§ The LORD PRIVY SEAL (Lord Shepherd)My Lords, the House will have heard with sadness that Lord De La Warr died yesterday at the age of 75. "Buck "De La Warr was a genial Member of the House with friends on all Benches. Though he left office in 1955, we were glad that he continued to sit here from time to time and, in fact, did so only quite recently. He was always a welcome figure surrounded by an aura of warmth and patience and with a dry good humour. Speaking from this Box, I am naturally conscious of his progress from one side of the House to the other, though it was indeed remarkable that he held Office under a Labour Government, under a National Government and under a Conservative Government.
I pay tribute to his great versatility and stamina in the number of posts he held. In addition to becoming a member of Neville Chamberlain's Cabinet in 1937 as Lord Privy Seal, he held Office over a period of 31 years from 1924 to 1955 with, of course, some intervals. He served in seven different Ministries, the War Office, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the Board of Education, the Colonial Office, the Office of Works, the Ministry of Supply and also as Postmaster General. He was also a past Chairman of the Royal Commonwealth Society. That is indeed an astonishing record.
My Lords, as we note Lord De La Warr's passing, I know that the House will join with me in expressing deepest sympathy to his widow and family, and in expressing a very real sense of loss at the death of a longstanding friend and colleague.
§ Lord ABERDAREMy Lords, from these Benches we should like to endorse what the noble Lord, Lord Shepherd, said 1098 in tribute to my late noble friend Lord De La Warr. Lord De La Wan came from an old and distinguished family, and he lived up to all its best traditions in a life of unusually long and varied public service. He was a very popular Member of this House and his death has come as a great shock to a number of his friends who saw him here only last Tuesday. It was typical of him that, despite his early pacificist leanings, he enlisted as an able-bodied seaman in the Royal Navy in the First World War immediately on leaving Eton, and served until the end of the war on board a minesweeper. He is said to have been the only person to have sat on the steps of the Throne in this House in the uniform of an able-bodied seaman. He had a remarkable political career—as the noble Lord the Leader of the House has reminded us—holding Ministerial Office first as a member of the Labour Party under Ramsay MacDonald, then in the National Government of 1931 and later as a Conservative in Sir Winston Churchill's Government of 1951. That is an example of political wisdom I would warmly commend to noble Lords on the Front Bench opposite.
He held many high political Offices, some in the Cabinet, none perhaps more testing than when as Postmaster General he had to pilot through this House proposals for the introduction of commercial television in which he had not the wholehearted concurrence of your Lordships; but he succeeded in this difficult and delicate task largely thanks to his tact and good humour. Outside Parliament he was well known and very well respected in agricultural circles. He was a pioneer of new agricultural methods on his own very well-run farm in Sussex and, despite his busy life, he also found time to take a leading part in local affairs. He was a JP, Deputy Lieutenant for Sussex and from 1932 to 1935 he was Mayor of Bexhill. Those of us who knew him only comparatively recently will always remember his kindness, friendliness and constant good humour. We should like to express our sympathy to his widow and family.
§ Lord AMULREEMy Lords, from these Benches I should like to add to what the noble Lord the Lord Privy Seal I and the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, have 1099 said about the late Lord De La Warr. I knew him quite well in a rather different capacity, because he and my father were both members of Ramsay MacDonald's Government in 1929, and then they both followed Ramsay in the National Government in 1931. My other connection with him was at the end of the war. He went out to Ethiopia when the Emperor was installed there. I had certain contacts in the past with that unfortunate country. The late Lord De La Warr was always a very good friend to Ethiopia and did a great deal to help that country. I should like to add to what has been said in expressing our sympathy to his widow and family.
§ Lord SHINWELLMy Lords, as a humble Back-Bencher. I wish to join in the tributes to the late Lord De La Warr He was a colleague of mine in the first Labour Government, he was Lord in Waiting, he then became a Member of the second Labour Government and we were colleagues in the War Office, I as Financial Secretary and he as Under-Secretary. He was a man of the most friendly disposition, and although he joined Ramsay MacDonald in the Coalition Government in 1931 I believe he sincerely felt himself to be right to do that; I would apply the same appellation to Ramsay MacDonald himself. In spite of Lord De La Warr's association with the Conservative Party in later years, he remained as friendly as ever and when I read about his sudden and very tragic death, while he was walking in the street, I recalled at once how friendly we both had been at the War Office. I have the impression that now that Lord De La Warr has gone, I happen to be the sole survivor of the first Labour Government. How long that situation will remain, I have not the faintest idea.
The Earl of SELKIRKMy Lords, I should like to add to the tributes which have been so charmingly delivered. I valued very deeply Lord De La Warr's friendship. He was an extremely loyal Member of this House and up to the end was immensely conscientious. He would sometimes say to me: "Do you think I stay here long enough?" He kept coming here, although he did not take a very active part in our proceedings. My chief recollection of him is of his great 1100 humility, as one who, as we have heard, had held high office for a considerable period. There was a total absence of pomposity in his disposition and the idealism which he showed from his very early youth was never in any way clouded by rigidity of outlook.
His passions were the Commonwealth, about which he felt very deeply, and agriculture. Nowhere was he more at home than on the land; and he loved it. I remember that the first time I stayed with him he went so far as to eat some grass from his grass-dryer. The machine had just been introduced and that gave him immense pleasure. We have lost a great Member of this House. I wish to add my sincerest sympathy to Lady De La Warr and all other members of his family.
§ Lord GARNERMy Lords, as one who once served as Private Secretary to Lord De La Warr, may I add a short tribute from these Benches and testify to the extraordinary flair that he had of establishing personal relations of great warmth with all classes of people, as I witnessed when he attended the Sesquicentennial Celebrations in Australia?