Hartley Shawcross: Difference between revisions
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{{Use British English|date=June 2012}} |
{{Use British English|date=June 2012}} |
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{{Infobox officeholder |
{{Infobox officeholder |
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| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]] |
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]] |
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| name = The Lord Shawcross |
| name = The Lord Shawcross |
||
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GBE|PC|QC}} |
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GBE|PC|QC}} |
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| image = Hartley William Shawcross, Baron Shawcross.png |
| image = Hartley William Shawcross, Baron Shawcross.png |
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| caption = Shawcross being interviewed in 1954 |
| caption = Shawcross being interviewed in 1954 |
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| office = [[President of the Board of Trade]] |
| office = [[President of the Board of Trade]] |
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| primeminister = [[Clement Attlee]] |
| primeminister = [[Clement Attlee]] |
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| term_start = 24 April 1951 |
| term_start = 24 April 1951 |
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| term_end = 26 October 1951 |
| term_end = 26 October 1951 |
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| predecessor = [[Harold Wilson]] |
| predecessor = [[Harold Wilson]] |
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| successor = [[Peter Thorneycroft]] |
| successor = [[Peter Thorneycroft]] |
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| office2 = [[Attorney |
| office2 = [[Attorney-General for England]] |
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| primeminister2 = [[Clement Attlee]] |
| primeminister2 = [[Clement Attlee]] |
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| term_start2 = 4 August 1945 |
| term_start2 = 4 August 1945 |
||
| term_end2 = 24 April 1951 |
| term_end2 = 24 April 1951 |
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| predecessor2 = [[David Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir|Sir David Maxwell Fyfe]] |
| predecessor2 = [[David Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir|Sir David Maxwell Fyfe]] |
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| successor2 = [[Frank Soskice|Sir Frank Soskice]] |
| successor2 = [[Frank Soskice|Sir Frank Soskice]] |
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| office3 = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] <br> for [[St Helens (UK Parliament constituency)|St Helens]] |
| office3 = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] <br> for [[St Helens (UK Parliament constituency)|St Helens]] |
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| term_start3 = 5 July 1945 |
| term_start3 = 5 July 1945 |
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| term_end3 |
| term_end3 = May 1958 |
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| predecessor3 = [[William Albert Robinson]] |
| predecessor3 = [[William Albert Robinson]] |
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| successor3 = [[Leslie Spriggs]] |
| successor3 = [[Leslie Spriggs]] |
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| office4 = [[Members of the House of Lords|Member of the House of Lords]]<br/>[[Lords Temporal|Lord Temporal]] |
| office4 = [[Members of the House of Lords|Member of the House of Lords]]<br/>[[Lords Temporal|Lord Temporal]] |
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| term_start4 = 14 February 1959 |
| term_start4 = 14 February 1959 |
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| term_end4 = 10 July 2003<br/>[[Life peer]]age |
| term_end4 = 10 July 2003<br/>[[Life peer]]age |
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| birth_name = Hartley William Shawcross |
| birth_name = Hartley William Shawcross |
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| birth_date = {{birth date|1902|2|4|df=yes}} |
| birth_date = {{birth date|1902|2|4|df=yes}} |
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| birth_place = [[Giessen]], [[Grand Duchy of Hesse]], [[German Empire]] |
| birth_place = [[Giessen]], [[Grand Duchy of Hesse]], [[German Empire]] |
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| death_date = {{death date and age|2003|7|10|1902|2|4|df=yes}} |
| death_date = {{death date and age|2003|7|10|1902|2|4|df=yes}} |
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| death_place = [[Cowbeech|Cowbeech, East Sussex]], England |
| death_place = [[Cowbeech|Cowbeech, East Sussex]], England |
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| nationality = British |
| nationality = British |
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| party = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] (before 1959) |
| party = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] (before 1959) |
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| otherparty = [[Crossbencher]] (1959–2003) |
| otherparty = [[Crossbencher]] (1959–2003) |
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| spouse = {{Plainlist}} |
| spouse = {{Plainlist}} |
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* {{Marriage|Alberta Rosita Shyvers|1924|1943|end=died<!--by suicide-->}} |
* {{Marriage|Alberta Rosita Shyvers|1924|1943|end=died<!--by suicide-->}} |
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* {{Marriage|Joan Winifred Mather|1944|1974|end=died<!--by misadventure-->}} |
* {{Marriage|Joan Winifred Mather|1944|1974|end=died<!--by misadventure-->}} |
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* {{Marriage|Susanne Monique Huiskamp<br>|1997}} |
* {{Marriage|Susanne Monique Huiskamp<br>|1997}} |
||
{{endplainlist}} |
{{endplainlist}} |
||
| children = 3 (by Mather; including [[William Shawcross|William]]) |
| children = 3 (by Mather; including [[William Shawcross|William]]) |
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| education = [[Dulwich College]] |
| education = [[Dulwich College]] |
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| alma_mater = {{ubl|[[London School of Economics]]|[[University of Geneva]]}} |
| alma_mater = {{ubl|[[London School of Economics]]|[[University of Geneva]]}} |
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| awards = [[Knight Bachelor]] (1945) |
| awards = [[Knight Bachelor]] (1945) |
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}} |
}} |
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'''Hartley William Shawcross, Baron Shawcross''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|GBE|PC|QC}} (4 February 1902 – 10 July 2003), known from 1945 to 1959 as '''Sir Hartley Shawcross''', was an English [[barrister]] and [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] politician who served as the lead British prosecutor at the [[Nuremberg trials|Nuremberg War Crimes tribunal]]. He also served as Britain's principal delegate to the [[United Nations]] immediately after the [[Second World War]] and as [[Attorney General for England and Wales]]. |
'''Hartley William Shawcross, Baron Shawcross''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|GBE|PC|QC}} (4 February 1902 – 10 July 2003), known from 1945 to 1959 as '''Sir Hartley Shawcross''', was an English [[barrister]] and [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] politician who served as the lead British prosecutor at the [[Nuremberg trials|Nuremberg War Crimes tribunal]]. He also served as Britain's principal delegate to the [[United Nations]] immediately after the [[Second World War]] and as [[Attorney General for England and Wales|Attorney General for England]]. |
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== Early life == |
== Early life == |
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Hartley William Shawcross was born in [[Giessen, Germany]], elder son of British parents, John Shawcross, [[MA (Oxon)]] ( |
Hartley William Shawcross was born in [[Giessen, Germany]], elder son of British parents, John Shawcross, [[MA (Oxon)]] (1871–1966) and Hilda Constance (died 1942), daughter of G. Asser.<ref>Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1999, p. 2594</ref> At this time, his father was teaching English at [[Giessen University]]. His younger brother, [[Christopher Shawcross|Christopher]] (1905–1973), was a barrister and Labour party politician.<ref>Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1999, p. 2594</ref> Shawcross attended [[Dulwich College]], the [[London School of Economics]] and the [[University of Geneva]] and read for the Bar at [[Gray's Inn]], where he won [[first-class honours]].<ref>Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1999, p. 2594</ref> |
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==Career== |
==Career== |
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{{more citations needed section|date=April 2016}} |
{{more citations needed section|date=April 2016}} |
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[[File:Longines Chronicles with Hartley Shawcross 1954 ARC-96007.ogv|thumb|upright=1.2|Shawcross interviewed on CBS-TV's ''[[Longines Chronoscope]]'' (1954)]] |
[[File:Longines Chronicles with Hartley Shawcross 1954 ARC-96007.ogv|thumb|upright=1.2|Shawcross interviewed on CBS-TV's ''[[Longines Chronoscope]]'' (1954)]] |
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During his initial career as a barrister, Shawcross was part of the legal team hired by the colliery owners at the inquiry into the [[Gresford disaster|Gresford Colliery disaster]] in 1934, [[Stafford Cripps]] in counterpart representing the miners' union.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Walker |first1=Sir Henry, CBE LlD (Commissioner) |author-link1=Henry Walker (mines inspector) |last2=Brass |first2=John, MInstCE MIMinE (Assessor) |author-link2=John Brass (colliery manager) |last3=Jones |first3=Joseph, CBE JP (Assessor) |author-link3=Joseph Jones (trade unionist) |title=Reports on the causes of and circumstances attending the explosion which occurred at Gresford Colliery, Denbigh on 22nd September, 1934 |date=January 1937 |via=Durham Mining Museum |url=http://www.dmm.org.uk/ukreport/5358-01.htm |access-date=21 September 2018}} |
During his initial career as a barrister, Shawcross was part of the legal team hired by the colliery owners at the inquiry into the [[Gresford disaster|Gresford Colliery disaster]] in 1934, [[Stafford Cripps]] in counterpart representing the miners' union.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Walker |first1=Sir Henry, CBE LlD (Commissioner) |author-link1=Henry Walker (mines inspector) |last2=Brass |first2=John, MInstCE MIMinE (Assessor) |author-link2=John Brass (colliery manager) |last3=Jones |first3=Joseph, CBE JP (Assessor) |author-link3=Joseph Jones (trade unionist) |title=Reports on the causes of and circumstances attending the explosion which occurred at Gresford Colliery, Denbigh on 22nd September, 1934 |date=January 1937 |via=Durham Mining Museum |url=http://www.dmm.org.uk/ukreport/5358-01.htm |access-date=21 September 2018}}Section B of report.</ref> |
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He joined the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] and was [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[St Helens (UK Parliament constituency)|St Helens]], [[Lancashire]] from 1945<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=37238 |date=24 August 1945 |page=4294}}</ref> to [[1958 St Helens by-election|1958]], being appointed to be [[Attorney General for England and Wales|Attorney General]] in 1945<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=37222 |date=14 August 1945 |page=4135}}</ref> until 1951. In 1946, when debating the repeal of laws against [[Trade unions in the United Kingdom|trade unions]] in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]], Shawcross allegedly said "We are the masters now",<ref>This is the wording usually quoted, and is attested by eyewitness [[Lord Bruce of Donington|Lord Bruce]] in a ''[[w:New Statesman|New Statesman]]'' [http://www.newstatesman.com/200307280001 article], but it is still a matter of dispute. For full details see [[Wikiquote]], ''[[q:Hartley Shawcross, Baron Shawcross|Hartley Shawcross, Baron Shawcross]]''.</ref> a phrase that came to haunt him. |
He joined the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] and was [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[St Helens (UK Parliament constituency)|St Helens]], [[Lancashire]], from 1945<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=37238 |date=24 August 1945 |page=4294}}</ref> to [[1958 St Helens by-election|1958]], being appointed to be [[Attorney General for England and Wales|Attorney General]] in 1945<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=37222 |date=14 August 1945 |page=4135}}</ref> until 1951. In 1946, when debating the repeal of laws against [[Trade unions in the United Kingdom|trade unions]] in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]], Shawcross allegedly said "We are the masters now",<ref>This is the wording usually quoted, and is attested by eyewitness [[Lord Bruce of Donington|Lord Bruce]] in a ''[[w:New Statesman|New Statesman]]'' [http://www.newstatesman.com/200307280001 article], but it is still a matter of dispute. For full details see [[Wikiquote]], ''[[q:Hartley Shawcross, Baron Shawcross|Hartley Shawcross, Baron Shawcross]]''.</ref> a phrase that came to haunt him. |
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He was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in 1945 upon his appointment as Attorney-General<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37243|date=28 August 1945|page=4345}}</ref> and named Chief Prosecutor for the United Kingdom at the [[Nuremberg Trials]]. |
He was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in 1945 upon his appointment as Attorney-General<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37243|date=28 August 1945|page=4345}}</ref> and named Chief Prosecutor for the United Kingdom at the [[Nuremberg Trials]]. |
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Shawcross's advocacy before the Nuremberg Trial was passionate. His most famous line was: "There comes a point when a man must refuse to answer to his leader if he is also to answer to his own conscience". |
Shawcross's advocacy before the Nuremberg Trial was passionate. His most famous line was: "There comes a point when a man must refuse to answer to his leader if he is also to answer to his own conscience". |
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He avoided the crusading |
He avoided the crusading{{citation needed|date=October 2017}} style of [[United States|America]]n, [[Soviet Union|Soviet]], and French prosecutors. Shawcross's opening speech, which lasted two days, 26 and 27 July 1946, sought to undermine any belief that the Nuremberg Trials were "victor's justice" in the sense of being revenge exacted against defeated foes. He focused on the [[rule of law]] and demonstrated that the laws that the defendants had broken, expressed in international treaties and agreements, were those to which prewar Germany had been a party. In his closing speech, he ridiculed any notion that any of the defendants could have remained ignorant of [[Aktion T4]], extermination of thousands of Germans because they were old or mentally ill. He used the same argument in respect of millions of other people "annihilated in the [[gas chamber]]s or by shooting" and maintained that each of the 22 defendants was a party to "common murder in its most ruthless forms".<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article96475852|title=NAZIS LEADERS LOSING HOPE|date=1946-07-29|work=Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954)|access-date=2020-01-03|pages=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/07-26-46.asp|title=Trial of the Major War Criminals Before the International Military Tribunal|year=1946|volume=19|pages=432–528}}</ref> |
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===Attorney-General and UN Factotum=== |
===Attorney-General and UN Factotum=== |
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Lord Shawcross was married three times. His first wife, Alberta Rosita Shyvers (m. 24 May 1924), suffered from [[multiple sclerosis]] and died by [[suicide]] on 30 December 1943. |
Lord Shawcross was married three times. His first wife, Alberta Rosita Shyvers (m. 24 May 1924), suffered from [[multiple sclerosis]] and died by [[suicide]] on 30 December 1943. |
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His second wife, Joan Winifred Mather (m. 21 September 1944), died in a riding accident on the [[Sussex Downs]] on 26 January 1974. They had three children |
His second wife, Joan Winifred Mather (m. 21 September 1944), died in a riding accident on the [[Sussex Downs]] on 26 January 1974. They had three children: the author and historian [[William Shawcross]], Hume Shawcross and Dr Joanna Shawcross. |
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At the age of 95, he married Susanne Monique (née Jansen), formerly wife of Gerald B. Huiskamp,<ref>Burke's Peerage 1999, vol. 2, p. 2594</ref> on 18 April 1997 in [[Gibraltar]]. Lady Shawcross died on 2 March 2013.<ref>{{cite web|title=Peerage News: The Baroness Shawcross|url=http://peeragenews.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/the-baroness-shawcross.html|date=2013-03-06}}</ref> |
At the age of 95, he married Susanne Monique (née Jansen), formerly wife of Gerald B. Huiskamp,<ref>Burke's Peerage 1999, vol. 2, p. 2594</ref> on 18 April 1997 in [[Gibraltar]]. Lady Shawcross died on 2 March 2013.<ref>{{cite web|title=Peerage News: The Baroness Shawcross|url=http://peeragenews.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/the-baroness-shawcross.html|date=2013-03-06}}</ref> |
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Shawcross was a member of the [[Royal Yacht Squadron]] and the [[Royal Cornwall Yacht Club]].<ref name=debrett/> From 1947 to 1960 he was the owner of ''Vanity V'', a [[12-metre class]] racing yacht designed by [[William Fife]] to the Third International Rule, built in 1936, which he kept at his home in Cornwall.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url= |
Shawcross was a member of the [[Royal Yacht Squadron]] and the [[Royal Cornwall Yacht Club]].<ref name=debrett/> From 1947 to 1960 he was the owner of ''Vanity V'', a [[12-metre class]] racing yacht designed by [[William Fife]] to the Third International Rule, built in 1936, which he kept at his home in Cornwall.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |title=Page on the yacht "Vanity V" |url=https://12mrclass.com/12mr-database/vanityv-k-5/ |access-date=5 February 2024 |website=Website of the International Twelve Metre Association (ITMA)|date=20 January 2020 }}</ref> A later skipper of the boat, John Crill, recalls being told that Lord Shawcross, "when the election was due in about 1951, had ''Vanity V'' repainted with a vast 'Vote Labour' banner all the way along her topsides". |
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Lord Shawcross died on 10 July 2003 at home at [[Cowbeech]], East Sussex, at the age of 101<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1218017.stm|title = Nazi war crimes prosecutor dies|date = 10 July 2003}}</ref> and is buried in the churchyard at Jevington in Sussex. |
Lord Shawcross died on 10 July 2003 at home at [[Cowbeech]], East Sussex, at the age of 101<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1218017.stm|title = Nazi war crimes prosecutor dies|date = 10 July 2003}}</ref> and is buried in the churchyard at Jevington in Sussex.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2003/jul/11/uk.labour4 | title=Lord Shawcross dies at 101 | Politics | the Guardian }}</ref> |
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==Arms== |
==Arms== |
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{{succession box | title=[[St Helens (UK Parliament constituency)|Member of Parliament for St Helens]] | years=[[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945]]–[[1958 St Helens by-election|1958]] | before= [[William Albert Robinson]]| after= [[Leslie Spriggs]]}} |
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| title = [[St Helens (UK Parliament constituency)|Member of Parliament for St Helens]] |
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| years = [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945]]–[[1958 St Helens by-election|1958]] |
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| before = [[William Albert Robinson]] |
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| after = [[Leslie Spriggs]] |
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{{succession box | title=[[Attorney General for England and Wales]] | years=1945–1951 | before=[[David Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir|Sir David Maxwell Fyfe]] | after=[[Frank Soskice|Sir Frank Soskice]]}} |
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| title = [[Attorney-General for England]] |
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| years = 1945–1951 |
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| before = [[David Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir|Sir David Maxwell Fyfe]] |
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| after = [[Frank Soskice|Sir Frank Soskice]] |
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}} |
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| title = [[President of the Board of Trade]] |
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| years = April–October 1951 |
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| before = [[Harold Wilson]] |
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| after = [[Peter Thorneycroft]] |
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}} |
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{{succession box|title=Chairman of the [[Press Council (UK)|Press Council]]|before=[[Edward Pearce, Baron Pearce|Edward Pearce]]|after=[[Patrick Neill, Baron Neill of Bladen|Patrick Neill]]|years=1974–1978}} |
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| title = Chairman of the [[Press Council (UK)|Press Council]] |
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| before = [[Edward Pearce, Baron Pearce|Edward Pearce]] |
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| after = [[Patrick Neill, Baron Neill of Bladen|Patrick Neill]] |
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| years = 1974–1978 |
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}} |
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| title = [[List of senior members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Senior Privy Counsellor]] |
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| years = 1988–2003 |
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| with = [[William Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel|The Earl of Listowel]] (1988–1997) |
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| before = [[Harold Balfour, 1st Baron Balfour of Inchrye|The Lord Balfour of Inchrye]] |
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| after = [[Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh|The Duke of Edinburgh]] |
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| years = 1994–2003 |
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[[Category:Ministers in the Attlee governments, 1945–1951]] |
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Revision as of 00:30, 4 August 2024
The Lord Shawcross | |
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President of the Board of Trade | |
In office 24 April 1951 – 26 October 1951 | |
Prime Minister | Clement Attlee |
Preceded by | Harold Wilson |
Succeeded by | Peter Thorneycroft |
Attorney-General for England | |
In office 4 August 1945 – 24 April 1951 | |
Prime Minister | Clement Attlee |
Preceded by | Sir David Maxwell Fyfe |
Succeeded by | Sir Frank Soskice |
Member of Parliament for St Helens | |
In office 5 July 1945 – May 1958 | |
Preceded by | William Albert Robinson |
Succeeded by | Leslie Spriggs |
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
In office 14 February 1959 – 10 July 2003 Life peerage | |
Personal details | |
Born | Hartley William Shawcross 4 February 1902 Giessen, Grand Duchy of Hesse, German Empire |
Died | 10 July 2003 Cowbeech, East Sussex, England | (aged 101)
Nationality | British |
Political party | Labour (before 1959) |
Other political affiliations | Crossbencher (1959–2003) |
Spouses | Alberta Rosita Shyvers
(m. 1924; died 1943)Joan Winifred Mather
(m. 1944; died 1974)Susanne Monique Huiskamp
(m. 1997) |
Children | 3 (by Mather; including William) |
Education | Dulwich College |
Alma mater | |
Awards | Knight Bachelor (1945) |
Hartley William Shawcross, Baron Shawcross, GBE, PC, QC (4 February 1902 – 10 July 2003), known from 1945 to 1959 as Sir Hartley Shawcross, was an English barrister and Labour politician who served as the lead British prosecutor at the Nuremberg War Crimes tribunal. He also served as Britain's principal delegate to the United Nations immediately after the Second World War and as Attorney General for England.
Early life
Hartley William Shawcross was born in Giessen, Germany, elder son of British parents, John Shawcross, MA (Oxon) (1871–1966) and Hilda Constance (died 1942), daughter of G. Asser.[1] At this time, his father was teaching English at Giessen University. His younger brother, Christopher (1905–1973), was a barrister and Labour party politician.[2] Shawcross attended Dulwich College, the London School of Economics and the University of Geneva and read for the Bar at Gray's Inn, where he won first-class honours.[3]
Career
This section needs additional citations for verification. (April 2016) |
During his initial career as a barrister, Shawcross was part of the legal team hired by the colliery owners at the inquiry into the Gresford Colliery disaster in 1934, Stafford Cripps in counterpart representing the miners' union.[4]
He joined the Labour Party and was Member of Parliament for St Helens, Lancashire, from 1945[5] to 1958, being appointed to be Attorney General in 1945[6] until 1951. In 1946, when debating the repeal of laws against trade unions in the House of Commons, Shawcross allegedly said "We are the masters now",[7] a phrase that came to haunt him.
He was knighted in 1945 upon his appointment as Attorney-General[8] and named Chief Prosecutor for the United Kingdom at the Nuremberg Trials.
Nuremberg Trials
Shawcross's advocacy before the Nuremberg Trial was passionate. His most famous line was: "There comes a point when a man must refuse to answer to his leader if he is also to answer to his own conscience".
He avoided the crusading[citation needed] style of American, Soviet, and French prosecutors. Shawcross's opening speech, which lasted two days, 26 and 27 July 1946, sought to undermine any belief that the Nuremberg Trials were "victor's justice" in the sense of being revenge exacted against defeated foes. He focused on the rule of law and demonstrated that the laws that the defendants had broken, expressed in international treaties and agreements, were those to which prewar Germany had been a party. In his closing speech, he ridiculed any notion that any of the defendants could have remained ignorant of Aktion T4, extermination of thousands of Germans because they were old or mentally ill. He used the same argument in respect of millions of other people "annihilated in the gas chambers or by shooting" and maintained that each of the 22 defendants was a party to "common murder in its most ruthless forms".[9][10]
Attorney-General and UN Factotum
As Attorney-General, he prosecuted William Joyce ("Lord Haw-Haw") and John Amery for treason, Klaus Fuchs and Alan Nunn May for giving atomic secrets to the Soviet Union, and John George Haigh, 'the acid bath murderer'.[citation needed]
From 1945 to 1949, he was Britain's principal delegate to the United Nations and was involved in the official adoption of the Flag of the United Nations in 1946,[11] but he was recalled in 1948 to lead for the government's interest at the Lynskey tribunal. In 1951, he briefly served as President of the Board of Trade until the Labour government's defeat in the election of that year.
Shawcross lent his name to a Parliamentary principle, in a defence of his conduct regarding an illegal strike, that the Attorney-General "is not to be put, and is not put, under pressure by his colleagues in the matter" of whether or not to establish criminal proceedings.[12][13]
In 1951, he replaced Harold Wilson as President of the Board of Trade after Wilson and the Bevanite members of the Cabinet resigned in protest of the introduction of prescription charges for the National Health Service by Chancellor of the Exchequer Hugh Gaitskell.[14]
Return to opposition
Shawcross ended his law career in 1951, the same year as the defeat of the second Attlee ministry. He was expected to become a Conservative, earning him the nickname "Sir Shortly Floorcross", but instead he remained true to his Labour roots.
During the committal hearing for the suspected serial killer doctor John Bodkin Adams in January 1957, he was seen dining with the defendant's suspected lover, Sir Roland Gwynne (Mayor of Eastbourne from 1929–31), and Lord Goddard, the Lord Chief Justice, at a hotel in Lewes.[15] The meeting added to concerns that the Adams trial was the subject of concerted judicial and political interference.[citation needed]
Shawcross resigned from Parliament in 1958, saying he was tired of party politics.
Elevation
Shawcross was made one of Britain's first life peers on 14 February 1959 as Baron Shawcross, of Friston in the County of Sussex,[16] and sat in the House of Lords as a crossbencher.
Defending press freedom
In 1961, he was appointed the chairman of the second Royal Commission on the Press. In 1967 he became one of the directors of The Times responsible for ensuring its editorial independence. He resigned on being appointed chairman of the Press Council in 1974.[17]
From 1974 to 1978, he was chairman of the Press Council and is described as "forthright in his condemnation both of journalists who committed excesses and of proprietors who profited from them" and as a "doughty defender of press freedom".[17] In October 1974, he poured scorn on a Labour Party pamphlet that recommended the application of "internal democracy" to editorial policy, saying "This means that... there would be some sort of committee consisting at the best of a mixture of van drivers, press operators, electricians and the rest, with no doubt a few journalists, but more probably composed of trade union officials, to deal with editorial policy."[17]
In 1983, Shawcross chaired a Tribunal of Enquiry to handle a protest over the outcome of the 1983 British Saloon Car Championship.
Chancellor of the University of Sussex
From 1965 to 1985 Shawcross was Chancellor of the University of Sussex.
Later years
In the 1974 New Year Honours, Lord Shawcross was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE).[18]
Shawcross held a number of company directorships including with EMI, Rank Hovis MacDougall, Caffyns Motors Ltd, Morgan et Cie SA, and Times Newspapers, and chairman of Upjohn & Co Ltd. He had served as chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce's Commission on Unethical Practices and of Morgan Guaranty Trust Company's Internal Advisory Council.[19]
Philanthropy and awards
In 1957, he was among a group of eminent British lawyers who founded JUSTICE, the human rights and law reform organisation and he became its first chairman, a position he held until 1972.[20] He was instrumental in the foundation of the University of Sussex and served as chancellor of the university from 1965-85.[citation needed]
He was the President of the charity Attend[21] (then National Association of Leagues of Hospital Friends) from 1962–72.
Personal life
Lord Shawcross was married three times. His first wife, Alberta Rosita Shyvers (m. 24 May 1924), suffered from multiple sclerosis and died by suicide on 30 December 1943.
His second wife, Joan Winifred Mather (m. 21 September 1944), died in a riding accident on the Sussex Downs on 26 January 1974. They had three children: the author and historian William Shawcross, Hume Shawcross and Dr Joanna Shawcross.
At the age of 95, he married Susanne Monique (née Jansen), formerly wife of Gerald B. Huiskamp,[22] on 18 April 1997 in Gibraltar. Lady Shawcross died on 2 March 2013.[23]
Shawcross was a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron and the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club.[19] From 1947 to 1960 he was the owner of Vanity V, a 12-metre class racing yacht designed by William Fife to the Third International Rule, built in 1936, which he kept at his home in Cornwall.[24] A later skipper of the boat, John Crill, recalls being told that Lord Shawcross, "when the election was due in about 1951, had Vanity V repainted with a vast 'Vote Labour' banner all the way along her topsides".
Lord Shawcross died on 10 July 2003 at home at Cowbeech, East Sussex, at the age of 101[25] and is buried in the churchyard at Jevington in Sussex.[26]
Arms
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References
- ^ Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1999, p. 2594
- ^ Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1999, p. 2594
- ^ Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1999, p. 2594
- ^ Walker, Sir Henry, CBE LlD (Commissioner); Brass, John, MInstCE MIMinE (Assessor); Jones, Joseph, CBE JP (Assessor) (January 1937), Reports on the causes of and circumstances attending the explosion which occurred at Gresford Colliery, Denbigh on 22nd September, 1934, retrieved 21 September 2018 – via Durham Mining Museum
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Section B of report. - ^ "No. 37238". The London Gazette. 24 August 1945. p. 4294.
- ^ "No. 37222". The London Gazette. 14 August 1945. p. 4135.
- ^ This is the wording usually quoted, and is attested by eyewitness Lord Bruce in a New Statesman article, but it is still a matter of dispute. For full details see Wikiquote, Hartley Shawcross, Baron Shawcross.
- ^ "No. 37243". The London Gazette. 28 August 1945. p. 4345.
- ^ "NAZIS LEADERS LOSING HOPE". Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954). 29 July 1946. p. 1. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
- ^ Trial of the Major War Criminals Before the International Military Tribunal. Vol. 19. 1946. pp. 432–528.
- ^ "United Nations Flag Approved by General Assembly's Legal Committee". United Nations Photo.
- ^ Shawcross, Hartley (29 January 1951). "Prosecutions (Attorney-General's Responsibility)". Hansard. House of Commons Debates (c681).
- ^ Heintzman, Ralph (16 May 2020). "The real meaning of the SNC-Lavalin affair". The Globe and Mail Inc.
- ^ Thorpe, Andrew (1997). A History of the British Labour Party. London: Macmillan Education UK. p. 133. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-25305-0. ISBN 978-0-333-56081-5.
- ^ Cullen, Pamela V. (2006). A Stranger in Blood: The Case Files on Dr John Bodkin Adams. London, UK: Elliott & Thompson. ISBN 978-1-904027-19-5.
- ^ "No. 41637". The London Gazette. 17 February 1959. p. 1164.
- ^ a b c "Obituaries: Lord Shawcross". The Daily Telegraph. 11 July 2003. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
- ^ "No. 46162". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1974. p. 7.
- ^ a b Mosley, Charles, ed. (1982). Debrett's Handbook 1982, Distinguished People in British Life. Debrett's Peerage Limited. p. 1405. ISBN 0-905649-38-9.
- ^ "Lord Shawcross". The Times. 11 July 2003. ISSN 0140-0460.
- ^ "Attend VIPs | Attend".
- ^ Burke's Peerage 1999, vol. 2, p. 2594
- ^ "Peerage News: The Baroness Shawcross". 6 March 2013.
- ^ "Page on the yacht "Vanity V"". Website of the International Twelve Metre Association (ITMA). 20 January 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ^ "Nazi war crimes prosecutor dies". 10 July 2003.
- ^ "Lord Shawcross dies at 101 | Politics | the Guardian".
- ^ Debrett's Peerage. 2003. p. 1461.
Bibliography
- Shawcross, H. (1995). Life Sentence. London: Constable. ISBN 978-0-09-474980-1.
External links
- Quotations related to Hartley Shawcross at Wikiquote
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Hartley Shawcross
- Portraits of Hartley Shawcross at the National Portrait Gallery, London
- Obituary, The Independent, 11 July 2003 by James Morton
- A film clip "Longines Chronoscope with Sir Hartley Shawcross" is available for viewing at the Internet Archive
- Appearance on Desert Island Discs (7 July 1991)
- Newspaper clippings about Hartley Shawcross in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
- 1902 births
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