Harry Crookshank, 1st Viscount Crookshank
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Henry Frederick Comfort Crookshank, 1st Viscount Crookshank, CH PC (27 May 1893 – 17 October 1961), known as Harry Crookshank, was a British Conservative Party politician.
Crookshank was born in Cairo and educated at Eton College and Oxford University. In World War I he served in the Grenadier Guards and was castrated by shrapnel in 1916. He then worked in the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. until 1924.
Crookshank was Conservative MP for Gainsborough, 1924-56. He served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office, 1934-5; Parliamentary Secretary, Mines, 1935-9; Financial Secretary to the Treasury, 1939-43; Postmaster General, 1943-45; Minister of Health, 1951-2; Lord Privy Seal, 1952-55; Leader of the House of Commons, 1951-55. He was raised to the peerage as the Viscount Crookshank in 1956, a title which became extinct upon his death.
Papers released by The National Archives, London, November 2007, show that Crookshank, with Harold MacMillan, led a faction within the Cabinet of Sir Winston Churchill's government, who opposed what they perceived to be an attempt to bounce the Cabinet into a premature decision to authorize a British thermonuclear bomb programme in July 1954.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir Richard Winfrey |
Member of Parliament for Gainsborough 1924–1956 |
Succeeded by Marcus Kimball |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by William Morrison |
Postmaster General 1942–1945 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Listowel |
| Preceded by Hilary Marquand |
Minister of Health 1951–1952 |
Succeeded by Iain Macleod |
| Preceded by James Chuter Ede |
Leader of the House of Commons 1951–1955 |
Succeeded by Rab Butler |
| Preceded by The Marquess of Salisbury |
Lord Privy Seal 1952–1955 |
|
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by New Creation |
Viscount Crookshank 1956–1961 |
Succeeded by Extinct |

