Merlyn Rees

The Right Honourable The Lord Merlyn-Rees PC
Home Secretary
In office 10 September 1976 – 4 May 1979
Prime Minister	James Callaghan
Preceded by	Roy Jenkins
Succeeded by	William Whitelaw
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In office 5 March 1974 – 10 September 1976
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson James Callaghan
Preceded by	Francis Pym
Succeeded by	Roy Mason
Member of Parliament for Morley and Leeds South
In office 9 June 1983 – 9 April 1992
Preceded by	Constituency Created
Succeeded by	John Gunnell
Member of Parliament for Leeds South
In office 20 June 1963 – 9 June 1983
Preceded by	Hugh Gaitskell
Succeeded by	Constituency Abolished
Personal details
Born	18 December 1920(1920-12-18) Pontypridd, United Kingdom
Died	5 January 2006(2006-01-05) (aged 85) London, United Kingdom
Political party	Labour
Alma mater	Goldsmiths, University of London University of Nottingham London School of Economics

Merlyn Rees, later Merlyn Merlyn-Rees, Baron Merlyn-Rees, PC (18 December 1920 – 5 January 2006) was a Welsh-born Labour party Member of Parliament from 1963 until 1992, having served as Home Secretary. He also served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1974 – 1976).

Early life

Born in Cilfynydd, near Pontypridd, Glamorgan, Wales, and educated at Harrow Weald Grammar School, Harrow, England and Goldsmiths College, London where he was president of the Students' union from 1939 to 1941. He served in the RAF the University of Nottingham Air Squadron during World War II, becoming a squadron leader at 25. He attended the London School of Economics where he received BSc(Econ) and MSc(Econ). He was appointed schoolmaster at his old school in Harrow in 1949, teaching economics and history. He taught for eleven years, during which time he was three times an unsuccessful parliamentary candidate for Harrow East. He was a member of the Institute of Education at the University of London from 1959 to 1962.

Member of Parliament

At a by-election in 1963, he stood successfully as the Labour candidate for Leeds South, succeeding Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell, who had died in office. He held the seat until he stepped down from the House of Commons at the 1992 general election. The constituency was renamed as Morley and Leeds South in 1983. He was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from March 1974 until September 1976, when he was appointed Home Secretary. For two years before the Labour government came to power in 1974 he had been Labour Party spokesman on Northern Ireland. Rees wrote of his views on Northern Ireland in: Northern Ireland: a Personal Perspective. ^[1] One month after his appointment as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rees lifted the proscription against the illegal loyalist paramilitary organisation, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in an attempt to bring them into the democratic process,^[2] however, the organisation was implicated in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings on the 17 May 1973 and the group was once more banned by the British Government on 3 October 1975.

Retirement

Merlyn Rees Avenue, street sign in Morley, West Yorkshire

When he retired from the House of Commons in 1992, he was created a life peer as Baron Merlyn-Rees, of Morley and South Leeds in the County of West Yorkshire and of Cilfynydd in the County of Mid Glamorgan and entered the House of Lords, having changed his name by deed poll to Merlyn Merlyn-Rees to allow his title to be Merlyn-Rees rather than Rees. ^[3]

He was president of the Video Standards Council from 1990 and the first Chancellor of the University of Glamorgan from 1994 to 2002.

Death

He suffered injuries in a number of falls, and failing to recover from these, fell into a coma, dying at the age of 85. He was survived by his wife Colleen and three sons.

References

1. ^ Methuen, London, 1985 ISBN 0-413-52590-2
2. ^ Taylor, Peter (1999). Loyalists. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. p.124
3. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3664283.stm

• BBC News (5 January 2006). “Peer's roots in 'gifted' street”. Retrieved 15 January 2006.
• ”Belfast years remembered for vacillation in face of loyalist strike.” (5 January 2006). The Irish Times p14.
• Wakefieldtoday.co.uk.”Your Online Guide to Yorkshire People”. Retrieved 15 January 2006

Reading

• Merlyn Rees, "Northern Ireland: a personal perspective", Methuen, London, 1985.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Merlyn Rees
• Merlyn Rees (The Second World War Experience Centre)
• Catalogue of the Merlyn-Rees papers at the Archives Division of the London School of Economics.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Hugh Gaitskell	Member of Parliament for Leeds South 1963–1983	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Morley and Leeds South 1983–1992	Succeeded by John Gunnell
Political offices
Preceded by Francis Pym	Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 1974–1976	Succeeded by Roy Mason
Preceded by Roy Jenkins	Home Secretary 1976–1979	Succeeded by William Whitelaw
Academic offices
Preceded by The Lord Morris of Aberavon	Chancellor of the University of Glamorgan 1994–2002	Incumbent

Persondata
Name	Rees, Merlyn
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	18 December 1920
Place of birth	Pontypridd, United Kingdom
Date of death	5 January 2006
Place of death	London, United Kingdom