Robin Turton, Baron Tranmire

(Redirected from Robert Turton) British politician (1903–1994)

The Right HonourableThe Lord TranmireKBE MC PC JP DL
Turton in 1949

Father of the House of Commons
In office 19 February 1965 – 8 February 1974
Preceded by	Rab Butler
Succeeded by	George Strauss
Member of Parliament for Thirsk and Malton
In office 30 May 1929 – 8 February 1974
Preceded by	Edmund Turton
Succeeded by	John Spence

Personal details
Born	Robert Hugh Turton (1903-08-08)8 August 1903 Kildale, North Riding of Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Died	17 January 1994(1994-01-17) (aged 90)
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	Eton College, Balliol College, Oxford
Occupation	Lawyer

Robert Hugh Turton, Baron Tranmire, KBE, MC, PC, JP, DL (8 August 1903 – 17 January 1994) was a British Conservative Party politician.

Biography

The son of Major R B Turton of Kildale Hall, Kildale, North Riding of Yorkshire, Turton was educated at Eton College and at Balliol College, Oxford. He was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple in 1926.

Turton joined the 4th Battalion of the Green Howards at the outbreak of World War II and served as Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General of the 50th (Northumbrian) Division. He was awarded the Military Cross in 1942.

At the 1929 general election, Turton was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Thirsk and Malton, a seat which he held continuously until his retirement from the House of Commons at the February 1974 general election. Turton was Father of the House from 1965 to 1974. He attributed his election as an MP at the unusually young age of 25 to the death of his predecessor and kinsman Sir Edmund Turton, 1st Baronet three weeks before polling day and the local Conservative association not wanting to waste its "Vote For Turton" posters.

Turton held ministerial office as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Insurance from 1951 to 1953, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance from 1953 to 1954, and as Joint Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from October 1954 to December 1955. From December 1955 to January 1957 Turton served in Sir Anthony Eden's Ministry as Minister of Health, a post then outside of the Cabinet but of Cabinet rank, and was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1955.

In Parliament Turton was Chairman of the Select Committee on Procedure from 1970 to 1974. He was opposed to British membership of the EEC.

He was appointed as Justice of the Peace in 1936 and a Deputy Lieutenant for the North Riding of Yorkshire in 1962.

Turton was cousin twice removed of Peter Bottomley, who became Father of the House after the 2019 general election.

Coat of arms of Robin Turton, Baron Tranmire
	Notes Arms granted to The Rt Hon, The Baron Tranmire of Upsall in the North Riding of Yorkshire, KBE, MC, PC, JP, DL circa 1974 Crest Out of a Park Pales Gules a Dexter Cubit Arm vested Vert cuffed Argent the hand grasping a Flag-Staff proper therefrom flowing a Flag per pale Argent and Azure fringed Or charged with a Trefoil slipped fesswise counterchanged Torse Argent and azure Escutcheon Ermine nine Trefoils slipped four three and two alternately Vert and Azure in base a Cross Crosslet fitchée Sable a Canton Gules; Motto Formosa Quae Honesta Orders Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Military Cross

"No. 35715". The London Gazette (Supplement). 24 September 1942. p. 4154.
Guinness Book of Records
David Butler and Uwe Kitzinger, The 1975 Referendum (London: Macmillan, 1976), p. 11, p. 100.
"No. 45384". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 1971. p. 5963.
"No. 46289". The London Gazette. 14 May 1974. p. 5851.
Mikhailova, Anna (23 December 2019). "Sir Peter Bottomley, the new Father of the House: 'Each department I was in, I would say – you have at least one minister too many'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235.
"Life Peerages – T". Cracroft's Peerage: The Complete Guide to the British Peerage & Baronetage. Heraldic Media Ltd. Retrieved 8 May 2013.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded bySir Edmund Turton, Bt.	Member of Parliament for Thirsk & Malton 1929 – Feb. 1974	Succeeded byJohn Spence
Preceded byRab Butler	Father of the House 1965 – 1974	Succeeded byGeorge Strauss
Political offices
Preceded byIain Macleod	Minister of Health 1955 – 1957	Succeeded byDennis Vosper

v t e Health secretaries of the United Kingdom
Ministers of Health	Christopher Addison Alfred Mond Arthur Griffith-Boscawen Neville Chamberlain William Joynson-Hicks John Wheatley Neville Chamberlain Arthur Greenwood Neville Chamberlain Hilton Young Kingsley Wood Walter Elliot Malcolm MacDonald Ernest Brown Henry Willink Aneurin Bevan Hilary Marquand Harry Crookshank Iain Macleod Robin Turton Dennis Vosper Derek Walker-Smith Enoch Powell Anthony Barber Kenneth Robinson
Secretaries of State for Social Services	Richard Crossman Sir Keith Joseph Barbara Castle David Ennals Patrick Jenkin Norman Fowler John Moore
Secretaries of State for Health	Kenneth Clarke William Waldegrave Virginia Bottomley Stephen Dorrell Frank Dobson Alan Milburn John Reid Patricia Hewitt Alan Johnson Andy Burnham Andrew Lansley Jeremy Hunt
Secretaries of State for Health and Social Care	Jeremy Hunt Matt Hancock Sajid Javid Steve Barclay Thérèse Coffey Steve Barclay Victoria Atkins Wes Streeting

v t e Fathers of the House of Commons of England and House of Commons of the United Kingdom
Fagg Turgis Musgrave Strangways Onslow Erle E. Vaughan R. Vaughan Powlett Isham Turner Bradshaigh Ashe Cartwright Shuttleworth Gybbon Rushout Aislabie FitzRoy-Scudamore Nugent Frederick Ellis Drake Stephens Tudway Aubrey Smith Byng Williams-Wynn Harcourt Burrell Lowther T. Williams Lowry-Corry Weld-Forester Talbot Villiers Mowbray Beach Hicks Beach Finch Campbell-Bannerman Kennaway Burt O'Connor Lloyd George Winterton O'Neill Grenfell Churchill Butler Turton Strauss Parker Callaghan Braine Heath Dalyell A. Williams Tapsell Kaufman Clarke Bottomley Leigh