Stephen King-Hall

Sir William Stephen Richard King-Hall, Baron King-Hall of Headley (21 January 1893 - 1 June 1966) was a British journalist, politician and playwright. cite web
last = Lundy
first = Darryl
title = Sir William Stephen King-Hall, Baron King-Hall
publisher = thePeerage.com
url = http://www.thepeerage.com/p19150.htm#i191492]

Life

Born to Admiral Sir George Fowler King-Hall and Olga Felicia Ker the family was an artistic Naval family, sisters Magdalen and Lou also being writers. He married Kathleen Amelia Spencer (d 14 Aug 1950), daughter of Francis Spencer, on 15 April 1919 and they had three children, Ann, Frances Susan and Jane.

He was educated at Lausanne in Switzerland and at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth. He fought in the First World War between 1914 and 1918, with the Grand Fleet, serving on HMS Southampton and 11th Submarine Flotilla. He gained the rank of Commander in the service of the Royal Navy in 1928, before resigning in 1929. He wrote several plays between 1924 and 1940. He joined the Royal Institute of International Affairs in 1929, having previously been awarded their Gold Medal for his 1920 thesis on submarine warfare. He entered the House of Commons in 1939 as Member of Parliament for Ormskirk standing as the National Labour Party candidate. He later changed his affiliation and continued to stand as an Independent, subsequently losing the seat to future Prime Minister Harold Wilson in the 1945 general election. During the Second World War, he served in the Ministry of Aircraft Production under Beaverbrook as Director of the Factory Defence Section. [cite book
last = Edgerton
first = David
title = Warfare State: Britain, 1920-1970
publisher = Cambridge University Press
date = December 2005
location = Cambridge
pages = 154
url = http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521672317
doi = 10.2277/0521672317
isbn = 978-0521672313] In 1944 he founded and chaired the Hansard Society to promote parliamentary democracy. He presented a programme for children on current affairs on both BBC radio and television. He was invested as a Knight Bachelor in 1954 and was created Baron King-Hall, of Headley in the County of Hampshire (Life Peer) on 15 January 1966. He died on 1 June 1966.

Research and writing

*"Submarines in the Future of Naval Warfare", 1920. Thesis.

*His 1958 book "Defence in the Nuclear Age" advocated a British policy of unilateral nuclear disarmament and national defense by civilian nonviolent resistance. [London: Gollancz, 1958; Nyack, N.Y.: Fellowship, 1959.] [ [http://www.genekeyes.com/SNVDCO.html Gene Keyes, "Strategic Nonviolent Defense: The Construct of an Option" (1981)] ] [ [http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/pubs/05pc.html Brian Martin, "Researching nonviolent action: past themes and future possibilities" (2005)] ]

Locations

He lived at Hartfield House, Headley until his death.

Media

* Western Civilization and the Far East, 1924
* The Middle Watch, 1930
* The Midshipmaid, 1932
* Admirals All, 1935
* Tropical Trouble, 1936
* The Middle Watch, 1940
* Carry on Admiral, 1957
* Girls at Sea, 1958
* BBC Children's Hour
* London Newsletter (a.k.a. K-H Weekly News Letter, National News Letter)

References

#

imdb name|0455398
#cite web
title = Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
publisher = University of London - King's College
url = http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/summary/ki30-001.shtml
#cite web
title = William Stephen Richard King-Hall, Baron King-Hall (1893-1966), Sailor, writer and commentator
publisher = National Portrait Gallery
url = http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp02549
#cite web
title = Britain and the Future
publisher = The Empire Club of Canada
url = http://www.empireclubfoundation.com/details.asp?SpeechID=372&FT=yes

External links

* [http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=mediatype%3A(texts)%20-contributor%3Agutenberg%20AND%20(subject%3A%22King-Hall%2C%20Stephen%2C%201893-1966%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22King-Hall%2C%20Stephen%2C%201893-1966%22%20OR%20creator%3AStephen%20King-Hall) Works by or about Stephen King-Hall] at Internet Archive (scanned books original editions color illustrated)

succession box | title=Member of Parliament for Ormskirk | before=Sam Tom Rosbotham | after=Harold Wilson | years=1939–1945

Persondata
NAME = Baron King-Hall of Headley, Sir William Stephen Richard King-Hall
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = King-Hall, Stephen; King-Hall, William Stephen Richard
SHORT DESCRIPTION = English journalist, politician and playwright
DATE OF BIRTH = 21 January 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH =
DATE OF DEATH = 1 June 1966
PLACE OF DEATH = Headley, East Hampshire, Hampshire, UK