Harold Sutcliffe

Who was Harold Sutcliffe?

Sir Harold Sutcliffe was a British Conservative Party politician and businessman.

Born in Yorkshire, he was educated at Harrow and then Oriel College, Oxford.

During the First World War he served in the Royal Field Artillery and in 1925 was called to the Bar at Inner Temple.

He became an expert in the cotton trade and became a prominent figure in the City of London. In 1931 he was elected Member of Parliament for Royton. He held the seat until it was abolished in 1950, when he was elected for the new Heywood and Royton constituency which he held until 1955.

Described by the Times as 'never a very consipicuous figure at Westminster' and 'a persuasive rather than a demonstrative speaker', he became Parliamentary Private Secretary to William Mabane in 1939, then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State to Osbert Peake first at the Home Office in 1942, then the Treasury and finally, after the 1951 general election, at the Ministry of National Insurance. He was knighted in 1953.

He married Theodora Cochrane in 1926 and they had four children. One son, John, later became a Member of Parliament.