Harwood Harrison

Who was Harwood Harrison?

Sir Harwood Harrison, 1st Baronet was a British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Eye in Suffolk from 1951 to 1979, having first contested it in 1950.

Harrison was the eldest son of the Rev'd E W Harrison and E E Tribe of Bugbrooke, Northamptonshire where his family had owned land since the eighteenth century. The family home, Bugbrooke Hall, is now owned by the Jesus Army. He was educated at Northampton Grammar School and Trinity College, Oxford and worked as a company director for a feeding-stuffs manufacturer. He served as an Ipswich Borough Councillor from 1935–1946 and served during World War II with The Suffolk Regiment, commanding the 4th Battalion. He was taken prisoner in Singapore and spent time on the Burma Railway.

Harrison won Eye at the 1951 general election, defeating Edgar Granville. He was Harold Macmillan's Parliamentary Private Secretary when Macmillan was Housing Secretary. He served as a Government Whip as a Lord of the Treasury from 8 April 1956 to 16 January 1959, and Comptroller of the Household between 1959 and 1961. He subsequently chaired backbench Conservative committees. He was created a Baronet on 6 July 1961.