Thomas Lionel Dugdale, 1st Baron Crathorne PC

Privy Council of the United Kingdom

Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...

 (20 July 1897 – 26 March 1977), known as Sir Thomas Dugdale, 1st Baronet, from 1945 to 1959, was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Conservative Party

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 politician. A government minister, he resigned over the Crichel Down Affair

Crichel Down affair

The Crichel Down affair was a British political scandal of 1954, with a subsequent effect and notoriety. The Crichel Down Rules are guidelines applying to compulsory purchase drawn up in the light of the affair.-The Crichel Down land:...

, often quoted as a classic example of the convention of individual ministerial responsibility

Ministerial responsibility

Ministerial responsibility or individual ministerial responsibility is a constitutional convention in governments using the Westminster System that a cabinet minister bears the ultimate responsibility for the actions of their ministry or department...

.

Personal life

Thomas Dugdale was the son of Captain James Lionel Dugdale of Crathorne Hall near Yarm in Yorkshire. He was educated at Eton College

Eton College

Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

 and Sandhurst

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is a British Army officer initial training centre located in Sandhurst, Berkshire, England...

. He joined the Army in 1916, serving with the Scots Greys

Scots Greys

The Royal Scots Greys was a cavalry regiment of the British Army from 1707 until 1971, when they amalgamated with the 3rd Carabiniers to form The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards ....

 in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and the Yorkshire Hussars

Yorkshire Hussars

The Yorkshire Hussars was a unit of the British Army from 1794 to 1956.The regiment was formed as volunteer cavalry in 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was converted to an armoured role during World War II. In 1956 it merged with two other Yorkshire yeomanry regiments to form the...

 in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

Dugdale married Nancy, daughter of Sir Charles Tennant, 1st Baronet

Sir Charles Tennant, 1st Baronet

Sir Charles Clow Tennant, 1st Baronet Scottish businessman, industrialist and Liberal politician.-Biography:...

, and Marguerite (née Miles) in 1936. He died in March 1977, aged 79. By then a peer, his son, James succeeded him as Baron Crathorne.

Political career

In 1929

United Kingdom general election, 1929

-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...

, Dugdale was elected as Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) for Richmond, North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...

, where he remained until 1959. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary

Parliamentary Private Secretary

A Parliamentary Private Secretary is a role given to a United Kingdom Member of Parliament by a senior minister in government or shadow minister to act as their contact for the House of Commons; this role is junior to that of Parliamentary Under-Secretary, which is a ministerial post, salaried by...

 to several ministers, including Stanley Baldwin

Stanley Baldwin

Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, KG, PC was a British Conservative politician, who dominated the government in his country between the two world wars...

, and Deputy Chief Whip

Chief Whip

The Chief Whip is a political office in some legislatures assigned to an elected member whose task is to administer the whipping system that ensures that members of the party attend and vote as the party leadership desires.-The Whips Office:...

. He was later Chairman of the Conservative Party

Chairman of the Conservative Party

In the United Kingdom, the Chairman of the Conservative Party is responsible for running the party machine, overseeing Conservative Central Office. When the Conservatives are in power, the Chairman is usually a member of the Cabinet being given a sinecure position such as Minister without Portfolio...

 and Chairman of the Party's Agricultural Committee. He was made a baronet

Baronet

A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...

 in 1945.

The Crichel Down affair

When the Conservatives won the 1951 election

United Kingdom general election, 1951

The 1951 United Kingdom general election was held eighteen months after the 1950 general election, which the Labour Party had won with a slim majority of just five seats...

, Churchill

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

 made Dugdale his Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries.
Crichel Down was a piece of farmland in Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

 compulsorily bought by the government for defence use. Commander George Martin, whose wife Mary was the only child and heiress of the original owner of the land Lord Alington

Napier Sturt, 3rd Baron Alington

Captain Napier George Henry Sturt, 3rd Baron Alington was a British peer, the son of Humphrey Sturt, 2nd Baron Alington....

, wanted to buy the land back in the 1950s now that it was no longer used by the MoD. However the Ministry of Agriculture resisted, wanting to use the land for experimental farming in a time of rationing and agricultural development.
However, Martin, a former equerry

Equerry

An equerry , and related to the French word "écuyer" ) is an officer of honour. Historically, it was a senior attendant with responsibilities for the horses of a person of rank. In contemporary use, it is a personal attendant, usually upon a Sovereign, a member of a Royal Family, or a national...

 in the Royal Family, had very influential friends and stirred up much trouble in the local Conservative Party and government backbenches.
There followed a public inquiry which criticised the department's decision and civil servants, especially their methods. It was seen as an example of an over-powerful state.
Finally Dugdale announced that Martin could buy the land back and told the House of Commons he was resigning.

Resignation

Dugdale's resignation went down in history as an honourable, even heroic, one: a minister taking responsibility for civil servants' actions, which would lead to the perceived code of individual ministerial responsibility. However, in papers released thirty years after the affair, it was found that Dugdale had known and approved of his civil servants' actions and had to an extent passed the buck to them himself. It was also found that the inquiry was inaccurate and biased, led by a former Conservative candidate who was very against civil servants and state interference.

Dugdale's junior minister, Lord Carrington

Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington

Peter Alexander Rupert Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, is a British Conservative politician. He served as British Foreign Secretary between 1979 and 1982 and as the sixth Secretary General of NATO from 1984 to 1988. He is the last surviving member of the Cabinets of both Harold Macmillan and Sir...

, tried to resign too but was refused. He went on to be Foreign Secretary, and finally succeeded in resigning in 1982 over the Falklands War

Falklands War

The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...

. Commander Martin got his land but not a Conservative seat, which he had hoped for. Dugdale himself was raised to the peerage as Baron Crathorne in 1959 and had a second political career in Europe, building links with parliamentarians in NATO and the Council of Europe

Council of Europe

The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...

.