19 Facts About Peter Thorneycroft

Peter Thorneycroft served as Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1957 and 1958.

Peter Thorneycroft was the grandson of Sir William Franklyn and nephew of Sir Harold Franklyn.

Peter Thorneycroft was educated at Eton and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.

Peter Thorneycroft was commissioned into the Royal Artillery as a second lieutenant on 29 August 1929 but resigned his commission on 1 July 1931.

Peter Thorneycroft entered Parliament in the 1938 Stafford by-election, for the borough of Stafford.

Peter Thorneycroft was re-commissioned into the Royal Artillery in his previous rank on 30 August 1939.

Peter Thorneycroft served in the Conservative caretaker Government 1945 as Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of War Transport.

Peter Thorneycroft was instrumental in persuading the government in 1954 to abandon the party's support for protectionism and accept the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

Peter Thorneycroft resigned in 1958, along with two junior Treasury Ministers, Enoch Powell and Nigel Birch, because of increased government expenditure.

Peter Thorneycroft returned to the Cabinet in 1960, when he was appointed Minister of Aviation by Macmillan.

Peter Thorneycroft retained the post upon Macmillan's replacement by Sir Alec Douglas-Home; then in April 1964 the post was combined with the First Lord of the Admiralty, Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State for Air as the Secretary of State for Defence.

At Defence, Peter Thorneycroft played a pivotal role in the Sunda Straits Crisis, first supporting and then opposing the passage of the aircraft carrier HMS Victorious through the Indonesian-claimed Sunda Strait during the height of the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation in August and September 1964.

Peter Thorneycroft lost his seat at the 1966 general election, and was raised to the peerage as a life peer as Baron Peter Thorneycroft, of Dunston in the County of Stafford on 4 December 1967.

Peter Thorneycroft was a strong supporter of Margaret Thatcher's monetarist policies, and she made him Chairman of the Conservative Party in 1975.

Peter Thorneycroft was notable as an amateur watercolourist and held exhibitions.

Peter Thorneycroft was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour in the 1980 New Year Honours.

Peter Thorneycroft's grandfather was the Victorian Colonel Thomas Thorneycroft, a Wolverhampton industrialist, eccentric, landowner and well-known Conservative; he was asked to stand for election by Benjamin Disraeli.

Colonel Peter Thorneycroft owned or leased various houses in Staffordshire and Shropshire including Tettenhall Towers and Tong Castle.

Peter Thorneycroft had a son by his first wife and a daughter by his second wife.