any one time it is composed."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 20th October, 1959; Vol. 612, c. 15.] 169 It was in that spirit that he served this House so well. He will be long remembered as Speaker by those who had the privilege of sitting under him.

§ Mr. J. Grimond (Orkney and Shetland)
All deaths of those with whom we have been intimate, even deaths coming after long illness, ultimately come as a shock, but we suffered a peculiarly severe shock when we read that Sir Harry Hylton-Foster had quite unexpectedly dropped dead in the street.
As the First Secretary has mentioned, Sir Harry Hylton-Foster's election as Speaker was not without some controversy. That, I think, made it all the more remarkable and all the more to his credit that he so soon established his command of the House and his regard in the hearts of its Members. The wit, which has been frequently remarked on, was always relevant and never wounding. He was dignified in public and friendly in private. We came to look upon him as a friend and as a Speaker firmly established in our lives and one who was to be with us for many years to come.
Now he is taken from us, and we can do no more than record our deep sorrow and send our sympathy to his widow. I should like also to join in the congratulations that have already been offered to her upon her life peerage and simply to say that, on behalf of the Liberal Party, I beg to support the Motion.

§ Mr. R. H. Turton (Thirsk and Malton)
It is difficult for me to speak to this Motion because for 47 years my life and that of Sir Harry Hylton-Foster were closely intertwined. We went to the same school at the same time. We entered the same set of chambers at the Bar. For 15 years I had been with him in this House, and for nine years he represented a neighbouring constituency. In passing, I can say how assiduous he was in looking after his constituents in York. He put the interests of his constituents before any other.
Out of that experience, I would draw to the attention of the House three qualities in his character—his modesty, his loyalty and his sacrifice of self. I give two illustrations. At the beginning of the war in 1939 Sir Harry was a very busy junior 170 at the most critical moment of his career. Without any hesitation he threw aside his career, joined the Air Force, and served overseas in North Africa and Italy as Deputy Judge Advocate General.
In 1959, as has been referred to before, he was asked to be Speaker of this House. At that time he had a very high reputation as Solicitor-General. He, and I think the whole House, thought that in time he would gain his ambition and become Lord Chancellor of England. Yet he accepted the office as Speaker, knowing that that was the end of his ambition, because he believed that he should discharge his duty to the House if its Members so wished.
As back benchers we have realised how well he upheld the rights of minorities, how scrupulously fair he was, how patient, to a fault.
As the First Secretary said, he could calm the House with a witty phrase. I remember, in particular, the way in which, at a time of ceremony, he could show by his humble and human dignity the greatness of his office, and I would remind the House of the proceedings when we commemorated the 700th Anniversary of Parliament. I remember, in particular, a private dinner party which Mr. Speaker gave to the Speakers of the Commonwealth Parliaments and how, with humour and humility, he described to those Commonwealth Speakers what he conceived to be the way in which a Speaker should discharge his duties.
We remember him as a friend, as a man who sacrificed his legal career for Parliament, and as a man who served his country loyally.
As has been previously mentioned, at this time our hearts go out to his widow. In all my years in the House, I have never known any Speaker's wife who listened more assiduously to the debates in the House or who entertained and received us with such grace and charm in the Speaker's House. Surely that was, as again the First Secretary said, as befitted her as the daughter of one Speaker and the wife of another. However, I hope that her grief will be tempered by the knowledge that the whole House which she and the late Speaker presided over and served extends to her its sympathy and affection, and that she will realise that 171 we regard her and her late husband as two great Parliamentarians.