View source for Kingsley Wood

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2012}}
{{short description|British politician (1881–1943)}}
{{Infobox officeholder 
 | honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]] Sir
 | name=Kingsley Wood
 | honorific-suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MP}}
 | image         = Kinglsey Wood.jpg
 | office        = [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]]
 | term_start    = 12 May 1940
 | term_end      = 21 September 1943
 | primeminister = [[Winston Churchill]]
 | predecessor   = [[John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon|Sir John Simon]]
 | successor     = [[John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley|Sir John Anderson]]
 | office1       = [[Lord Privy Seal]]
 | term_start1   = 3 April 1940
 | term_end1     = 12 May 1940
 | primeminister1= [[Neville Chamberlain]]
 | predecessor1  = [[Samuel Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood|Samuel Hoare]]
 | successor1    = [[Clement Attlee]]
 | office2       = [[Secretary of State for Air]]
 | term_start2   = 16 May 1938
 | term_end2     = 3 April 1940
 | primeminister2= [[Neville Chamberlain]]
 | predecessor2  = [[Philip Cunliffe-Lister, 1st Earl of Swinton|Philip Cunliffe-Lister]]
 | successor2    = [[Samuel Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood|Sir Samuel Hoare]]
 | office3       = [[Secretary of State for Health|Minister of Health]]
 | term_start3   = 7 June 1935
 | term_end3     = 16 May 1938
 | primeminister3= [[Stanley Baldwin]]<br />[[Neville Chamberlain]]
 | predecessor3  = [[Hilton Young, 1st Baron Kennet|Hilton Young]]
 | successor3    = [[Walter Elliot (Scottish politician)|Walter Elliot]]
 | office4       = [[Postmaster General of the United Kingdom|Postmaster General]]
 | term_start4   = 25 August 1931
 | term_end4     = 7 June 1935
 | primeminister4= [[Ramsay MacDonald]]<br />[[Stanley Baldwin]]
 | predecessor4  = [[William Ormsby-Gore, 4th Baron Harlech|William Ormsby-Gore]]
 | successor4    = [[George Tryon, 1st Baron Tryon|George Tryon]]
 | order5        = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]<br /> for [[Woolwich West (UK Parliament constituency)|Woolwich West]]
 | term_start5   = 14 December 1918
 | term_end5     = 21 September 1943
 | predecessor5  = Office Created
 | successor5    = [[Francis Beech]]
 | birth_name    = Howard Kingsley Wood
 | birth_date    = {{Birth date|1881|8|19|df=y}}
 | birth_place   = [[Kingston-Upon-Hull]], [[England]]
 | death_date    = {{death date and age|1943|9|21|1881|8|19|df=y}}
 | death_place   = [[London]], England
 | party         = [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]
 | spouse        = {{marriage|Agnes Lilian|1905}}
 | children      = 1 daughter
}}
'''Sir Howard Kingsley Wood''' (19 August 1881 – 21 September 1943) was a British [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] politician. The son of a [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan Methodist]] minister, he qualified as a solicitor, and successfully specialised in industrial insurance. He became a member of the [[London County Council]] and then a [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Member of Parliament]].

Wood served as junior minister to [[Neville Chamberlain]] at the [[Secretary of State for Health|Ministry of Health]], establishing a close personal and political alliance. His first cabinet post was [[United Kingdom Postmaster General|Postmaster General]], in which he transformed the British [[General Post Office|Post Office]] from a bureaucracy to a business. As [[Secretary of State for Air]] in the months before the Second World War he oversaw a huge increase in the production of warplanes to bring Britain up to parity with Germany. When [[Winston Churchill]] became Prime Minister in 1940, Wood was made [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]], in which post he adopted policies propounded by [[John Maynard Keynes]], changing the role of [[HM Treasury]] from custodian of government income and expenditure to steering the entire British economy.

One of Wood's last innovations was the creation of [[Pay-as-you-earn tax|Pay As You Earn]], under which income tax is deducted from employees' current pay, rather than being collected retrospectively. This system remains in force in Britain. Wood died suddenly on the day on which the new system was to be announced to Parliament.

==Early years==
Wood was born in [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]], eldest of three children of the Rev. Arthur Wood, a [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan Methodist]] minister, and his wife, Harriett Siddons, ''née'' Howard.<ref name=dnb>{{cite ODNB|last=Peden|first=G. C.|id=37002|title=Wood, Sir (Howard) Kingsley (1881–1943)}}</ref> His father was appointed to be minister of [[Wesley's Chapel]] in London, where Wood grew up, attending nearby [[Central Foundation Boys' School]].<ref name=CFBS>{{cite web|title=Alumni |url=http://www.centralfoundationboys.co.uk/about/old-pupils |website=[[Central Foundation Boys' School]] |access-date=6 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227031024/http://www.centralfoundationboys.co.uk/about/old-pupils |archive-date=27 February 2015 }}</ref><ref name=j394>Jenkins, p. 394</ref> He was [[Articled clerk|articled]] to a [[solicitor]], qualifying in 1903 with honours in his law examinations.<ref>"The Law Society", ''The Times'', 23 May 1903, p. 5</ref>

In 1905 Wood married Agnes Lilian Fawcett (d. 1955); there were no biological children of the marriage, but the couple adopted a daughter.<ref name=j394/> Wood established his own law firm in the [[City of London]], specialising in industrial insurance law. He represented the industrial insurance companies in their negotiations with the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] government before the introduction of [[David Lloyd George|Lloyd George]]'s [[National Insurance Act 1911|National Insurance Bill]] in 1911, gaining valuable concessions for his clients.<ref name=dnb/>

Wood was first elected to office as a member of the [[London County Council]] (LCC) at a by-election on 22 November 1911, representing the [[Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich|Borough of Woolwich]] for the [[Municipal Reform Party]].<ref name=dnb/> His importance in the field of insurance grew over the next few years; his biographer [[Roy Jenkins]] has called him "the legal panjandrum of industrial insurance".<ref name=j394/> He chaired the London Old Age Pension Authority in 1915 and the London Insurance Committee from 1917 to 1918, was a member of the National Insurance Advisory Committee from 1911 to 1919, chairman of the Faculty of Insurance from 1916 to 1919 and president of the faculty in 1920, 1922 and 1923.<ref name=dnb/> At the LCC he was a member of the council committees on [[Insurance in the United Kingdom|insurance]], [[Pensions in the United Kingdom|pensions]] and [[Housing in the United Kingdom|housing]].<ref name=j394/> He was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in 1918 at the unusually early age of 36. It was not then, as it later became, the practice to state in honours lists the reason for the conferring of an honour,<ref>"New Year Honours – The Official Lists", ''The Times'', 1 January 1918, p. 7</ref> but Jenkins writes that Wood's knighthood was essentially for his work in the insurance field.<ref name=j394/>

==Member of Parliament==
Wood was elected to [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] as a [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] in the "[[1918 United Kingdom general election|khaki election]]" of 1918. His constituency, [[Woolwich West (UK Parliament constituency)|Woolwich West]], was [[Marginal seat|marginal]], but he represented it for the rest of his life.<ref name=j394/> Before being elected, he had attracted notice by advocating the establishment of a [[Department of Health (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Health]];<ref name=dnb/> after the election he was appointed [[Parliamentary Private Secretary]] (an unpaid assistant to a minister, a traditional first rung on the political ladder) to the first Minister of Health, [[Christopher Addison, 1st Viscount Addison|Christopher Addison]].<ref name=j394/>

After the collapse of the [[Lloyd George ministry|coalition government]] in 1922, Wood was offered no post in the [[Conservative government, 1922–1924|Conservative government]] formed by [[Andrew Bonar Law|Bonar Law]].<ref name=dnb/> As a backbencher, Wood successfully introduced the Summer Time Bill of 1924. This measure, passed in the teeth of opposition from the agricultural lobby, provided for a permanent annual [[Summer time in Europe|summer time]] period of six months from the first Sunday in April to the first Sunday in October.<ref>"'Summer Time' for Six Months", ''The Times'', 31 January 1924, p. 14</ref>

When [[Stanley Baldwin|Baldwin]] succeeded Law in 1924, Wood was appointed [[Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health]], as junior minister to [[Neville Chamberlain]]. The two served at the [[Ministry of Health (UK)|Ministry of Health]] from 11 November 1924 to 4 June 1929, becoming friends and firm political allies.<ref name=dnb/> They worked closely together on local government reform, including a radical updating of local taxation, the "[[Rates (tax)|rates]]", based on property values.<ref>"Rating Reform – New Bill in the Commons", ''The Times'', 14 May 1925, p. 16</ref> Wood's political standing was marked by his appointment as a civil commissioner during the [[1926 United Kingdom general strike|general strike]] of 1926,<ref name=dnb/> and, unusually for a junior minister, as a [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|privy councillor]] in 1928.<ref name=j395>Jenkins, p. 395</ref> In 1930 he was elected as the first chairman of the executive committee of the [[National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations]].<ref name=dnb/>

When the [[First National Ministry|National Government]] was formed by [[Ramsay MacDonald]] in 1931, Wood was made [[Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education]]. After the general election of November 1931 he was promoted to the office of [[United Kingdom Postmaster General|Postmaster General]].<ref name=j395/> The position did not entail automatic membership of the cabinet, but Wood was made a cabinet member in 1933.

==Ministerial service==
[[File:4-prime-ministers.jpg|thumb|right|Wood served as a minister under (top) [[Ramsay MacDonald]], [[Stanley Baldwin]], (bottom) [[Neville Chamberlain]] and [[Winston Churchill]]]]
As minister in charge of the [[General Post Office]] (GPO), Wood inherited an old-fashioned organisation, not equipped to meet the needs of the 1930s. In particular its management of the national telephone system, a GPO monopoly, was widely criticised.<ref name=dnb/> Wood considered reconstituting the whole of the GPO, changing it from a government department to what would later be called a [[quango]], and he set up an independent committee to advise him on this. The committee recommended that the GPO should remain a department of state, but adopt a more commercial approach.<ref name=j395/>

Under Wood the GPO introduced [[Freepost|reply paid]] arrangements for businesses,<ref>"Business Reply Cards – Post Office Innovation", ''The Times'', 18 February 1932, p. 9</ref> and set up a national [[teleprinter]] service.<ref>"Teleprinters – Post Office Arrangements for Lease", ''The Times'', 1 March 1932, p. 13</ref> For the telephone service, still mostly dependent on manual operators, the GPO introduced a programme of building new automated exchanges.<ref>"Four Exchanges in One – New London Telephone Building Opened", ''The Times'', 9 November 1932, p. 6</ref> For the postal service, the GPO built up a large fleet of motor vehicles to speed delivery, with 3,000 vans and 1,200 motor-cycles.<ref>"The Post Office in 1933 – Sir Kingsley Wood on New Projects", ''The Times'', 3 January 1933, p. 15</ref> Wood was a strong believer in publicity; he set up an advertising campaign for the telephone system which dramatically increased the number of subscribers, and he established the [[GPO Film Unit]] which gained a high aesthetic reputation as well as raising the GPO's profile.<ref name=j396>Jenkins, p. 396</ref> Most importantly, Wood transformed the senior management of the GPO and negotiated a practical financial deal with [[HM Treasury]]. The civil service post of Secretary to the Post Office was replaced by a director general with an expert board of management. The old financial rules, by which all the GPO's surplus revenue was surrendered to the Treasury had long prevented reinvestment in the business; Wood negotiated a new arrangement under which the GPO would pay an agreed annual sum to the Treasury and keep the remainder of its revenue for investment.<ref name=dnb/>

When MacDonald was succeeded as [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]] by Baldwin in 1935, Wood was appointed [[Secretary of State for Health|Minister of Health]]. Despite its title, the Ministry was at that time at least as concerned with housing as with health. Under Wood, his biographer [[G. C. Peden]] writes, "the [[Slum clearance in the United Kingdom|slum clearance]] programme was pursued with energy, and overcrowding was greatly reduced. There was also a marked improvement in maternal mortality, mainly due to the discovery of [[Antibiotic|antibiotics]] able to counteract [[Sepsis|septicaemia]], but also because a full-time, salaried midwifery service was created under the Midwives Act of 1936."<ref name=dnb/> Jenkins comments that the housing boom of the 1930s was one of the two main contributors to such economic recovery as there was after the [[Great Depression in the United Kingdom|Great Depression]].<ref name=j396/>

[[File:Royal Air Force- France 1939-1940. C18.jpg|thumb|right|Kingsley Wood, as Secretary of State for Air,
accompanied by Air Marshal [[Patrick Playfair]] visit an RAF unit in France, c.1939-1940]]
When [[Anthony Eden]] resigned from Chamberlain's government in March 1938, Wood moved to be [[Secretary of State for Air]] in the ensuing reshuffle. The UK was then producing 80 new warplanes a month. Within two years under Wood the figure had risen to 546 a month.<ref>Jenkins, pp. 396–397</ref> By the outbreak of the Second World War, Britain was producing as many new warplanes as Germany.<ref name=dnb/> Wood's tenure as Secretary of State for Air coincided with the [[Phoney War]], and during this time he limited RAF activity to [[Airborne leaflet propaganda|dropping propaganda leaflets]] rather than [[Strategic bombing during World War II|strategic bombing]]. When [[Leo Amery]] urged him to destroy the [[Black Forest]] with incendiary bombs in reaction to the [[invasion of Poland]], he is said to have replied "Are you aware it is [[private property]]?... Why, you will be asking me bomb [[Essen]] next!"<ref>Bouverie, Tim (2019). ''Appeasement: Chamberlain, Hitler, Churchill, and the Road to War'' (1 ed.). New York: [[Tim Duggan Books]]. pp. 380-381. {{ISBN|978-0-451-49984-4}}. {{OCLC|1042099346}}.</ref> By early 1940, Wood was worn out by his efforts, and Chamberlain moved him to the non-departmental office of [[Lord Privy Seal]], switching the incumbent, [[Samuel Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood|Sir Samuel Hoare]], to the Air Ministry in Wood's place. Wood's job was to chair both the Home Policy Committee of the cabinet, which considered "all social service and other domestic questions and reviews proposals for legislation" and the Food Policy Committee, overseeing "the problems of [[food policy]] and home agriculture".<ref>"A Reshuffle of the Government – Ministers Exchange Offices", ''The Times'', 4 April 1940, p. 8</ref> He held this position for only a few weeks; the downfall of Chamberlain affected Wood in an unexpected way.

In May 1940, as a trusted friend, Wood told Chamberlain "affectionately but firmly" that after the debacle of the British [[Norwegian campaign|defeat in Norway]] and the ensuing [[Norway Debate|Commons debate]], his position as Prime Minister was impossible and he must resign.<ref name=j397>Jenkins, p. 587</ref> He also advised [[Winston Churchill]] to ignore pressure from those who wanted [[E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax|Lord Halifax]], not Churchill, as Chamberlain's successor.<ref name=dnb/> Chamberlain agreed to resign on 9 May, but considered going back on his decision the next day as the German attack on the [[Western Front (World War II)|Western Front]] had begun; Wood told him that he had to go through with his resignation.<ref name=j397>Jenkins, p. 587</ref> Both men acted on Wood's advice. Churchill became Prime Minister on 10 May 1940; Wood was appointed [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] on 12 May.<ref>"Names of New Ministers – Key Posts for Opposition – Sir K. Wood at the Exchequer", ''The Times'', 13 May 1940, p. 6</ref>

==Chancellorship of the Exchequer and death==
One of the reasons for Wood's appointment to the Treasury seems to have been Churchill's urgent desire to be rid of the incumbent [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]], [[John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon|Sir John Simon]], whom Churchill detested.<ref name=j397/> Another may have been Wood's record of working well with politicians from other parties.<ref>Jenkins pp. 394–396</ref> In peacetime, the Chancellor of the Exchequer is often the most important member of the cabinet after the Prime Minister,<ref name=j397/> but the exigencies of the war reduced the Chancellor's precedence. The Treasury temporarily ceased to be the core department of government. In Peden's words, "Non-military aspects of policy, including [[economic policy]], were co-ordinated by a cabinet committee … The Treasury's main jobs were to finance the war with as little [[inflation]] as possible, to conduct external financial policy so as to secure overseas supplies on the best possible terms, and to take part in planning for the post-war period."<ref name=dnb/>

Wood was Chancellor, as Jenkins notes, "for the forty key months of the Second World War".<ref>Jenkins, p. 393</ref> He presented four budgets to [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]]. His first, in July 1940, passed with little notice, and brought into effect some minor changes planned by his predecessor. Of more long-lasting impact was his creation in the same month of a council of economic advisers, the most notable of whom, [[John Maynard Keynes]], was quickly recruited as a full-time adviser at the Treasury. Jenkins detects Keynes's influence in Wood's second budget, in April 1941.<ref name=j399>Jenkins, p. 399</ref> It brought in a top income tax rate of 19s 6d (97½ pence in [[decimal currency]]) and added two million to the number of income tax payers; for the first time in Britain's history the majority of the population was liable to [[Income Tax in the United Kingdom|income tax]].<ref name=j399/> Keynes convinced Wood that he should abandon the orthodox Treasury doctrine that Chancellors' budgets were purely to regulate governmental revenue and expenditure; Wood, despite some misgivings on Churchill's part, adopted Keynes's conception of using national income accounting to control the economy.

With the hugely increased public expenditure necessitated by the war – it increased sixfold between 1938 and 1943 – inflation was always a danger.<ref name=j399/> Wood sought to head off inflationary wage claims by subsidising essential [[Rationing in the United Kingdom|rationed goods]], while imposing heavy taxes on goods classed as non-essential.<ref name=dnb/> The last change he pioneered as Chancellor was the system of [[Pay-as-you-earn tax|Pay As You Earn]] (PAYE), by which income tax is deducted from current pay rather than paid retrospectively on past years' earnings.<ref name=j400/> He did not live to see it come into effect; he died suddenly at his London home on the morning of the day on which he was due to announce PAYE in the House of Commons.<ref name=j400>Jenkins, p. 400</ref> He was 62.

Wood was referred to in the book ''[[Guilty Men]]'' by [[Michael Foot]], [[Frank Owen (politician)|Frank Owen]] and [[Peter Howard (journalist)|Peter Howard]] (writing under the pseudonym "Cato"), published in 1940 as an attack on public figures for their failure to re-arm and their [[appeasement]] of [[Nazi Germany]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Guilty men|last=Cato|publisher=V. Gollancz|year=1940|location=London|oclc=301463537}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite book|last=Jenkins |first=Roy |year=1998 |title=The Chancellors |location=London |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=0-333-73057-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Gault|first=Hugh|year=2014|title=Making the Heavens Hum Part 1: Kingsley Wood and the Art of the Possible 1881-1924|location=Cambridge|publisher=Gretton Books |isbn=978-0-9562041-7-2}}
* {{cite book|last=Gault|first=Hugh|year=2017|title=Making the Heavens Hum Part 2: Scenes from a Political Life: Kingsley Wood 1925-1943|location=Cambridge|publisher=Gretton Books |isbn=978-0-9562041-9-6}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Kingsley Wood}}
* {{hansard-contribs | sir-kingsley-wood | Kingsley Wood }}
* {{PM20|FID=pe/039562}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{s-new | constituency |reason = ([[Woolwich (UK Parliament constituency)|Woolwich]] divided)}}
{{s-ttl
 | title  = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Woolwich West (UK Parliament constituency)|Woolwich West]]
 | years  = [[1918 United Kingdom general election|1918]]–[[1943 Woolwich West by-election|1943]]
}}
{{s-aft | after  = [[Francis William Beech]] }}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box | title=[[United Kingdom Postmaster General|Postmaster General]] | before=[[William Ormsby-Gore, 4th Baron Harlech|Sir William Ormsby-Gore]] | after=[[George Tryon, 1st Baron Tryon|George Tryon]] | years=1931–1935}}
{{succession box | title=[[Secretary of State for Health|Minister of Health]] | before=[[Hilton Young, 1st Baron Kennet|Sir Hilton Young]] | after=[[Walter Elliot (Scottish politician)|Walter Elliot]] | years=1935–1938}}
{{succession box | title=[[Secretary of State for Air]] | before=[[Philip Cunliffe-Lister, 1st Earl of Swinton|The Viscount Swinton]] | after=[[Samuel Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood|Sir Samuel Hoare, Bt]] | years=1938–1940}}
{{succession box | title=[[Lord Privy Seal]] | before=[[Samuel Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood|Sir Samuel Hoare, Bt]] | after=[[Clement Attlee]] | years=1940}}
{{succession box | title=[[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] | before=[[John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon|Sir John Simon]] | after=[[John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley|Sir John Anderson]] | years=1940–1943}}
{{s-end}}

{{British Chancellors of the Exchequer}}
{{Secretary of State for Health}}
{{First Lords of the Admiralty}}
{{Chamberlain War Ministry}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Kingsley}}
[[Category:1881 births]]
[[Category:1943 deaths]]
[[Category:Secretaries of state for air (UK)]]
[[Category:Chancellors of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies]]
[[Category:British Methodists]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Lords Privy Seal]]
[[Category:Members of London County Council]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ministers in the Churchill wartime government, 1940–1945]]
[[Category:People educated at Central Foundation Boys' School]]
[[Category:Politicians from Kingston upon Hull]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1918–1922]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1922–1923]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1923–1924]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1924–1929]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1929–1931]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1931–1935]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1935–1945]]
[[Category:Postmasters general of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ministers in the Chamberlain wartime government, 1939–1940]]
[[Category:Ministers in the Chamberlain peacetime government, 1937–1939]]