Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Frederick John Bellenger (23 July 1894 – 11 May 1968) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

surveyor, soldier and politician.

Early life

Born in

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common la ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, he was the son of Eugene Bernard Bellenger, a dairyman, and his wife Isabella Annette ''née'' Henner. He received only an elementary education before starting work aged 14. He worked in various jobs: in a tea warehouse in

Houndsditch Houndsditch is a street running through parts of the Portsoken and Bishopsgate Without wards of the City of London; areas which are also a part of the East End of London. The road follows the line of the outside edge of the ditch which once ...

, as a messenger boy for the

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

and as a clerk to an export company in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

World War I

With the outbreak of

the First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in August 1914, Bellenger volunteered to join the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

. He became a gunner in the

Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It was created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of the regiment, the ...

, arriving at the Western Front in the following year. He was twice wounded, and rose through the ranks, being commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1917. Following the

armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from t ...

in November 1918, he served in the forces occupying the Rhineland. He was demobilised in 1919. In Cologne he had met Marion Theresa Stollwerck, daughter of Generalkonsul Karl Stollwerck, a wealthy German chocolate manufacturer; the couple married in 1922. They had five sons and one daughter.

Early political career

Following the war, Bellenger worked as a surveyor and

estate agent An estate agent is a person or business in the United Kingdom that arranges the selling, renting, or managing of real estate, properties and other buildings. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a Letting agent, letting or manag ...

in west London. He became active in the local

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Association, and was elected to Fulham Borough Council as a

Municipal Reform Party The Municipal Reform Party was a local party allied to the parliamentary Conservative Party in the County of London. The party contested elections to both the London County Council and metropolitan borough councils of the county from 1906 to 194 ...

councillor representing Baron's Court

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

in 1922 and 1925. He did not stand for election in 1928, and shortly afterwards joined the Labour Party. In June 1930, Bellenger was selected by the Labour Party as their prospective parliamentary candidate at

Bethnal Green South West Bethnal Green South West was a United Kingdom constituencies, constituency in London. It returned one Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliam ...

, but withdrew his candidature a year later on health grounds. When the Labour Party split over the formation of a National Government in August 1931, he remained with the majority faction opposing the move. In November 1933, he was chosen to contest Bassetlaw in

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

, a seat held by

Malcolm MacDonald Malcolm John MacDonald (17 August 1901 – 11 January 1981) was a British politician and diplomat. He was initially a Labour Party (UK), Labour Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP), but in 1931 followed his father ...

of the

National Labour Organisation The National Labour Organisation, also known simply as National Labour, was formed in 1931 by supporters of the National Government in Britain who had come from the Labour Party. Its leaders were Ramsay MacDonald (1931–1937) and his son Mal ...

and son of its leader,

Ramsay MacDonald James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British statesman and politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The first two of his governments belonged to the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, where he led ...

, a long-serving Secretary of State in the coalition National Government and first Labour Prime Minister. At the 1935 general election Bellenger gained the seat for Labour, and held it comfortably at each election until his death.

World War II

Bellenger remained in the army's emergency reserve, and when the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

broke out in 1939 he was automatically recalled to service. He was commissioned as a captain in the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

in February 1940. He went to France as a staff officer in April of that year as part of the British Expeditionary Force. He returned to the United Kingdom briefly in May to take part in the

Norway Debate The Norway Debate, sometimes called the Narvik Debate, was a momentous debate in the British House of Commons from 7 to 9 May 1940, during the Second World War. The official title of the debate, as held in the ''Hansard'' parliamentary archiv ...

in the

Commons The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons ...

that led to the fall of

Neville Chamberlain Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from ...

's government. Evacuated from France in June 1940, two months later he resigned his commission. Apart from his parliamentary activities, Bellenger wrote a column for the ''

Sunday Pictorial The ''Sunday Mirror'' is the Sunday sister paper of the ''Daily Mirror''. It began life in 1915 as the ''Sunday Pictorial'' and was renamed the ''Sunday Mirror'' in 1963. In 2016 it had an average weekly circulation of 620,861, dropping marked ...

'' under the

byline The byline (or by-line in British English) on a newspaper or magazine article gives the name of the writer of the article. Bylines are commonly placed between the headline and the text of the article, although some magazines (notably '' Reader's ...

"''Voice of the Services''".

Attlee government

When the Labour Party returned to government with a

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...

at the 1945 general election, Bellenger was appointed

Financial Secretary to the War Office The Financial Secretary to the War Office and for certain periods known as the Finance Member of the Army Council, was a junior ministerial office of the British government established in 1870. In May 1947 the office was unified with that of the ...

. In October 1946, he became

Secretary of State for War The secretary of state for war, commonly called the war secretary, was a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, which existed from 1794 to 1801 and from 1854 to 1964. The secretary of state for war headed the War Offic ...

. Although not a cabinet position he was appointed a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council, formally His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its members, known as privy counsellors, are mainly senior politicians who are current or former ...

at the same time. He proved an unpopular minister with Labour backbenchers, and was attacked by those on the left of the party. It came as no surprise when he was removed from office at a ministerial reshuffle in October 1947.

Later life

Bellenger remained on the Labour backbenches for the rest of his life. He became increasingly disconnected from the mainstream of the party, being unsympathetic to

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s, opposing the decriminalisation of homosexuality and supported the

Unilateral Declaration of Independence A unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) or "unilateral secession" is a formal process leading to the establishment of a new state by a subnational entity which declares itself independent and sovereign without a formal agreement with the ...

by white

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

ns. He was close to members of the Conservative Party, including their Chief Whip

Martin Redmayne Martin Redmayne, Baron Redmayne, (16 November 1910 – 28 April 1983) was a British Conservative politician. Background Redmayne was born in Nottingham, the second son of civil engineer and farmer, Leonard Redmayne and his wife Mildred. H ...

and, against the arguments of his dining companion,

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

, privately supported the retention of prime minister

Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986), was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Nickn ...

at the time of the

Profumo scandal The Profumo affair was a major scandal in British politics during the early 1960s. John Profumo, the 46-year-old Secretary of State for War in Harold Macmillan's Conservative government, had an extramarital affair with the 19-year-old model Ch ...

in 1963 along with

Julian Critchley Sir Julian Michael Gordon Critchley (8 December 1930 – 9 September 2000) was a British journalist, author and Conservative Party politician. He was the member of parliament for Rochester and Chatham from 1959 to 1964 and Aldershot from 1970 ...

, another of his Conservative friends. Following the 1966 general election, the Bassetlaw Constituency Labour Party

deselected Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presel ...

him (for any future election) over his opposition to steel nationalisation and his position on Rhodesia. Bellenger was still Bassetlaw's MP when he died at his

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

, home in May 1968, aged 73. He had received the honorary freedom of the

Borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

Worksop Worksop ( ) is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located south of Doncaster, south-east of Sheffield and north of Nottingham. Located close to Nottinghamshire's borders with South Yorkshire and Derbys ...

two days earlier.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bellenger, Frederick 1894 births 1968 deaths British Army personnel of World War I Secretaries of state for war (UK) Conservative Party (UK) councillors Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of Fulham Metropolitan Borough Council Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Ministers in the Attlee governments, 1945–1951 Municipal Reform Party politicians Royal Field Artillery officers UK MPs 1935–1945 UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 War Office personnel in World War II British Army personnel of World War II