Humphrey Atkins

Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox officeholder Humphrey Edward Gregory Atkins, Baron Colnbrook, Template:Post-nominals (12 August 1922 – 4 October 1996) was a British politician and a member of the Conservative Party. He served for 32 years as a Member of Parliament (MP), and served in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher from 1979 to 1982.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Early life

Atkins was born on 12 August 1922, in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, son of Captain Edward Davis Atkins and Violet Mary (Template:Nee).<ref name = ODNB>Template:Cite ODNB</ref> His family spent his first few years in Kenya, returning to England after his father died from being attacked by a rhinoceros.<ref name = ODNB/> Atkins was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire, and served in the Royal Navy from 1940 to 1948.<ref name = ODNB/>

In 1944, Atkins married Margaret Spencer-Nairn.<ref name = ODNB/> They had four children, three daughters and one son.<ref name=ulster>Template:Cite web</ref> He worked for Nairn's, his wife's family's linoleum business in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, then became a director of a financial advertising agency.<ref name = ODNB/>

Political career

Atkins contested the constituency of West Lothian in 1951, and was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Merton and Morden in 1955.<ref>UK Parliament website, Merton and Morden</ref> He became MP for Spelthorne in 1970.<ref>UK Parliament website, Spelthorne</ref>

Atkins was the Conservative Chief Whip from 1973 to 1979, and served as a Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 1979 to 1981. In September 1981, he was appointed as Lord Privy Seal, which was a role as the chief government spokesman in the House of Commons for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. This role was necessary because the Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington, sat in the House of Lords. He resigned in April 1982, along with Lord Carrington, over the Falklands invasion.<ref>CAIN website, Atkins, Humphrey Edward Gregory</ref>

Atkins was appointed to the Order of St Michael and St George as a Knight Commander (KCMG) in the 1983 Dissolution Honours.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> He left the House of Commons in 1987 and was created a life peer on 16 October as Baron Colnbrook, of Waltham St Lawrence in the Royal County of Berkshire.<ref name="ulster" /><ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

Death

Atkins died from cancer on 4 October 1996, aged 74, at home in Waltham St Lawrence, Berkshire.<ref name = ODNB/>

External links

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