Sir Gerard Spencer Summers (27 October 1902 – 19 January 1976) was a British

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

politician.

Biography

Summers was born in

Flintshire , settlement_type = County , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms of Flint ...

, Wales, in 1902, and educated at Wellington School and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

. He became a director of the family business of

John Summers & Sons John Summers & Sons Ltd was a major United Kingdom iron and steel producer, latterly based on the Dee Estuary at Shotton, Flintshire. The company was absorbed into British Steel Corporation in 1967; British Steel became Corus in 1999 and this ...

, steelmakers. During the Second World War (1940-1945) he was the elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

(MP) for

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

and appointed the Director-General of Regional Organisation at the Ministry of Supply. In 1945, he was the

Secretary for Overseas Trade The Secretary for Overseas Trade was a junior Ministerial position in the United Kingdom government from 1917 until 1953, subordinate to the President of the Board of Trade. The office was replaced by the Minister of State for Trade on 3 Septembe ...

in the post-war

caretaker government A caretaker government is a temporary ''ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it usually consists of either randomly se ...

. In 1946 he also assumed the role of first chairman of the

Outward Bound Outward Bound (OB) is an international network of outdoor education organizations that was founded in the United Kingdom by Lawrence Holt and Kurt Hahn in 1941. Today there are organizations, called schools, in over 35 countries which are att ...

Trust. He was also a Governor of

UWC Atlantic College Atlantic College (formally the United World College of the Atlantic; alternatively styled UWC Atlantic College, UWCAC, or UWCA) is an independent boarding school in the Vale of Glamorgan in south Wales. Founded in 1962, it was the first of ...

from its opening in 1962–76, and was on the foundation committee for three years prior to its opening. He was MP for

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamsh ...

from 1950 until his retirement in 1970. He was knighted in 1956 and selected

High Sheriff of Northamptonshire This is a list of the High Sheriffs of Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities ...

for 1974–75.

Personal life

Spencer Summers married Jean Pickering in London in 1930. Their son,

Shane Shane may refer to: People * Shane (actress) (born 1969), American pornographic actress * Shane (New Zealand singer) (born 1946) * iamnotshane (born 1995), formerly known as Shane, American singer * Shane (name), a masculine given name and a sur ...

, was a racing driver who competed in a few non-Championship

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship ...

races, but was accidentally killed at the age of 24 when practicing for the

1961 Silver City Trophy The sixth Silver City Trophy was a motor race, run to Formula One rules, held on 3 June 1961 at Brands Hatch Circuit. The race was run over 76 laps of the circuit, and was won by British driver Stirling Moss in a Lotus 18/21. The race was oversh ...

at the

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hos ...

circuit in Kent. Sir Gerard Spencer Summers died near Banbury, Oxfordshire in 1976, aged 73.

References

External links

* * 1902 births 1976 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge High Sheriffs of Northamptonshire Knights Bachelor Politicians awarded knighthoods UK MPs 1935–1945 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 Ministers in the Churchill caretaker government, 1945 {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1900s-stub