Ernest Marples
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| The Right Honourable The Lord Marples PC |
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| In office 17 January 1957 – 14 October 1959 |
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| Prime Minister | Harold Macmillan |
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| Preceded by | Charles Hill |
| Succeeded by | Reginald Bevins |
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| In office 14 October 1959 – 16 October 1964 |
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| Prime Minister | Harold MacMillan Sir Alec Douglas-Home |
| Preceded by | Harold Watkinson |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Fraser |
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| Born | 9 December 1907 Levenshulme, Manchester, Lancashire |
| Died | 6 July 1978 (aged 70) The Princess Grace Hospital Centre in Monaco |
| Resting place | Southern Cemetery, Manchester |
| Birth name | Alfred Ernest Marples |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
Alfred Ernest Marples, Baron Marples PC (9 December 1907 – 6 July 1978) was a British Conservative politician who served as Postmaster General and Minister of Transport. Following his retirement from active politics in 1974, Marples was elevated to the peerage. His life ended in ignominy, however, after he fled the country to escape various legal and taxation difficulties.
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[edit] Early life
Marples was born at 45 Dorset Road, Levenshulme, Manchester, Lancashire.[1] His father had been a renowned engineering charge-hand and Manchester Labour campaigner, and his mother had worked in a local hat factory. Marples attended Victoria Park Council School and won a scholarship to Stretford Grammar School. By the age of 14 he was already active in the Labour Movement, as well as earning money by selling cigarettes and sweets to Manchester football crowds. He also played football for the YMCA team.
He worked as a miner, a postman, a chef and an accountant. Commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1941 he was later medically discharged with the rank of Captain in 1944. He was instrumental in forming a construction company (Marples Ridgeway Ltd) which was based in Westminster and specialised in civil engineering infrastructure projects. By 1945 he had joined the Conservative Party and was elected to Member of Parliament for Wallasey.
[edit] Government work
He joined the British government in 1957 as Postmaster General, and introduced the subscriber trunk dialling (STD) telephone system which eliminated the use of operators on national phone calls. (At that time the telephone network was still under the control of the General Post Office). On 2 June 1957, he started the first draw for the new Premium Bonds scheme. As Postmaster he introduced postcodes to the UK[2]; a website seeking to make postcode information available without charge has been named www.ernestmarples.com after Marples.
As Minister of Transport (14 October 1959–16 October 1964), he brought in roadside yellow lines, parking meters and seat belts. It was also under Ernest Marples that Dr Richard Beeching was appointed chairman of the British Railways Board. After a study of railway traffic, Beeching produced a report in 1963 proposing the closure of a further 6,000 miles (9,700 km) of the remaining 18,000 miles (29,000 km) of Britain's railway network. The resultant closures, most of which were carried out under the Wilson Labour Government of 1964–1970, became known as the Beeching Axe. To avoid a conflict of interest Marples undertook to sell his controlling shareholder interest in his road construction company as soon as he became Minister of Transport in October 1959, although there was a purchaser's requirement that he buy back the shares after he ceased to hold office, at the original price, should the purchaser so require.[3] The purchaser was later revealed to be his own wife.[citation needed]
He retired from the House of Commons at the February 1974 general election, and in May that year he was made a life peer as Baron Marples, of Wallasey in Cheshire.
[edit] Flight to Monaco
In early 1975, Marples suddenly fled to Monaco. Among the journalists who investigated his unexpected flight was Daily Mirror editor Richard Stott:
"In the early 70s ... he tried to fight off a revaluation of his assets which would undoubtedly cost him dear ... So Marples decided he had to go and hatched a plot to remove £2 million from Britain through his Lichtenstein company ... there was nothing for it but to cut and run, which Marples did just before the tax year of 1975. He left by the night ferry with his belongings crammed into tea chests, leaving the floors of his home in Belgravia littered with discarded clothes and possessions ... He claimed he had been asked to pay nearly 30 years' overdue tax ... The Treasury froze his assets in Britain for the next ten years. By then most of them were safely in Monaco and Lichtenstein." (Richard Stott, 'Dogs and Lampposts', Metro Publishing, 2002, pages 166 – 171)
In addition to being wanted for tax fraud Marples was being sued in Britain by tenants of his slum properties and by former employees.[4] He never returned to Britain, living for the remainder of his life in his French chateau.
When Lord Denning made his 1963 investigation into the security aspects of the Profumo Affair and the rumoured affair between the Minister of Defence, Duncan Sandys, and the Duchess of Argyll, he confirmed to Macmillan that two further rumours appeared to be true. One of these was that Ernest Marples was in the habit of carrying on with prostitutes.[5] The story was suppressed and did not appear in Denning's final report.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ Dutton, D. J., "Ernest Marples", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/31411, retrieved 10 October 2008
- ^ Guardian newspaper article on postcodes, 8 October 2009
- ^ http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1960/jan/28/personal-statement#column_381
- ^ http://terrynorm.ic24.net/photo%20railways.htm
- ^ Lamb, Richard (1995). The Macmillan Years 1957-1963: The Unfolding Truth. London: John Murray. p. 482. ISBN 071955392X.
- ^ Sandbrook, Dominic (2006). Never had it so good: a history of Britain from Suez to the Beatles. London: Abacus. p. 674. ISBN 0-349-11530-3.
[edit] External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Ernest Marples
- Ernest Marples at Find a Grave
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by George Leonard Reakes |
Member of Parliament for Wallasey 1945–February 1974 |
Succeeded by Lynda Chalker |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Charles Hill |
Postmaster General 1957–1959 |
Succeeded by Reginald Bevins |
| Preceded by Harold Watkinson |
Minister of Transport 1959–1964 |
Succeeded by Tom Fraser |
