Richard Pilkington (1908 - 1976)

Infobox MP
honorific-prefix = Sir
name = Richard Pilkington
honorific-suffix = MP


caption =
constituency_MP = Widnes
parliament =
term_start = 14 November 1935
term_end = 5 July 1945
majority =
predecessor = Roland Robinson
successor = Christopher Nyholm Shawcross
constituency_MP2 = Poole
parliament2 =
term_start2 = 25 October 1951
term_end2 = 15 October 1964
majority2 =
predecessor2 = Mervyn Wheatley
successor2 = Oscar Murton
birth_date = 10 May 1908
birth_place = St Helens, Merseyside
death_date = Death date and age|1976|12|09|1908|05|10|df=yes
death_place =
nationality = British
spouse = Rosemary Kidwell, née Russell-Roberts
party = Conservative
relations =
children =
residence =
alma_mater = Christ Church College, Oxford
occupation =
profession =
religion =


website =
footnotes =

Sir Richard Antony Pilkington KBE, MC (10 May 1908 – 9 December 1976) was a British Conservative Party politician and a soldier in the British Army.

Early Life

Richard Pilkington was born in St Helens to the Chairman of the Pilkington glass works, Arthur Pilkington, and Marjorie Cope, daughter of the painter Arthur Stockdale Cope. He was educated at Charterhouse and Christ Church, Oxford. He worked and travelled in North America from 1928 until 1930 when he joined the Coldstream Guards, serving in Sudan and Egypt.

Military and Political Career

In 1935 he resigned his commission to enter politics and was elected as Member of Parliament for Widnes in Lancashire. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Oliver Stanley. On the outbreak of the Second World War he rejoined the Army and travelled to France with the British Expeditionary Force. He was awarded the Military Cross after returning with one of the last groups from Dunkirk in 1940. He left the Army again in 1942 and became a Civil Lord of the Admiralty, leading naval missions to India, Ceylon and Burma. He lost his seat to Christopher Shawcross in 1945 and lost again in 1950. In 1951 he won election as Member of Parliament for Poole in Dorset, a seat he held until his retirement from politics in 1964 after a car accident and the onset of Parkinson's disease. He died from the disease in 1976 at the age of 68.

Personal Life

Richard Pilkington married Rosemary Kidwell, née Russell-Roberts, in 1946 and had three daughters. He was also known for his collection of cars, all red.

References

*Obituaries, The Times, page 17, 13th December, 1976.
*rayment