Malcolm Bullock Explained

Captain Sir Harold Malcolm Bullock, 1st Baronet, (10 July 1889 – 20 June 1966[1]) was a British soldier and Conservative Party politician.

Life

Bullock was the son of iron merchant Frank M. Bullock, of Milhanger, Thursley, Surrey[2] [3] He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. Bullock normally went by his middle name of Malcolm rather than his first name. He reached the rank of Captain in the Scots Guards. In 1923 he was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Waterloo in Liverpool, a position he retained until the constituency was abolished in 1950. He was re-elected in the new Crosby constituency at both the 1950 and 1951 general elections,[4] [5] before resigning as an MP in October 1953 due to ill-health.[6] In February 1954 he was created a baronet, of Crosby in the County Palatine of Lancaster.

Bullock married Lady Victoria Alice Louise Primrose, daughter of Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby and widow of Neil Primrose, in 1919. They had one daughter, Priscilla, who married the racehorse trainer Peter Hastings, later Peter Hastings-Bass. Lady Victoria died in a riding accident in November 1927, aged 35. Bullock died in June 1966, aged 76, when the baronetcy became extinct.[7] His great-granddaughter is Clare Balding.[8]

According to the diaries of close friend and fellow Conservative MP Robert Boothby, Baron Boothby, Bullock was homosexual.[9] [10] At the time homosexuality was illegal in the UK. Bullock was part of a circle of well-known members of British high society who attended Sir Philip Sassoon’s glamorous house parties at Port Lympne Mansion, where it was understood that they could conduct secret relationships in privacy.[8]

Notes and References

  1. GRO Register of Births: Sep 1889 Bullock, Harold Malcolm, Dartford 2a 455
  2. Book: Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage . 1963 . 140 .
  3. Book: Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes . 1921 . 291 .
  4. Web site: UK General Election results February 1950 . Political Science Resources . Richard Kimber . 2008-08-24 . 9 June 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080609184656/http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/ge50/i06.htm . dead .
  5. Web site: UK General Election results October 1951 . Political Science Resources . Richard Kimber . 2008-08-24 .
  6. News: Conservative M.P. to Resign . . 26 September 1953 . 6 . Gale Times Digital Archive .
  7. Web site: Sir Harold Malcolm Bullock, 1st and last Bt. . thepeerage.com .
  8. Web site: Clare Balding . . June 19, 2020 . 26 August 2021 .
  9. Book: Bloch, Michael . Closet Queens: Some 20th Century British Politicians . Michael Bloch . 2015-05-28 . Little, Brown Book Group . 9781405517010 . en .
  10. News: Double lives – a history of sex and secrecy at Westminster . Bloch . Michael . Michael Bloch . 2015-05-16 . . 2017-07-22 . en-GB . 0261-3077 .