Christopher Soames, Baron Soames 463807 195371384 2008-03-02T18:53:37Z Histmag 2985818 pl '''Arthur Christopher John Soames, Baron Soames''', [[Order of St Michael and St George|GCMG]], [[Royal Victorian Order|GCVO]], [[Order of the Companions of Honour|CH]], [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]], [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|PC]] ([[October 12]], [[1920]] – [[September 16]], [[1987]]) was a British [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] politician and the son-in-law of [[Winston Churchill]]. A [[European Commissioner]] and the last [[Governor of Southern Rhodesia]], he had previously been the longtime [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Bedford]] from [[1950]] to [[1966]]. He held several government posts and attained Cabinet rank. Soames was the son of Captain [[Arthur Granville Soames]], descendant of a [[brewing]] family which became part of the landed gentry, by his wife [[Hope Mary Woodbine Parish]]. His parents divorced early on, and his mother remarried the 8th [[Baron Dynevor]] (descendant of the 1st and last [[Earl Talbot]]) as her second husband, by whom she had issue including [[Richard Charles Uryan Rhys, 9th Baron Dynevor]]. Christopher Soames married [[Mary Soames, Baroness Soames|Mary Churchill]] (the youngest child of Winston Churchill) on [[February 11]], [[1947]] after military service in World War II. They had five children, of whom the best known is his eldest son [[Nicholas Soames]] MP, the former Conservative [[Shadow Cabinet|Shadow Secretary of State for Defence]]. Before entering politics, he served as the Assistant Military [[Attaché]] in [[Paris]]. He served as the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] [[Member of Parliament|M.P.]] for [[Bedford]] ([[1950]]-[[1966]]). Soames served in the [[Cabinet]] of [[Harold Macmillan]] as [[Secretary of State for War]] from [[1958]] to [[1960]] and [[Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food]] from [[1960]] to [[1964]] under Macmillan and his successor [[Alec Douglas-Home]]. In [[1968]] [[Harold Wilson]] named Soames the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Ambassador]] to [[France]], where he served until [[1972]]. He was Vice-President of the [[European Commission]] from [[1973]] to [[1976]]. He was created a [[life peer]], becoming ''' Baron Soames''', of [[Fletching, East Sussex|Fletching]] in the County of [[East Sussex]] in [[1978]], and served as the interim Governor of Southern Rhodesia ([[1979]] to [[1980]] between the [[Lancaster House Agreement]] and that country gaining independence as [[Zimbabwe]]. From [[1979]] to [[1981]] he was Conservative [[Leader of the House of Lords]] and thus a minister in [[Margaret Thatcher]]'s government concurrent with his duties in [[Rhodesia]]. He died from [[pancreatitis]] aged 66 and is buried within the Churchill plot at [[St Martin's Church, Bladon]], near [[Woodstock, Oxfordshire]]. ==External links== *[http://www.time.com/time/europe/timetrails/zimbabwe/zi042880.html Time:Festive Birth of a Nation (Zimbabwe)] *[http://www.peterwestern.f9.co.uk/maximilia/pafg346.htm#22769 Maximilian Genealogy Master Database 2000] *[http://www.nicholassoames.org.uk/ Nicholas Soames - MP for Mid Sussex] {{start box}} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box | title = [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Bedford (UK Parliament constituency)|Bedford]] | years = [[United Kingdom general election, 1950|1950]]–[[United Kingdom general election, 1966|1966]] | before = [[Thomas Skeffington-Lodge]] | after = [[Brian Parkyn]] }} {{s-off}} {{succession box | title=[[Secretary of State for War]] | before=[[John Hugh Hare]] | after=[[John Profumo]] | years=1958–1960}} {{succession box | title=[[Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food]] | before=[[John Hugh Hare]] | after=[[Fred Peart, Baron Peart|Fred Peart]] | years=1960–1964}} {{succession box | before=[[Reginald Maudling]] | title=[[Shadow Foreign Secretary]] | years=1965–1966 | after=Sir [[Alec Douglas-Home]]}} {{succession box | title=[[Lord President of the Council]] | before=[[Michael Foot]] | after=[[Francis Pym]] | years=1979–1981}} {{s-dip}} {{succession box|title=[[British Ambassador to France]]|before=[[Patrick Reilly|Sir Patrick Reilly]]|after=[[Edward Tompkins|Sir Edward Tompkins]]|years=1968–1972}} {{end box}} ==References== *Stevan Pavlowitch, ''Apologising for the Empire'', Oxford University Press, England, 1996 [[Category:British Secretaries of State|Soames, Christopher Soames, Baron]] [[Category:Lord Presidents of the Council|Soames, Christopher Soames, Baron]] [[Category:Conservative MPs (UK)|Soames, Christopher Soames, Baron]] [[Category:UK MPs 1950-1951|Soames, Christopher]] [[Category:UK MPs 1951-1955|Soames, Christopher]] [[Category:UK MPs 1955-1959|Soames, Christopher]] [[Category:UK MPs 1959-1964|Soames, Christopher]] [[Category:UK MPs 1964-1966|Soames, Christopher]] [[Category:Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies|Soames, Christopher]] [[Category:Life peers|Soames, Christopher Soames, Baron]] [[Category:Old West Downs|Soames]] [[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Soames, Christopher Soames, Baron]] [[Category:British diplomats|Soames, Christopher Soames, Baron]] [[Category:British colonial governors and administrators|Soames, Christopher Soames, Baron]] [[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George|Soames, Christopher Soames, Baron]] [[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order|Soames, Christopher Soames, Baron]] [[Category:Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour|Soames, Christopher Soames, Baron]] [[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire|Soames, Christopher Soames, Baron]] [[Category:1920 births|Soames, Christopher Soames, Baron]] [[Category:1987 deaths|Soames, Christopher Soames, Baron]] [[Category:Deaths from pancreatitis|Soames, Christopher Soames, Baron]] [[Category:British European Commissioners|Soames, Christopher Soames, Baron]] [[Category:Diplomatic peers|Soames, Christopher Soames, Baron]] [[ca:Christopher Soames]] [[de:Christopher Soames]] [[pl:Christopher Soames]]