Harry Hylton-Foster Explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Right Honourable
Sir Harry Hylton-Foster
Birth Date:10 April 1905
Birth Place:Surrey, England
Death Place:London, England
Office1:Speaker of the House of Commons
of the United Kingdom
Term Start1:20 October 1959
Term End1:2 September 1965
Monarch1:Elizabeth II
Primeminister1:Harold Macmillan
Alec Douglas-Home
Harold Wilson
Predecessor1:William Morrison
Successor1:Horace King
Office2:Solicitor-General for England
Term Start2:18 October 1954
Term End2:22 October 1959
Primeminister2:Winston Churchill
Anthony Eden
Harold Macmillan
Predecessor2:Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller
Successor2:Sir Jocelyn Simon
Office3:Member of Parliament
for Cities of London and Westminster
Parliament3:United Kingdom
Term Start3:8 October 1959
Term End3:2 September 1965
Predecessor3:Sir Harold Webbe
Successor3:John Smith
Office4:Member of Parliament
for York
Term Start4:23 February 1950
Term End4:18 September 1959
Predecessor4:John Corlett
Successor4:Charles Longbottom
Party:Conservative
Spouse:Audrey Brown
Alma Mater:Magdalen College, Oxford

Sir Harry Braustyn Hylton Hylton-Foster (10 April 1905 – 2 September 1965), was a British Conservative Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1950 until his death in 1965. He was also the Speaker of the House of Commons for the final six years of his life.

Early life

Hylton-Foster was born in Surrey, his father was a barrister, and he was educated at Eton College before reading jurisprudence at Magdalen College, Oxford, in which he graduated with a first-class degree. He was called to the bar by the Inner Temple in 1928, at which time he was also working as a legal secretary for Robert Finlay, 1st Viscount Finlay.

Military service

During the Second World War, Hylton-Foster served in the Royal Air Force volunteer reserve. He also served as a deputy judge advocate, a military judge, in North Africa.

Political career

After the end of the war, he stood as the Conservative candidate for the Shipley seat in the 1945 general election, but was unsuccessful. However, in the 1950 election he succeeded in taking the York seat, a seat he held for the next two elections before standing for the safer seat for the Cities of London and Westminster in the 1959 election. He was made King's Counsel in 1947.In 1954, Hylton-Foster was named the Solicitor-General for England, receiving the customary knighthood. The fact that he was serving as solicitor general when he was named speaker of the House of Commons in 1959 was a source of some controversy, which was compounded by the fact that the opposition Labour Party felt they had been insufficiently consulted about the nomination. However, once the controversy died down, Hylton-Foster proved to be a popular and respected speaker.

Personal life, death and aftermath

Hylton-Foster was married to the former Audrey Brown.

On 2 September 1965, Hylton-Foster collapsed while walking along Duke Street, St James's. Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead, aged 60, upon arrival at nearby St George's Hospital.[1] Audrey Hylton-Foster was given a life peerage as Baroness Hylton-Foster in his honour the same year, and was granted a life annuity by the Honourable Lady Hylton-Foster's Annuity Act 1965.

Hylton-Foster and his wife are buried together in the churchyard of St Barnabas Church, Ranmore Common, Surrey.

Arms

Escutcheon:Argent on a fess Vert between three bugle-horns Sable stringed Or a representation of the Speaker’s Mace in fess head to the dexter Or a bordure Vert.[2]
Crest:In front of a bugle-horn as in the arms a greyhound courant Argent.

Notes and References

  1. News: The Speaker Dies in London Street. The Times. 3 September 1965. 10.
  2. Web site: Speaker Hylton-Foster . 10 September 2011 . Baz Manning . 20 January 2022.