Sir Harry Braustyn Hylton Hylton-Foster (10 April 1905 – 2 September 1965), was a British Conservative Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1950 until his death in 1965. He was also the Speaker of the House of Commons for the final six years of his life.

Sir Harry Hylton-Foster
1960 portrait of Hylton-Foster dressed in the Speaker′s robes.
Speaker of the House of Commons
of the United Kingdom
In office
20 October 1959 – 2 September 1965
MonarchElizabeth II
Prime MinisterHarold Macmillan
Alec Douglas-Home
Harold Wilson
Preceded byWilliam Morrison
Succeeded byHorace King
Solicitor-General for England
In office
18 October 1954 – 22 October 1959
Prime MinisterWinston Churchill
Anthony Eden
Harold Macmillan
Preceded bySir Reginald Manningham-Buller
Succeeded bySir Jocelyn Simon
Member of Parliament
for Cities of London and Westminster
In office
8 October 1959 – 2 September 1965
Preceded bySir Harold Webbe
Succeeded byJohn Smith
Member of Parliament
for York
In office
23 February 1950 – 18 September 1959
Preceded byJohn Corlett
Succeeded byCharles Longbottom
Personal details
Born10 April 1905
Surrey, England
Died2 September 1965(1965-09-02) (aged 60)
London, England
Political partyConservative
SpouseAudrey Brown
Alma materMagdalen College, Oxford

Early life

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Hylton-Foster was born in Surrey, his father was a barrister, and he was educated at Eton College before reading jurisprudence at Magdalen College, Oxford, in which he graduated with a first-class degree. He was called to the bar by the Inner Temple in 1928, at which time he was also working as a legal secretary for Robert Finlay, 1st Viscount Finlay.

Military service

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During the Second World War, Hylton-Foster served in the Royal Air Force volunteer reserve. He also served as a deputy judge advocate, a military judge, in North Africa.

Political career

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After the end of the war, he stood as the Conservative candidate for the Shipley seat in the 1945 general election, but was unsuccessful. However, in the 1950 election he succeeded in taking the York seat, a seat he held for the next two elections before standing for the safer seat for the Cities of London and Westminster in the 1959 election. He was made King's Counsel in 1947.

 
Harry Hylton-Foster funerary monument, St Barnabas Church, Ranmore Common, Surrey

In 1954, Hylton-Foster was named the Solicitor-General for England, receiving the customary knighthood. The fact that he was serving as solicitor general when he was named speaker of the House of Commons in 1959 was a source of some controversy, which was compounded by the fact that the opposition Labour Party felt they had been insufficiently consulted about the nomination. However, once the controversy died down, Hylton-Foster proved to be a popular and respected speaker.

Personal life, death and aftermath

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Hylton-Foster was married to the former Audrey Brown.

On 2 September 1965, Hylton-Foster collapsed while walking along Duke Street, St James's. Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead, aged 60, upon arrival at nearby St George's Hospital.[1] Audrey Hylton-Foster was given a life peerage as Baroness Hylton-Foster in his honour the same year, and was granted a life annuity by the Honourable Lady Hylton-Foster's Annuity Act 1965.

Hylton-Foster and his wife are buried together in the churchyard of St Barnabas Church, Ranmore Common, Surrey.

Arms

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Coat of arms of Harry Hylton-Foster
 
Crest
In front of a bugle-horn as in the arms a greyhound courant Argent.
Escutcheon
Argent on a fess Vert between three bugle-horns Sable stringed Or a representation of the Speaker’s Mace in fess head to the dexter Or a bordure Vert.[2]

References

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  1. ^ "The Speaker Dies in London Street". The Times. 3 September 1965. p. 10.
  2. ^ "Speaker Hylton-Foster". Baz Manning. 10 September 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for the City of York
19501959
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for the Cities of London and Westminster

19591965
Succeeded by
Preceded by Speaker of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom
1959–1965
Succeeded by
Legal offices
Preceded by Solicitor-General for England
1954–1959
Succeeded by