TRIBUTES TO THE LATE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS (Hansard, 27 October 1965)

§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR (LORD GARDINER)
My Lords, I have to acquaint the House that I received during the Recess from the President of the House of Chiefs of Mid-Western Nigeria a message of sympathy on the death of the late Speaker of the House of Commons. A suitable reply was sent and I have arranged for the text of the message to be placed in the Library.

§ THE LORD PRIVY SEAL (THE EARL OF LONGFORD)
My Lords, the death of a Speaker must in itself cause sorrow to Parliament as a whole, but it is all the more distressing when it comes to a man at the height of his powers as in the case of the late Speaker, Sir Harry Hylton-Foster. With the departure of a Speaker there are always others to step forward to add further distinction to the Office, but none the less we sustain a heavy loss that we can ill afford. There is a wealth of knowledge and experience available to Parliament, and perhaps it will not be in appropriate for me, on behalf of your Lordships' House, to wish well to the new Speaker, Dr. Horace King. The House, I feel sure, will wish to send a message of deep sympathy to the Members of the House of Commons and for that reason I move the Motion which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
I do not propose to speak of the late Speaker's services to Parliament, for I feel sure that this should be for those in another place who served with him and whose servant he was, except that I would wish to record our own recognition of the very high standing and esteem in which we held him both as Speaker and as a man. In sending our message of condolence and understanding, we should not forget that Lady Hylton-Foster is herself the daughter of another distinguished 586 Speaker and therefore she appreciated to the full the heavy burden of duty of that post and was ever present to sustain her husband through everything. I beg to move that a message be sent to the House of Commons to express the deep sorrow of this House on the loss which the Commons have sustained by the death of their Speaker, who will long be remembered with affection and regard for the distinction with which he discharged the duties of his office, and to express the profound sympathy of the House for Lady Hylton-Foster in her bereavement.

§ LORD CARRINGTON
My Lords, on behalf of those who sit on these Benches I should like wholeheartedly to support the Motion which the noble Earl, the Leader of the House has moved, and to echo every word that he said. I am particularly glad to do this and particularly glad that we have the opportunity of paying our tribute because the suddenness and sadness of Sir Harry Hylton-Foster's death and the acknowledgment which we should all wish to make to his great services to the country were most regrettably overlaid by its political implications. This is a welcome moment to redress the balance and make it abundantly clear what we felt about him and to send our sympathy to Lady Hylton-Foster.

LORD REA
My Lords, speaking for the third Party in your Lordships' House I should like to endorse everything that was said so well by the two previous speakers. It is, of course, an established and, no doubt for historical reasons, a desirable tradition that this House should not seem to take to close an interest or to concern itself too much in the machinery of the procedure of another place. But this very sad and unexpected accident has befallen the procedure and the machinery there; and I think it is with no sense of interference that we would wish, all of us, now 587 to record three sentiments which I shall put very shortly. The first is our sincere sympathy to the Members of another place on the loss of a fine and remarkably able Speaker; secondly the deep regret of each one of us who personally knew that very friendly and charming man; and, thirdly, our deep sorrow for his widow on whom this most untimely and most heavy blow has fallen.

§ LORD GRIMSTON OF WESTBURY
My Lords, I should not like to let this occasion pass without paying a personal tribute to the late Sir Harry Hylton-Foster. I do so for the reason that in the last Parliament I was Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means and, therefore, with the Chairman of Ways and Means, one of his Deputy Speakers. Tributes have been paid to his kindly and courteous character. He was the sort of chief who made a subordinate feel that he always had his entire trust; and if one fell into some difficulty, as could easily happen in the discharge of the duties of the Chair, he would stand by one completely. He also had another kindly side to his nature. It frequently happens, as your Lordships know, that after Questions the House of Commons goes into Committee and the Speaker has to leave the Chair. Business may go on to a very late hour, only then to be followed by a half-hour Adjournment debate when the House resumes. But Sir Harry Hylton-Foster, however late it was, always stayed up to come back and relieve his subordinate for that last half hour. I think that it is an indication of his consideration and of the sort of man he was—kindly, courteous, loyal and greatly devoted to his job. I am glad that the tributes have been paid to Lady Hylton-Foster who was always in the House at Question time to give him the support of her presence. I am sure your Lordships will be glad to think that sometime later on we shall welcome her in our midst here. I wish wholeheartedly to support this Motion.

THE LORD BISHOP OF EXETER
My Lords, I have been requested by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is detained in Scotland on ecclesiastical business, to add just one word in order to associate the whole Bench of Bishops with the tributes that have just been paid. Sir Harry Hylton-Foster was a very distinguished, 588 very loyal and very modest churchman. He was Chancellor of two Northern dioceses, Durham and Ripon; and he was a most important member of a Commission, presided over by Mr. Justice Lloyd-Jacob, which revised the entire system of ecclesiastical courts and whose work finally resulted in the new Ecclesiastical Courts Measure which went through Parliament not so very long ago. The Church has lost in Sir Harry a very devoted servant and is immensely poorer for his going from us.