Frederick Marquis, 1st Earl of Woolton

The Earl of Woolton
The Right Honourable; The Earl of Woolton; CH PC
Lord President of the Council
	In office; 28 May – 27 July 1945
Monarch	George VI
Prime Minister	Winston Churchill
Preceded by	Clement Attlee
Succeeded by	Herbert Morrison
	In office; 28 October 1951 – 24 November 1952
Monarch	George VI; Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Winston Churchill
Preceded by	The Viscount Addison
Succeeded by	The Marquess of Salisbury
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
	In office; 24 November 1952 – 20 December 1955
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Winston Churchill; Anthony Eden
Preceded by	The Viscount Swinton
Succeeded by	The Earl of Selkirk
Personal details
Born	Frederick James Marquis; 23 August 1883; Ordsall, Salford, Lancashire, England
Died	14 December 1964 (aged 81); Arundel, Sussex, England
Nationality	English
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	Victoria University of Manchester
Occupation	Businessman, politician

Frederick James Marquis, 1st Earl of Woolton, CH, PC (23 August 1883 – 14 December 1964) was an English businessman and statesman.

In April 1940, he was appointed Minister of Food, and established the rationing system, generally regarded as a success. He maintained food imports from America, kept prices down and organised a programme of free school meals. With a shortage of meat, fish and dairy products, his recommended dish was the vegetarian Woolton pie, for which he would always be remembered.

In 1943, Woolton was appointed Minister of Reconstruction, planning for post-war Britain, and became Conservative Party chairman from 1946 to 1955. He was given credit for the Conservative victory in 1951.

Early career

Lord Woolton was born at 163 West Park Street in Ordsall, Salford, Lancashire, in 1883 to Thomas Robert Marquis (died 1944) and his wife, Margaret Marquis née Ormerod. Educated at Manchester Grammar School and the University of Manchester (where he was a Research Fellow), Woolton was an active member of the Unitarian Church. He was active in social work in Liverpool (1906–1918)

He was an executive of Lewis's department store in Liverpool (1928–1951), becoming managing director. He was knighted in 1935 and was awarded a peerage in 1939 for his contribution to British industry. Despite his wishes, he was informed that it was not possible to be Baron Marquis (because "Marquess", or "Marquis", is another grade of the peerage of the United Kingdom) and so he took the title Baron Woolton after the Liverpool suburb of that name in which he had lived. He subsequently served on a number of government committees (including the Cadman committee). He refused to affiliate himself with any political party.

Second World War

Lord Woolton (right) being interviewed in London in 1944

In April 1940 he was appointed as Minister of Food by Neville Chamberlain, one of a number of ministerial appointments from outside politics. Woolton retained this position until 1943. He supervised 50,000 employees and over a thousand local offices where people could obtain ration cards. His ministry had a virtual monopoly of all food sold in Britain, whether imported or local. His mission was to guarantee adequate nutrition for everyone. With food supplies cut sharply because of enemy action and the needs of the services, rationing was essential. Woolton and his advisors had one scheme in mind but economists convinced them to instead try point rationing. Everyone would have a certain number of points a month that he could allocate any way he wanted. The experimental approach to food rationing has been considered successful; indeed, food rationing was a major success story in Britain's war.[1]

In late June 1940, with a German invasion threatened, Woolton reassured the public that emergency food stocks were in place that would last "for weeks and weeks" even if the shipping could not get through. He said "iron rations" were stored for use only in great emergency. Other rations were stored in the outskirts of cities liable to German bombing.[2] When the Blitz began in late summer 1940 he was ready with more than 200 feeding stations in London and other cities under attack.[3]

Woolton was faced with the task of overseeing rationing due to wartime shortages. He took the view that it was insufficient to merely impose restrictions but that a programme of advertising to support it was also required. He warned that meat and cheese, as well as bacon and eggs, were in very short supply and would remain that way. Calling for a simpler diet, he noted that there was plenty of bread, potatoes, vegetable oils, fats and milk.[4]

By January 1941 the usual overseas food supply had fallen in half. However, by 1942 ample food supplies were arriving through Lend Lease from the U.S. and a similar Canadian programme. Lend Lease was a gift and there was no charge. Most food was now rationed. Worried about children, he made sure that by 1942 Britain was providing 650,000 children with free meals at schools; about 3,500,000 children received milk at school, in addition to priority supplies at home. The bad news was that his national loaf of wholemeal brown bread replaced the ordinary white variety, to the distaste of most housewives.[5] Children learned that sweets supplies were reduced to save shipping space.[6]

Woolton kept food prices down by subsidizing eggs and other items. He promoted recipes that worked well with the rationing system, most famously the "Woolton pie", which consisted of carrots, parsnips, potatoes and turnips in oatmeal, with a pastry or potato crust and served with brown gravy. Woolton's business skills made the Ministry of Food's difficult job a success and he earned a strong personal popularity despite the shortages.[7]

He joined the Privy Council in 1940 and became a Companion of Honour in 1942. In 1943 Woolton entered the War Cabinet as Minister of Reconstruction, taking charge of the difficult task of planning for post-war Britain and in this role he appeared on the cover of Time on the issue of 26 March 1945.[8] In May 1945 he was included in Churchill's "Caretaker" government as Lord President of the Council.

President of the Royal Statistical Society

In November 1945 he gave his inaugural address as President of the Royal Statistical Society.[9]

Conservative Party manager

In July 1945 Churchill lost the 1945 general election and his government fell. The next day Woolton joined the Conservative Party and was soon appointed Party chairman, with the job of improving the party's organisation in the country and revitalising it for future elections. Under Woolton many sweeping reforms were carried out and when the Conservatives returned to government in 1951, Woolton served in the Cabinet for the next four years.

He rebuilt the local organisations with an emphasis on membership, money and a unified national propaganda appeal on critical issues. To broaden the base of potential candidates, the national party provided financial aid to candidates, and assisted the local organisations in raising local money. Woolton also proposed changing the name of the party to the Union Party, but when that suggestion fell on deaf ears he instead emphasised a rhetoric that characterised opponents as "Socialist" rather than "Labour". He is given significant credit for the Conservative victory in 1951, their first since 1935.[10]

In May 1950, Woolton, with Churchill's approval, called for a kind of coalition with the Liberal Party based on nine principles he said they agreed upon:[11]

opposition to “the over-encroaching power of the State over the lives of individuals and of the processes which this commercial nation lives”
opposition to the nationalisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange, “which is the creed of socialism”;
opposition to “the centralisation of government in Whitehall and the weakening of the influence of local authorities”;
belief in “the establishment, under private enterprise, of partnership in industry, whereby all ranks engaged in it shall ... share in the increased yield that comes from greater effort or increased skill”;
belief in the maintenance of a high and stable level of employment,
belief that “the best purposes of the State are served when there is economy in public administration and when Government conducted with rigorous avoidance of waste”;
belief in high standards of health, housing and education, coupled with religious freedom;
recognition of the national duty of maintaining sufficient defence forces, of the danger of militant Communism, and of the necessity for close economic and political cooperation with America and Western Europe;
“tolerance, comradeship and unity among all classes.”

The Liberal leadership rejected the coalition as one that the Conservatives would control. Labour had recently narrowly won the 1950 general election. The Conservatives without Liberal help won the 1951 general election.

In the 1953 Coronation Honours he became Viscount Woolton.[12][13]

In 1956 he was further honoured when he became Earl of Woolton with the subsidiary title Viscount Walberton.[14]

Death

He died 14 December 1964 at his home, Walberton House, in Arundel, Sussex. His titles passed to his son, Roger. He is buried at St Mary's Church, Walberton, Sussex.[15]

Arms

Coat of arms of Frederick Marquis, 1st Earl of Woolton
Arms of the Earl of Woolton	Coronet A Coronet of an Earl Crest Suspended from and between the Antlers of a stag a Stirrup and Leather proper Escutcheon Sable on a Bend engrailed between two Garbs Or a Rose Gules barbed and seeded proper between two Lions rampant of the field Supporters On either side a Lion rampant Or gorged with a Riband Azure pendent therefrom by a Chain also Or an Escutcheon Azure charged with a Liver Bird Argent Motto Fortitudine Virtute Dabitur (By fortitude and courage it shall be given)

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References

Citations

Angus Calder, The People's War: Britain 1939–45 (1969) pp. 380–87 excerpt and text search
Keesing's Contemporary Archives Volume III-IV, (June 1940) p. 4117
Keesing's Contemporary Archives Volume III-IV, (September 1940) p 4260
Keesing's Contemporary Archives, Volume IV, (February 1941) p. 4474
Lacey (1994), pp. 108–109
Keesing's Contemporary Archives, Volume IV, (March 1942) p. 5080
Longmate (2010), p. 152
Eggs or anarchy: the remarkable story of the man tasked with the impossible: to feed a nation at war. William Sitwell. 2016. https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=4tMaCgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT8&ots=F-97zgfNmi&sig=puMgsE1-ItsZAOIv7v9Is1zwO3k&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
Lord Woolton: The man who used statistics (and more) to feed a nation at war. Brian Tarran. First published: 09 June 2017, Significance Magazine, Royal Statistical Society. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-9713.2017.01036.x
Robert Blake, The Conservative Party from Peel to Major (1997) pp. 259–264
Keesing's Contemporary Archives, Volume VII-VIII, May 1950 Page 10717
"No. 39863". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 June 1953. p. 2940.
"No. 39904". The London Gazette. 3 July 1953. p. 3677.
"No. 40682". The London Gazette. 10 January 1956. p. 219.
Delorme (1987), p. 54

Bibliography

Delorme, Mary (1987), Curious Sussex, Robert Hale, ISBN 0-7090-2970-5CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Lacey, Richard W. (1994), Hard to Swallow: A Brief History of Food, Cambridge University Press, p. 108CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Longmate, Norman (2010). How We Lived Then: A History of Everyday Life During the Second World War. Random House.

External links

Political offices
Preceded by William Morrison	Minister of Food 1940–1943	Succeeded by John Llewellin
New office	Minister of Reconstruction 1943–1945	Office abolished
Preceded by Clement Attlee	Lord President of the Council 1945	Succeeded by Herbert Morrison
Preceded by The Viscount Addison	Lord President of the Council 1951–1952	Succeeded by The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by The Viscount Swinton	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1952–1955	Succeeded by The Earl of Selkirk
Preceded by Sir Arthur Salter	Minister of Materials 1953–1954	Office abolished
Party political offices
Preceded by Ralph Assheton	Chairman of the Conservative Party 1946–1955	Succeeded by Oliver Poole
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Earl of Woolton 1956–1964	Succeeded by Roger Marquis
	Viscount Woolton 1953–1964
	Viscount Walberton 1956–1964
	Baron Woolton 1939–1964

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[1] Angus Calder, The People's War: Britain 1939–45 (1969) pp. 380–87 excerpt and text search

[2] Keesing's Contemporary Archives Volume III-IV, (June 1940) p. 4117

[3] Keesing's Contemporary Archives Volume III-IV, (September 1940) p 4260

[4] Keesing's Contemporary Archives, Volume IV, (February 1941) p. 4474

[FOOTNOTELacey1994108–109-5] Lacey (1994), pp. 108–109

[6] Keesing's Contemporary Archives, Volume IV, (March 1942) p. 5080

[FOOTNOTELongmate2010152-7] Longmate (2010), p. 152

[8] Eggs or anarchy: the remarkable story of the man tasked with the impossible: to feed a nation at war. William Sitwell. 2016. https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=4tMaCgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT8&ots=F-97zgfNmi&sig=puMgsE1-ItsZAOIv7v9Is1zwO3k&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

[9] Lord Woolton: The man who used statistics (and more) to feed a nation at war. Brian Tarran. First published: 09 June 2017, Significance Magazine, Royal Statistical Society. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-9713.2017.01036.x

[10] Robert Blake, The Conservative Party from Peel to Major (1997) pp. 259–264

[11] Keesing's Contemporary Archives, Volume VII-VIII, May 1950 Page 10717

[12] "No. 39863". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 June 1953. p. 2940.

[13] "No. 39904". The London Gazette. 3 July 1953. p. 3677.

[14] "No. 40682". The London Gazette. 10 January 1956. p. 219.

[FOOTNOTEDelorme198754-15] Delorme (1987), p. 54

Presidents of the Royal Statistical Society
19th century	1834–1836 The Marquess of Lansdowne 1836–1838 Sir Charles Lemon, Bt 1838–1840 The Earl FitzWilliam 1840–1842 Viscount Sandon 1842–1843 The Marquess of Lansdowne 1843–1845 Lord Ashley 1845–1847 The Lord Monteagle of Brandon 1847–1849 The Earl FitzWilliam 1849–1851 The Earl of Harrowby 1851–1853 The Lord Overstone 1853–1855 The Earl FitzWilliam 1855–1857 The Earl of Harrowby 1857–1859 Lord Stanley 1859–1861 Lord John Russell 1861–1863 Sir John Pakington, Bt 1863–1865 William Henry Sykes 1865–1867 The Lord Houghton 1867–1869 William Ewart Gladstone 1869–1871 William Newmarch 1871–1873 William Farr 1873–1875 William Guy 1875–1877 James Heywood 1877–1879 George Shaw-Lefevre 1879–1880 Thomas Brassey 1880–1882 James Caird 1882–1884 Robert Giffen 1884–1886 Rawson W. Rawson 1886–1888 George Goschen 1888–1890 Thomas Graham Balfour 1890–1892 Frederic J. Mouat 1892–1894 Charles Booth 1894–1896 The Lord Farrer 1896–1897 John Biddulph Martin 1897 Alfred Edmund Bateman 1897–1899 Leonard Courtney 1899–1900 Henry Fowler 1900–1902 The Lord Avebury
20th century	1902–1904 Patrick George Craigie 1904–1905 Sir Francis Powell, Bt 1905–1906 The Earl of Onslow 1906–1907 Richard Martin 1907–1909 Sir Charles Dilke, Bt 1909–1910 Jervoise Athelstane Baines 1910–1912 Lord George Hamilton 1912–1914 Francis Ysidro Edgeworth 1914–1915 The Lord Welby 1915–1916 Lord George Hamilton 1916–1918 Bernard Mallet, Registrar General 1918–1920 Herbert Samuel 1920–1922 R. Henry Rew 1922–1924 The Lord Emmott 1924–1926 Udny Yule 1926–1928 The Viscount D'Abernon 1928–1930 A. William Flux 1930–1932 Sir Josiah Stamp 1932–1934 The Lord Meston 1934–1936 Major Greenwood 1936–1938 The Lord Kennet 1938–1940 Arthur Lyon Bowley 1940–1941 Henry William Macrosty 1941 Hector Leak 1941–1943 William Beveridge 1943–1945 Charles Ernest Snow 1945–1947 The Lord Woolton 1947–1949 David Heron 1949–1950 Sir Geoffrey Heyworth 1950–1952 Austin Bradford Hill 1952–1954 Ronald Fisher 1954–1955 The Lord Piercy 1955–1957 Egon Pearson 1957–1959 Harry Campion 1959–1960 Hugh Beaver 1960–1962 Maurice Kendall 1962–1964 Joseph Oscar Irwin 1964–1965 Sir Paul Chambers 1965–1966 L. H. C. Tippett 1966–1967 M. S. Bartlett 1967–1968 Frank Yates 1968–1969 Arthur Cockfield 1969–1970 R. G. D. Allen 1970–1971 Bernard Benjamin 1971–1972 George Alfred Barnard 1972–1973 Harold Wilson 1973–1974 D. J. Finney 1974–1975 Henry Daniels 1975–1977 Stella Cunliffe 1977–1978 Henry Wynn 1978–1980 Sir Claus Moser 1980–1982 David Cox 1982–1984 Peter Armitage 1984–1985 Walter Bodmer 1985–1986 John Nelder 1986–1987 James Durbin 1987–1989 John Kingman 1989–1991 Peter G. Moore 1991–1993 T. M. F. Smith 1993–1995 D. J. Bartholomew 1995–1997 Adrian Smith 1997–1999 R. N. Curnow 1999–2001 Denise Lievesley
21st century	2001–2003 Peter Green 2003–2005 Andy Grieve 2005–2007 Tim Holt 2008–2009 David Hand 2010–2010 Bernard Silverman (resigned Feb 2010; replaced pro tem by David Hand) 2011–2012 Valerie Isham 2013–2014 John Pullinger 2014–2016 Peter Diggle 2017–2018 David Spiegelhalter 2019– Deborah Ashby
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