David Eccles, 1st Viscount Eccles

For other people named David Eccles, see David Eccles (disambiguation).

The Right Honourable The Viscount Eccles CH KCVO PC
Paymaster General and Minister for the Arts
In office 1970–1973
Preceded by	Harold Lever (Paymaster General) Jennie Lee (Minister for the Arts)
Succeeded by	Maurice Macmillan (Paymaster General) Norman St John-Stevas (Minister for the Arts)
Minister of Education
In office 1959–1962
President of the Board of Trade
In office 13 January 1957 – 14 October 1959
Prime Minister	Harold Macmillan
Preceded by	Peter Thorneycroft
Succeeded by	Reginald Maudling
Minister of Education
In office 1954–1957
Minister of Works
In office 1951–1954
Member of Parliament for Chippenham
In office 1943–1962
Preceded by	Victor Cazalet
Succeeded by	Daniel Awdry
Personal details
Born	18 September 1904(1904-09-18)
Died	24 February 1999(1999-02-24) (aged 94)
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	The Hon. Sybil Dawson (1929-1977) Mary, Viscountess Eccles (1984-death)
Children	Selina Petty-FitzMaurice, Marchioness of Lansdowne The Hon. Simon Eccles The Hon. John Eccles; later 2nd Viscount Eccles
Alma mater	New College, Oxford
Occupation	Politician and Businessman
Religion	Church of England

David McAdam Eccles, 1st Baron Eccles and 1st Viscount Eccles, CH, KCVO, MP, PC (18 September 1904 – 24 February 1999) was an English Conservative politician.

Eccles was educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford. He worked with the Central Mining Corporation in London and Johannesburg. During the Second World War he worked for the Ministry of Economic Warfare from 1939 to 1940 and for the Ministry of Production from 1942 to 1943 and was Economic Adviser to the British ambassadors at Lisbon and Madrid from 1940 to 1942.

Eccles was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Chippenham in a wartime by-election in 1943, a seat he held until 1962. He served in the Conservative administrations of Churchill, Eden and Macmillan respectively as Minister of Works from 1951 to 1954 (in which position, he helped organise the 1953 Coronation), as Minister of Education from 1954 to 1957 and again from 1959 to 1962 and as President of the Board of Trade from 1957 to 1959. Eccles was also President of the Board of Trade in January 1957.^[1]

In 1962 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Eccles, of Chute in the County of Wiltshire, and in 1964 he was created Viscount Eccles, of Chute in the County of Wiltshire. Lord Eccles returned to the government in 1970 when Edward Heath appointed him Paymaster-General and Minister for the Arts, a post he held until 1973. As Minister for the Arts he clashed with the Chairman of the Arts Council of Great Britain Arnold Goodman over the funding of controversial plays and exhibitions and introduced mandatory admission charges at public museums and galleries. Lord Eccles was made a Doctor of Science (DSc) in 1966 by Loughborough University.^[2]

Eccles married, firstly, the Hon. Sybil Frances Dawson (1904–1977), daughter of Bertrand Dawson, 1st Viscount Dawson of Penn, on 1 October 1929. They had three children:

• The Hon. Selina Eccles; m. George Petty-FitzMaurice, 8th Marquess of Lansdowne; became The Marchioness of Lansdowne
• The Hon. Simon Dawson Eccles
• The Hon. John Dawson Eccles; later 2nd Viscount Eccles (born on 20 April 1931)

Widowed, he married again, this time to the book collector and philanthropist Mary Morley Crapo Hyde (1912–2003) on 26 September 1984. He died at age 94 at home of natural causes leaving an estate of approximately £2.4 million.^[3]

Styles and Honours

• Mr David Eccles (1904–1943)
• Mr David Eccles MP (1943–1953)
• Sir David Eccles KCVO MP (1953–1962)
• The Rt. Hon. The Lord Eccles KCVO PC (1962–1964)
• The Rt. Hon. The Viscount Eccles KCVO PC (1964–1984)
• The Rt. Hon. The Viscount Eccles KCVO CH PC (1984–1999)

Notes

1. ^ List of Presidents/Secretaries of State (2007), Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, London, UK, viewed 8 May 2008, http://www.berr.gov.uk/about/about-berr/history/presidents-secretaries/page13935.html
2. ^ Honorary Graduates and University Medallists since 1966 (2008), Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK, viewed 29 April 2008, http://www.lboro.ac.uk/service/publicity/degree_days/hon_grads_66to79.html
3. ^ http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/71965

References

• Mary, Viscountess Eccles: obituary, The Independent, 5 September 2003
• The Times House of Commons 1945. 1945. 
• The Times House of Commons 1950. 1950. 
• The Times House of Commons 1955. 1955. 

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by David Eccles

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Victor Cazalet	Member of Parliament for Chippenham 1943 – 1962	Succeeded by Daniel Awdry
Political offices
Preceded by Harold Lever	Paymaster General 1970 – 1973	Succeeded by Maurice Macmillan
Preceded by Jennie Lee	Minister for the Arts 1970 – 1973	Succeeded by Norman St John-Stevas
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Viscount Eccles 1964 – 1999	Succeeded by John Dawson Eccles
	Baron Eccles 1962 – 1999

Persondata
Name	Eccles, David Eccles, 1st Viscount
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	18 September 1904
Place of birth
Date of death	24 February 1999
Place of death