75-578: Earl Bathurst , of Bathurst in the County of Sussex, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain . The medieval English word was Botehurst, thought to date at least from the 13th century. Bote is the origination of Battle, although the family may have settled there post-dating the Conquest. This translated as 'a wood in a wood' which may in contradistinction have meant a clearing. The name of Apsley adopted by
150-399: A Keynesian strategy of deficit spending to maintain demand and pursuit of corporatist policies to develop the domestic market as the engine of growth. Benefiting from favourable international conditions, he presided over an age of affluence , marked by low unemployment and high—if uneven—growth. In his speech of July 1957 he told the nation it had "never had it so good", but warned of
225-761: A French veto of the United Kingdom's entry into the European Economic Community and independent French acquisition of nuclear weapons in 1960 . Near the end of his premiership, his government was rocked by the Vassall Tribunal and the Profumo affair , which to cultural conservatives and supporters of opposing parties alike seemed to symbolise moral decay of the British establishment. Following his resignation, Macmillan lived out
300-469: A bulwark against Soviet totalitarianism and to prevent a recurrence of the horrors of Nazi rule. Although Macmillan played an important role in drafting the " Industrial Charter " ("Crossbencher" in the Sunday Express called it the second edition of The Middle Way ) he now, as MP for a safe seat, adopted a somewhat more right-wing public persona, defending private enterprise and fiercely opposing
375-715: A long retirement as an elder statesman, being an active member of the House of Lords in his final years. He died in December 1986 at the age of 92. Macmillan was born on 10 February 1894, at 52 Cadogan Place in Chelsea , London, to Maurice Crawford Macmillan, a publisher, and the former Helen (Nellie) Artie Tarleton Belles, an artist and socialite from Spencer, Indiana . He had two brothers, Daniel, eight years his senior, and Arthur, four years his senior. His paternal grandfather, Daniel MacMillan , who founded Macmillan Publishers ,
450-580: A move which Churchill favoured. In June 1944 he argued for a British-led thrust up the Ljubljana Gap into Central Europe (Operation "Armpit") instead of the planned diversion of US and Free French forces to the South of France ( Operation Dragoon ). This proposal impressed Churchill and General Alexander , but did not meet with American approval. Eden sent out Robert Dixon to abolish the job of Resident Minister, there being then no job for Macmillan back in
525-666: A non-social context, 'Your Grace'. The last non-royal dukedom of Great Britain was created in 1766, and the last marquessate of Great Britain was created in 1796. Creation of the remaining ranks ceased when the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was formed; subsequent creations of peers were in the Peerage of the United Kingdom . The last 8 (6 non-royal and two royal) people who were created hereditary peers (from 1798 to 1800) were: Currently none Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton , (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986)
600-734: A pro-British regime to remain in power, as Churchill had demanded in the Percentages agreement the previous autumn. In 1947 the US would take over Britain's role as "protector" of Greece and Turkey, to keep the Soviets out of the Mediterranean, the so-called " Truman Doctrine ". Macmillan was also the minister advising General Keightley of V Corps , the senior Allied commander in Austria responsible for Operation Keelhaul , which included
675-418: A public career even for the "innocent party". Macmillan and Lady Dorothy lived largely separate lives in private thereafter. The stress caused by that may have contributed to Macmillan's nervous breakdown in 1931. He was often treated with condescension by his aristocratic in-laws and was observed to be a sad and isolated figure at Chatsworth in the 1930s. John Campbell suggests that Macmillan's humiliation
750-615: A series of operations. He was still on crutches at the Armistice of 11 November 1918 . His hip wound took four years to heal completely, and he was left with a slight shuffle to his walk and a limp grip in his right hand from his previous wound, which affected his handwriting. Macmillan saw himself as both a "gownsman" and a "swordsman" and would later display open contempt for other politicians (e.g. Rab Butler , Hugh Gaitskell , Harold Wilson ) who, often through no fault of their own, had not seen military service in either World War. Of
825-555: A tank and was under sniper fire at the British Embassy. Despite the hostility of large sections of British and American opinion, who were sympathetic to the guerrillas and hostile to what was seen as imperialist behaviour, he persuaded a reluctant Churchill, who visited Athens later in the month, to accept Archbishop Damaskinos as Regent on behalf of the exiled King George II . A truce was negotiated in January 1945, enabling
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#1732771835039900-580: Is his son, Hon. Theodore George Eugene Bathurst (b. 2023) Peerage of Great Britain The Peerage of Great Britain comprises all extant peerages created in the Kingdom of Great Britain between the Acts of Union 1707 and the Acts of Union 1800 . It replaced the Peerage of England and the Peerage of Scotland , but was itself replaced by the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1801. The ranks of
975-622: The 1924 general election for Stockton-on-Tees . Losing his seat in 1929, he regained it in 1931, soon after which he spoke out against the high rate of unemployment in Stockton. He opposed the appeasement of Germany practised by the Conservative government. He rose to high office during the Second World War as a protégé of Prime Minister Winston Churchill . In the 1950s Macmillan served as Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of
1050-803: The Battle of the Somme ) in September 1916, he was severely wounded, and lay for over twelve hours in a shell hole, sometimes feigning death when Germans passed, and reading Aeschylus in the original Greek . Raymond Asquith , eldest son of the prime minister, was a brother officer in Macmillan's regiment and was killed that month. Macmillan spent the final two years of the war in King Edward VII's Hospital in Grosvenor Gardens undergoing
1125-698: The Free French leader Charles de Gaulle . Macmillan wrote in his diary during the Casablanca conference: "I christened the two personalities the Emperor of the East and the Emperor of the West and indeed it was rather like a meeting of the late Roman empire". For Macmillan, the "remarkable and romantic episodes" as President Roosevelt met Prime Minister Churchill in Casablanca convinced him that personal diplomacy
1200-472: The Free French government in Algeria (after the liberation of mainland France , he later continued as Ambassador to France from November 1944) and Noel Charles as Ambassador to Italy to reduce Macmillan's influence. In May 1944 Macmillan infuriated Eden by demanding an early peace treaty with Italy (at that time a pro-Allied regime under Badoglio held some power in the southern, liberated, part of Italy),
1275-537: The House of Commons as a Tory . He never married and was succeeded by his younger brother, the fifth Earl. He sat as Member of Parliament for Weobly. He also died unmarried and was succeeded by his nephew, the sixth Earl. He was the son of Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. Thomas Seymour Bathurst, third and youngest son of the third Earl. Lord Bathurst represented Cirencester in Parliament as a Conservative . On his death,
1350-517: The House of Commons for his old seat in 1931 . Macmillan spent the 1930s on the backbenches. In March 1932 he published "The State and Industry" (not to be confused with his earlier pamphlet "Industry and the State"). In September 1932 he made his first visit to the Soviet Union. Macmillan also published "The Next Step". He advocated cheap money and state direction of investment . In 1933 he
1425-758: The Board of Trade , as Foreign Secretary , as Secretary of State for War and the Colonies and as Lord President of the Council. He gave his name to Bathurst, the capital of The Gambia , now called Banjul ; to the Australian town of Bathurst , the first inland city in the country; and to Bathurst Street , a major street in Toronto in Canada. His eldest son, the fourth Earl, represented Weobley and Cirencester in
1500-571: The Cabinet list, was a poisoned chalice, writing in his diary (28 October 1951) that it was "not my cup of tea at all ... I really haven't a clue how to set about the job". It meant obtaining scarce steel, cement and timber when the Treasury were trying to maximise exports and minimise imports. 'It is a gamble—it will make or mar your political career,' Churchill said, 'but every humble home will bless your name if you succeed.' By July 1952 Macmillan
1575-699: The Conservatives faced landslide defeat after the war, causing Channon to write (6 Sep 1944) of "the foolish prophecy of that nice ass Harold Macmillan". In October 1942 Harold Nicolson recorded Macmillan as predicting "extreme socialism" after the war. Macmillan nearly resigned when Oliver Stanley was appointed Secretary of State in November 1942, as he would no longer be the spokesman in the Commons as he had been under Cranborne. Brendan Bracken advised him not to quit. After Harry Crookshank had refused
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#17327718350391650-463: The Duke's daughter Lady Dorothy was announced on 7 January 1920. He relinquished his commission on 1 April 1920. As was common for contemporary former officers, he continued to be known as 'Captain Macmillan' until the early 1930s and was listed as such in every general election between 1923 and 1931. As late as his North African posting of 1942–43 he reminded Churchill that he held the rank of captain in
1725-570: The Elder . Her nephew William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington , married Kathleen Kennedy , a sister of John F. Kennedy . In 1929, Lady Dorothy began a lifelong affair with the Conservative politician Robert Boothby , an arrangement that scandalised high society but remained unknown to the general public. Philip Frere, a partner in Frere Cholmely solicitors, urged Macmillan not to divorce his wife, which at that time would have been fatal to
1800-661: The Exchequer under Anthony Eden . When Eden resigned in 1957 following the Suez Crisis , Macmillan succeeded him as prime minister and Leader of the Conservative Party . He was a One Nation Tory of the Disraelian tradition and supported the post-war consensus . He supported the welfare state and the necessity of a mixed economy with some nationalised industries and strong trade unions. He championed
1875-645: The Fleet Sir Benjamin Bathurst , First Sea Lord between 1993 and 1995, is the grandson of the Honourable Benjamin Bathurst , Member of Parliament for Cirencester , third son of the sixth Earl. Benjamin Bathurst , younger son of the second Earl, was a diplomat best known for his sudden disappearance in 1809. The politician Charles Bathurst (who was born Charles Bragge and assumed the surname of Bathurst in 1804),
1950-869: The Greeks in the American empire. You will find the Americans much as the Greeks found the Romans—great big, vulgar bustling people, more vigorous than we are and also more idle, with more unspoiled virtues, but also more corrupt. We must run AFHQ ( Allied Forces Headquarters ) as the Greek slaves ran the operations of the Emperor Claudius ". At the Casablanca Conference Macmillan helped to secure US acceptance, if not recognition, of
2025-470: The Guards reserve. On his return to London in 1920 he joined the family publishing firm Macmillan Publishers as a junior partner. In 1936, Harold and his brother Daniel took control of the firm, with the former focusing on the political and non-fiction side of the business. Harold resigned from the company on appointment to ministerial office in 1940. He resumed working with the firm from 1945 to 1951 when
2100-693: The House of Commons Chamber. Macmillan finally attained office by serving in the wartime coalition government as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Supply from 1940. Channon commented (29 May 1940) that there was "some amusement over Harold Macmillan's so obvious enjoyment of his new position". Macmillan's job was to provide armaments and other equipment to the British Army and Royal Air Force . He travelled up and down
2175-762: The Italian armistice in August 1943, between the fall of Sicily and the Salerno Landings . This caused friction with Eden and the Foreign Office. He was based at Caserta for the rest of the war. He was appointed UK High Commissioner for the Advisory Council for Italy late in 1943. He visited London in October 1943 and again clashed with Eden. Eden appointed Duff Cooper as Representative to
2250-492: The Labour government in the House of Commons. With the Conservative victory in 1951 Macmillan became Minister of Housing & Local Government under Churchill, who entrusted him with fulfilling the pledge to build 300,000 houses per year (up from the previous target of 200,000 a year), made in response to a speech from the floor at the 1950 Party Conference. Macmillan thought at first that Housing, which ranked 13 out of 16 in
2325-454: The Liberal vote let him win in 1924 . In 1927, four MPs, including Boothby and Macmillan, published a short book advocating radical measures. In 1928, Macmillan was described by his political hero, and now Parliamentary colleague, David Lloyd George, as a "born rebel". Macmillan lost his seat in 1929 in the face of high regional unemployment. He almost became Conservative candidate for
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2400-676: The Lords. In the following table of peers of Great Britain, holders of higher or equal titles in the other peerages are listed. Those peers who are known by a higher title in one of the other peerages are listed in italics . The ranks of the peerage are Duke , Marquess , Earl , Viscount , and Baron . Marquesses, earls, viscounts and barons are all addressed as 'Lord X', where 'X' represents either their territory or surname pertaining to their title. Marchionesses, countesses, viscountesses and baronesses are all addressed as 'Lady X'. Dukes and duchesses are addressed just as 'Duke' or 'Duchess' or, in
2475-496: The Mediterranean (SACMED), which proved helpful in his career, and Richard Crossman later recalled that Macmillan's "Greeks in the Roman Empire" metaphor dated from this time (i.e., that as the US replaced Britain as the world's leading power, British politicians and diplomats should aim to guide her in the same way that Greek slaves and freedmen had advised powerful Romans). Macmillan told Crossman: "We, my dear Crossman, are
2550-703: The November 1945 by-election in Bromley . In his diary Harold Nicolson noted the feelings of the Tory backbenchers: "They feel that Winston is too old and Anthony (Eden) too weak. They want Harold Macmillan to lead them." He was a member of the British delegation to the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe from 1949 to 1951, and played a prominent role – as a key aide and ally of Winston Churchill – in pressing for greater European integration as
2625-569: The Peerage of Great Britain are Duke , Marquess , Earl , Viscount and Baron . Until the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999 , all peers of Great Britain could sit in the House of Lords . Some peerages of Great Britain were created for peers in the Peerage of Scotland and Peerage of Ireland as they did not have an automatic seat in the House of Lords until the Peerage Act 1963 which gave Scottish Peers an automatic right to sit in
2700-515: The Peerage of Great Britain in his own right as Baron Apsley , in the County of Sussex. He then served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain until 1778 and later held office as Lord President of the Council . Bathurst constructed Apsley House in London , which later became the seat of the Dukes of Wellington . His eldest son Henry, the third Earl, was a noted politician. He served as President of
2775-470: The Peerage of Great Britain sixty years before in 1712 as Baron Bathurst , of Battlesden in the County of Bedford. He married his cousin Catherine Apsley, daughter of his maternal uncle Sir Peter Apsley, in 1704. He was succeeded by his second but eldest surviving son, the second Earl. He was a prominent lawyer and politician. In 1771, four years before the death of his father, he was raised to
2850-566: The UK, but he managed to prevent his job being abolished. Churchill visited Italy in August 1944. On 14 September 1944 Macmillan was appointed Chief Commissioner of the Allied Control Commission for Italy (in succession to General Noel Mason-MacFarlane ). He continued to be British Minister Resident at Allied Headquarters and British political adviser to "Jumbo" Wilson , now Supreme Commander, Mediterranean. On 10 November 1944 he
2925-587: The actress wife of Irish dramatist Seán O'Casey , was another female friend, Macmillan publishing her husband's plays. Although she is said to have replaced Lady Dorothy in Macmillan's affections, there is disagreement over how intimate they became after the deaths of their respective spouses, and whether he proposed. Macmillan contested the depressed northern industrial constituency of Stockton-on-Tees in 1923 . The campaign cost him about £200-£300 out of his own pocket; at that time candidates were often expected to fund their own election campaigns. The collapse in
3000-527: The country to co-ordinate production, working with some success under Lord Beaverbrook to increase the supply and quality of armoured vehicles . Macmillan was appointed Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1942, in his own words "leaving a madhouse to enter a mausoleum". Though a junior minister he was a member of the Privy Council , and he spoke in the House of Commons for Colonial Secretaries Lord Moyne and Lord Cranborne . Macmillan
3075-404: The dangers of inflation, summing up the fragile prosperity of the 1950s. He led the Conservatives to success in 1959 with an increased majority. In international affairs, Macmillan worked to rebuild the Special Relationship with the United States from the wreckage of the 1956 Suez Crisis (of which he had been one of the architects), and facilitated the decolonisation of Africa. Reconfiguring
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3150-442: The daughter of the 9th Duke of Devonshire , on 21 April 1920. Her great-uncle was Spencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire , who was leader of the Liberal Party in the 1870s, and a close colleague of William Ewart Gladstone , Joseph Chamberlain and Lord Salisbury . Lady Dorothy was also descended from William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire , who served as prime minister from 1756 to 1757 in communion with Newcastle and Pitt
3225-632: The end of 1918 Macmillan joined the Guards Reserve Battalion at Chelsea Barracks for "light duties". On one occasion he had to command reliable troops in a nearby park as a unit of Guardsmen was briefly refusing to reembark for France, although the incident was resolved peacefully. The incident prompted an inquiry from the War Office as to whether the Guards Reserve Battalion "could be relied on". Macmillan then served in Ottawa , Canada, in 1919 as aide-de-camp (ADC) to Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire , then Governor General of Canada , and his future father-in-law. The engagement of Captain Macmillan to
3300-445: The event of defeat. Macmillan returned to England after the European war, feeling himself 'almost a stranger at home'. He was Secretary of State for Air for two months in Churchill's caretaker government , 'much of which was taken up in electioneering', there being 'nothing much to be done in the way of forward planning'. Macmillan indeed lost Stockton in the landslide Labour victory of July 1945 , but returned to Parliament in
3375-439: The family derived from Thakenham, near Pulborough in east Sussex, which may have referred to apse - lea or a 'church in a meadow'. The Bathurst estates were at Cirencester Park and Paulerspury, Northamptonshire, which Bathursts inherited before the park was laid out in the Cotswolds. The title Earl of Bathurst was created in 1772 for Allen Bathurst, 1st Baron Bathurst , a politician and an opponent of Sir Robert Walpole . Bathurst
3450-585: The forced repatriation of up to 70,000 prisoners of war to the Soviet Union and Josip Broz Tito 's Yugoslavia in 1945. The deportations and Macmillan's involvement later became a source of controversy because of the harsh treatment meted out to Nazi collaborators and anti-partisans by the receiving countries, and because in the confusion V Corps went beyond the terms agreed at Yalta and Allied Forces Headquarters directives by repatriating 4000 White Russian troops and 11,000 civilian family members. Macmillan toyed with an offer to succeed Duff Cooper as MP for
3525-414: The independent candidate, Lindsay , at the 1938 Oxford by-election . He wrote a pamphlet "The Price of Peace" calling for alliance between Britain, France and the USSR, but expecting Poland to make territorial "accommodation" to Germany (i.e. give up the Danzig corridor ). In "Economic Aspects of Defence", early in 1939, he called for a Ministry of Supply. Macmillan visited Finland in February 1940, then
3600-474: The job, Macmillan attained real power and Cabinet rank late in 1942 as British Minister Resident at Algiers in the Mediterranean, recently liberated in Operation Torch . He reported directly to the Prime Minister instead of to the Foreign Secretary , Anthony Eden . Oliver Lyttelton had a similar job at Cairo, while Robert Murphy was Macmillan's US counterpart. Macmillan built a rapport with US General Dwight D. Eisenhower , then Supreme Allied Commander in
3675-446: The leadership of both the Labour and Conservative parties. Macmillan supported Chamberlain's first flight for talks with Hitler at Berchtesgaden, but not his subsequent flights to Bad Godesberg and Munich. After Munich he was looking for a "1931 in reverse", i.e. a Labour-dominated coalition in which some Conservatives would serve, the reverse of the Conservative-dominated coalition which had governed Britain since 1931. He supported
3750-488: The lifting of sanctions on Italy after her conquest of Abyssinia . "Chips" Channon described him as the "unprepossessing, bookish, eccentric member for Stockton-on-Tees" and recorded (8 July 1936) that he had been sent a "frigid note" by Conservative Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin . Baldwin later mentioned that he had survived by steering a middle course between Macmillan and John Gretton , an extreme right-winger. The Next Five Years Group, to which Macmillan had belonged,
3825-454: The nation's defences to meet the realities of the nuclear age, he ended National Service , strengthened the nuclear forces by acquiring Polaris , and pioneered the Nuclear Test Ban with the United States and the Soviet Union. After the Skybolt Crisis undermined the Anglo-American strategic relationship, he sought a more active role for Britain in Europe, but his unwillingness to disclose United States nuclear secrets to France contributed to
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#17327718350393900-505: The party was in opposition. According to Michael Bloch , there have long been rumours that Macmillan was expelled from Eton for homosexuality. Macmillan's biographer D. R. Thorpe is of the view that he was removed by his mother when she discovered that he was being "used" by older boys. Dick Leonard reports that Alistair Horne refers to "inevitable rumours" and that "he left for the 'usual reasons' for boys to be expelled from public schools". Macmillan married Lady Dorothy Cavendish ,
3975-410: The right hand and receiving a glancing bullet wound to the head in the Battle of Loos in September 1915, Macmillan was sent to Lennox Gardens in Chelsea for hospital treatment, then joined a reserve battalion at Chelsea Barracks from January to March 1916, until his hand had healed. He then returned to the front lines in France. Leading an advance platoon in the Battle of Flers–Courcelette (part of
4050-408: The safe Conservative seat of Westminster St George's . Criticised locally for his long absence, he suggested that Lady Dorothy stand for Stockton in 1945, as she had been nursing the seat for five years. She was apparently willing. However, it was thought better for him to be seen to defend his seat, and Lord Beaverbrook had already spoken to Churchill to arrange that Macmillan be given another seat in
4125-414: The safe seat of Hitchin in 1931. However the sitting MP, Guy Kindersley cancelled his retirement plans, in part because of his own association with the anti-Baldwin rebels and his suspicion of Macmillan's sympathy for Oswald Mosley 's promises of radical measures to reduce unemployment. Instead, the resignation of the new candidate at Stockton allowed Macmillan to be re-selected there, and he returned to
4200-414: The scholars and exhibitioners of his year, only he and one other survived the war. As a result, he refused to return to Oxford to complete his degree, saying the university would never be the same; in later years he joked that he had been "sent down by the Kaiser ". Owing to the impending contraction of the Army after the war, a regular commission in the Grenadiers was out of the question. However, at
4275-551: The subject of great sympathy in Britain as it was being invaded by the USSR , then loosely allied to Nazi Germany. His last speech from the backbenches was to attack the government for not doing enough to help Finland. Britain was saved from a potentially embarrassing commitment when the Winter War ended in March 1940. Macmillan voted against the Government in the Norway Debate of May 1940, helping to bring down Neville Chamberlain as prime minister, and tried to join in with Colonel Josiah Wedgwood singing " Rule, Britannia! " in
4350-452: The titles passed to his eldest son, the seventh Earl. He was for some years the owner of the Morning Post . Lord Bathurst's eldest son and heir apparent Allen Bathurst, Lord Apsley , was Member of Parliament for Southampton and Bristol Central . In 1942 he was killed in the Second World War , predeceasing his father by one year. His wife Viola Bathurst, Lady Apsley , succeeded him as Member of Parliament for Bristol Central. Lord Bathurst
4425-411: The war not intervened. He obtained a First in Honour Moderations , informally known as 'Mods' (consisting of Latin and Greek, the first half of the four-year Oxford Literae Humaniores course, informally known as "Classics"), in 1914. With his final exams over two years away, he enjoyed an idyllic Trinity term at Oxford, just before the outbreak of the First World War. Volunteering as soon as war
4500-443: Was Third Scholar at Eton College , but his time there (1906–10) was blighted by recurrent illness, starting with a near-fatal attack of pneumonia in his first half (term); he missed his final year after being taken ill, and was taught at home by private tutors (1910–11), notably Ronald Knox , who did much to instil his High Church Anglicanism . He won an exhibition (scholarship) to Balliol College, Oxford . In his youth, he
4575-447: Was a British statesman and Conservative politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Nicknamed " Supermac ", he was known for his pragmatism , wit, and unflappability . Macmillan was seriously injured as an infantry officer during the First World War. He suffered pain and partial immobility for the rest of his life. After the war he joined his family book-publishing business , then entered Parliament at
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#17327718350394650-417: Was already criticising Butler (then Chancellor of the Exchequer) in his diary, accusing him of "dislik(ing) and fear(ing) him"; in fact there is no evidence that Butler regarded Macmillan as a rival at this stage. In April 1953 Beaverbrook encouraged Macmillan to think that in a future leadership contest he might emerge in a dead heat between Eden and Butler, as the young Beaverbrook (Max Aitken as he had been at
4725-443: Was also particularly impressed by a speech by Lloyd George at the Oxford Union Society in 1913, where he had become a member. Macmillan was a protégé of the president of the Union Society Walter Monckton , later a Cabinet colleague; as such, he became secretary then junior treasurer (elected unopposed in March 1914, then an unusual occurrence) of the Union, and would in his biographers' view "almost certainly" have been president had
4800-674: Was an admirer of the policies and leadership of a succession of Liberal prime ministers, starting with Henry Campbell-Bannerman , who came to power when Macmillan was 11 years old and H. H. Asquith , whom he later described as having "intellectual sincerity and moral nobility", and particularly of Asquith's successor, David Lloyd George , whom he regarded as a "man of action", likely to accomplish his goals. Macmillan went up to Balliol College in 1912, where he joined many political societies. His political opinions at this stage were an eclectic mix of moderate conservatism, moderate liberalism and Fabian socialism. He read avidly about Disraeli , but
4875-436: Was appointed Acting President of the Allied Commission (the Supreme Commander being President). Macmillan visited Greece on 11 December 1944. As the Germans had withdrawn, British troops under General Scobie had deployed to Athens, but there were concerns that the pro-communist Greek resistance, EAM and its military wing ELAS , would take power (see Dekemvriana ) or come into conflict with British troops. Macmillan rode in
4950-427: Was declared, Macmillan was commissioned as a temporary second lieutenant in the King's Royal Rifle Corps on 19 November 1914. Promoted to lieutenant on 30 January 1915, he soon transferred to the Grenadier Guards . He fought on the front lines in France , where the casualty rate was high, including the probability of an "early violent death". He served with distinction and was wounded on three occasions. Shot in
5025-449: Was first a major cause of his odd and rebellious behaviour in the 1930s then, in subsequent decades, made him a harder and more ruthless politician than his rivals Eden and Butler. The Macmillans had four children: Lady Dorothy died on 21 May 1966, aged 65. In old age, Macmillan was a close friend of Ava Anderson, Viscountess Waverley , née Bodley, the widow of John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley . Eileen O'Casey , née Reynolds,
5100-443: Was given responsibility for increasing colonial production and trade, and signalled the future policy direction when in June 1942 he declared: The governing principle of the Colonial Empire should be the principle of partnership between the various elements composing it. Out of partnership comes understanding and friendship. Within the fabric of the Commonwealth lies the future of the Colonial territories. Macmillan predicted that
5175-406: Was known for his wit and learning, for his connections with poets and scholars of his time, and for the famous landscape garden he created at his seat, Cirencester House , in Gloucestershire . He was the son of Sir Benjamin Bathurst , Cofferer of the Household and Governor of the British East India Company , by his wife Frances, daughter of Sir Allen Apsley and had previously been elevated to
5250-424: Was succeeded by his grandson, the eighth Earl, who held political office under Harold Macmillan as a Lord-in-waiting (government whip in the House of Lords) from 1957 to 1961 and as Joint Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department from 1961 to 1962. As of 2014 the titles are held by his son, the ninth Earl, who succeeded in 2011. Several other members of the family have also gained distinction. Admiral of
5325-472: Was the best way to deal with Americans, which later influenced his foreign policy as prime minister. On 22 February 1943, Macmillan was badly burned in a plane crash, trying to climb back into the plane to rescue a Frenchman. He had to have a plaster cast put on his face. In his delirium he imagined himself back in a Somme casualty clearing station and asked for a message to be passed to his mother, now dead. Together with Gladwyn Jebb he helped to negotiate
5400-417: Was the sole author of "Reconstruction: A Plea for a National Unity". In 1935 he was one of 15 MPs to write "Planning for Employment". His next publication, "The Next Five Years", was overshadowed by Lloyd George's proposed "New Deal" in 1935. Macmillan Press also published the work of the economist John Maynard Keynes . Macmillan resigned the government whip (but not the Conservative party one) in protest at
5475-490: Was the son of Anne Bathurst, granddaughter of Sir Benjamin Bathurst, younger brother of the first Earl Bathurst. He was the great-grandfather of Charles Bathurst, 1st Viscount Bledisloe . The family seat is Cirencester House , near Cirencester , Gloucestershire . The heir apparent is the present holder's earl's son Benjamin George Henry Bathurst, Lord Apsley (b. 1990) The heir apparent’s heir apparent
5550-711: Was the son of a Scottish crofter from the Isle of Arran . Macmillan considered himself a Scot. Macmillan received an intensive early education, closely guided by his American mother. He learned French at home every morning from a succession of nursery maids, and exercised daily at Mr Macpherson's Gymnasium and Dancing Academy, around the corner from the family home. From the age of six or seven he received introductory lessons in classical Latin and Greek at Mr Gladstone's day school , close by in Sloane Square . Macmillan attended Summer Fields School , Oxford (1903–06). He
5625-495: Was wound up in November 1937. His book The Middle Way appeared in June 1938, advocating a broadly centrist political philosophy both domestically and internationally. Macmillan took control of the magazine New Outlook and made sure it published political tracts rather than purely theoretical work. In 1936, Macmillan proposed the creation of a cross-party forum of antifascists to create democratic unity but his ideas were rejected by
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