Francis Pearson
Sir Francis Fenwick Pearson Bt | |
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![]() Sir Francis Fenwick Pearson, 1st Bt in 1969 | |
Member of Parliament for Clitheroe | |
In office 1959–1970 | |
Preceded by | Richard Fort |
Succeeded by | David Walder |
Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister | |
In office 1963–1964 | |
Prime Minister | Alec Douglas-Home |
Preceded by | Knox Cunningham |
Succeeded by | Ernest Fernyhough |
Personal details | |
Born | Francis Fenwick Pearson (1911-06-13)13 June 1911 |
Died | 17 February 1991(1991-02-17) (aged 79) |
Political party | Conservative |
Education | Uppingham School, Rutland |
Alma mater | Trinity Hall, Cambridge |
Occupation | British colonial administrator Chief Minister of Manipur State Farmer |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Branch/service | British Indian Army |
Unit | 1st King George's Own Gurkha Rifles |
Sir Francis Fenwick Pearson, 1st Baronet, MBE, JP, DL (13 June 1911 – 17 February 1991) was a British colonial administrator, farmer and politician.
Colonial service
Pearson attended Uppingham School in Rutland, and then Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant onto the Unattached List for the Indian Army from being a Second Lieutenant, T.A. (University Candidate) in September 1932, with seniority from 29 January 1931. After a year attached to a British regiment in India, he was appointed to the Indian Army and posted to the 1st King George's Own Gurkha Rifles on 3 November 1933. He served as Aide-de-camp to the Viceroy of India from June 1935 to April 1936.[1]
Indian Political Service
Pearson transferred to the Indian Political Service in October 1935. In June 1945 he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire as captain, Indian Political Service.[2]
He served as the President of the Manipur State Durbar (equivalent to chief minister) in the princely state of Manipur from 1945 to 1947. The ruler of Manipur at that time was Maharaja Bodhachandra Singh. Pearson headed the committee that forumulated the Manipur State Constitution Act, passed in May 1947.[3] He handed over power to M. K. Priyabrata Singh on 14 August 1947, the eve of Indian independence.
The village of Pearson in Churachandpur district was named in his honour.
Parliamentary career
Pearson returned to Britain after Indian independence and settled in Lancashire where he became a farmer, and also involved himself in local government. He was a Justice of the Peace for Lancashire from 1952.
At the 1959 general election, Pearson replaced Richard Fort (who had died earlier in the year) as Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Clitheroe, a rural constituency in the Lancashire foothills of the Pennines. He was swiftly named as an Assistant Government Whip (1960) and became a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury (Government Whip) in March 1962.
Parliamentary Private Secretary
Sir Alec Douglas-Home, who became Prime Minister in October 1963, choose Pearson to be his Parliamentary Private Secretary, an unpaid but pivotal role where Pearson had to maintain relations between the Prime Minister and his own backbenchers. When Douglas-Home lost the 1964 general election and resigned as Prime Minister, he gave Pearson a Baronetcy in his resignation honours list.
Lancashire contribution
Pearson retired from Parliament at the 1970 general election, but not from politics. He was Chairman of the Central Lancashire New Town Development Corporation from 1971 (the new town covered Preston, Chorley, Leyland and several other areas).
References
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
- M. Stenton and S. Lees, "Who's Who of British MPs" (Harvester Press, 1981)
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Francis Pearson
Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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Preceded by Richard Fort | Member of Parliament for Clitheroe 1959–1970 | Succeeded by |
Government offices | ||
Preceded by | Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister 1963–1964 | Succeeded by |
Baronetage of the United Kingdom | ||
New creation | Baronet (of Gressingham) 1963–1991 | Succeeded by Francis Pearson |
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- Carr-Gomm 1906–1908
- Howard 1908–1909
- Lyell 1908–1915
- Davidson 1922–1923
- Herbert 1923–1924, 1924–1927
- Rhys 1927–1929
- Geoffery-Lloyd 1935
- Dugdale 1935–1937
- Weir 1924, 1929–1931
- R. Morrison 1929–1931
- Markham 1931–1932
- Glyn 1931–1935
- Worthington 1931–1935
- Douglas-Home 1937–1940
- Bracken 1940–1941
- Harvie-Watt 1941–1945
- Soames 1952–1955
- de Freitas 1945–1946
- Moyle 1946–1951
- Barber 1957–1959
- K. Cunningham 1959–1963
- Pearson 1963–1964
- Kitson 1970–1974
- J. Cunningham 1976–1977
- Stott 1977–1979
- Gow 1979–1983
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