Alec Douglas-Home Facts for Kids

Ministerial offices

Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
In office 20 June 1970 – 4 March 1974
Prime Minister	Edward Heath
Preceded by	Michael Stewart
Succeeded by	James Callaghan
In office 27 July 1960 – 18 October 1963
Prime Minister	Harold Macmillan
Preceded by	Selwyn Lloyd
Succeeded by	Rab Butler
Lord President of the Council
In office 14 October 1959 – 27 July 1960
Prime Minister	Harold Macmillan
Preceded by	The Viscount Hailsham
Succeeded by	The Viscount Hailsham
In office 29 March 1957 – 17 September 1957
Prime Minister	Harold Macmillan
Preceded by	The Marquess of Salisbury
Succeeded by	The Viscount Hailsham
Leader of the House of Lords
In office 29 March 1957 – 27 July 1960
Prime Minister	Harold Macmillan
Preceded by	The Marquess of Salisbury
Succeeded by	The Viscount Hailsham
Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations
In office 7 April 1955 – 27 July 1960
Preceded by	The Viscount Swinton
Succeeded by	Duncan Sandys

Junior ministerial offices

Minister of State for Scotland
In office 2 November 1951 – 7 April 1955
Prime Minister	Winston Churchill
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Thomas Galbraith
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
In office 26 May 1945 – 26 July 1945 Serving with The Lord Lovat
Prime Minister	Winston Churchill
Preceded by	George Hall
Succeeded by	Hector McNeil

Parliamentary offices

Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
In office 24 December 1974 – 9 October 1995 Life Peerage
In office 11 July 1951 – 23 October 1963 Hereditary Peerage
Preceded by	The 13th Earl of Home
Succeeded by	The 15th Earl of Home (1995)
Member of Parliament for Kinross and Western Perthshire
In office 8 November 1963 – 20 September 1974
Preceded by	Gilmour Leburn
Succeeded by	Nicholas Fairbairn
Member of Parliament for Lanark
In office 23 February 1950 – 11 July 1951
Preceded by	Tom Steele
Succeeded by	Patrick Maitland
In office 27 October 1931 – 15 June 1945
Preceded by	Thomas Dickson
Succeeded by	Tom Steele

Personal details

Born

Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home

2 July 1903
Mayfair, London, England

Died

9 October 1995 (aged 92)
Coldstream, Scotland

Resting place

Lennel Churchyard, Coldstream

Political party

Conservative

Other political
affiliations

Unionist

Spouse

Elizabeth Alington

(m. 1936; died 1990)

Children

4, including David

Parent

Charles Douglas-Home (father)

Alma mater

Christ Church, Oxford

Cricket information

Batting

Right-handed

Bowling

Right-arm fast-medium

Domestic team information

Years

Team

1924–1927

MCC
Middlesex
Oxford University

Career statistics

Competition	First-class
Matches	10
Runs scored	147
Batting average	16.33
100s/50s	–
Top score	37
Balls bowled	–
Wickets	12
Bowling average	30.25
5 wickets in innings	–
10 wickets in match	–
Best bowling	3/43
Catches/stumpings	9/–

Source: Douglas-Home at ESPNcricinfo

Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel, KT, PC ( 2 July 1903 – 9 October 1995) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1963 to 1964. He was better known as Alec Douglas-Home.

Home was a Member of Parliament and a junior official (a Parliamentary Private Secretary) when Neville Chamberlain went to Munich to meet Adolf Hitler in 1938. He was present at the main meetings between Hitler and Chamberlain. Later in life, he was appointed by Harold Macmillan as Foreign Secretary in 1960–1963, and again in Edward Heath's government from 1970–1974.

Home's name and title changed a few times during his life. Born as Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, he became Lord Dunglass when his father became the Earl of Home. Dunglass is a junior title, that is, a lower title which is held by the eldest son. When his father died Alec became the 14th Earl of Home. He also became Baron Douglas in the peerage of the United Kingdom (that was also a junior title).

When he was chosen as Leader of the Conservative Party after Harold Macmillan retired, he knew it would be difficult to lead a government from the House of Lords. So he renounced his title, four days after becoming Prime Minister. Once he renounced the title, he became simply Sir Alec Douglas-Home. He had been made a Knight of the Thistle in 1962. Finally, after he lost the election of 1964, he was given a life peerage, titled 'Baron Home of the Hirsel'. That title is not hereditary but, after his death, his son became the 15th Earl of Home.

Rapidly, after the title was renounced, arrangements were made. The safe Conservative seat of Kinross and Western Perthshire was vacant, and Douglas-Home was adopted as his party's candidate. Parliament was due to meet on 24 October after the summer recess, but its return was postponed until 12 November pending the by-election. For twenty days Douglas-Home was Prime Minister while a member of neither house of Parliament, a situation without modern precedent. He won the by-election with a majority of 9,328.

The Times considered that his reputation rested not on his brief premiership, but on his two spells as Foreign Secretary: "He brought to the office ... his capacity for straight talking, for toughness towards the Soviet Union and for firmness (sometimes interpreted as a lack of sympathy) towards the continents of Africa and Asia. But he brought something else as well: an unusual degree of international respect".

Images for kids

As a member of the Eton XI, 1921
The Hirsel, the Douglas-Home family's principal residence
Edward Heath, Home's deputy at the Foreign Office. They later served in each other's cabinets.
Lord Hailsham, Macmillan's original preference as successor
Douglas-Home with Jackie (centre, back to camera) and Ted Kennedy (right) at the post funeral reception for John F. Kennedy, 25 November 1963
Harold Wilson, Leader of the Opposition and Douglas-Home's successor
Enoch Powell returned to the Conservative front bench in 1964 and later sought the party leadership.
Douglas-Home with Australian Prime Minister John Gorton in 1970.
Andrei Gromyko, Douglas-Home's Soviet counterpart
Home, photographed by Allan Warren, in 1986
Statue of Douglas-Home at The Hirsel by sculptor Professor Bill Scott, unveiled in 1998.

Alec Douglas-Home facts for kids

Images for kids

See also