{{Short description|British naval officer, writer, and politician (1893–1966)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = [[The Right Honourable]] | name = The Lord King-Hall of Headley | honorific_suffix = | image = Stephen King-Hall in 1917.jpg | caption = Stephen King-Hall in 1917 | birth_name = William Stephen Richard King-Hall | office = Member of the [[House of Lords]]<br />[[Lords Temporal|Lord Temporal]] | term_start = 15 January 1966 | term_end = 2 June 1966 | office1 = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]<br />for [[Ormskirk (UK Parliament constituency)|Ormskirk]] | term_start1 = 27 October 1939 | term_end1 = 15 June 1945 | predecessor1 = [[Samuel Rosbotham]] | successor1 = [[Harold Wilson]] | birth_date = {{birth date|1893|1|21|df=yes}} | birth_place = London, England | death_date = {{death date and age|1966|6|2|1893|1|21|df=yes}} | death_place = London, England | spouse = Kathleen Spencer (until 1963) | relatives = [[George King-Hall]] (father) | party = [[Independent politician|Independent]]<br />[[National Labour Organisation|National Labour]] | allegiance = {{flag|United Kingdom}} | branch = {{navy|United Kingdom}} | service_years = 1914–1929 | rank = [[Commander (Royal Navy)|Commander]] | unit = 11th Submarine Flotilla<br />[[HMS Southampton (1912)|HMS Southampton]] }}
'''William Stephen Richard King-Hall, Baron King-Hall of Headley''' (21 January 1893 – 2 June 1966) was a British naval officer, writer, politician and playwright who served as the member of parliament for [[Ormskirk (UK Parliament constituency)|Ormskirk]] from 1939 to 1945.<ref name=WhoWasWho/><ref name="Peerage">{{cite web |last1=Lundy |first1=Darryl |title=Sir William Stephen King-Hall, Baron King-Hall |url=http://www.thepeerage.com/p19150.htm#i191492 |website=The Peerage |publisher=thepeerage.com |access-date=8 November 2021}}</ref>
==Early life and career== The son of Admiral Sir [[George King-Hall|George Fowler King-Hall]] and Olga Felicia Ker; theirs was an artistic naval family, King-Hall's sisters [[Magdalen King-Hall|Magdalen]] and Lou also being writers. He married Kathleen Amelia Spencer (died 14 August 1950), daughter of Francis Spencer, on 15 April 1919 and they had three children, Ann, Frances Susan and Jane.
He was educated at [[Lausanne]] in Switzerland and at the [[Britannia Royal Naval College|Royal Naval College]] in Dartmouth. Him fought in the [[First World War]] between 1914 and 1918, with the Grand Fleet, serving on {{HMS|Southampton|1912|6}} and 11th Submarine Flotilla. He gained the rank of commander in the service of the Royal Navy in 1928, before resigning in 1929. He wrote several plays between 1924 and 1940, including ''Posterity'' accepted by [[Leonard Woolf]] for the Hogarth Essays. He joined the [[Royal Institute of International Affairs]] in 1929, having previously been awarded their gold medal for his 1920 thesis on submarine warfare.
==Member of Parliament== He entered the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] in 1939 as [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Ormskirk (UK Parliament constituency)|Ormskirk]] unopposed, standing as the [[National Labour Organisation|National Labour]] candidate. He later changed his affiliation and continued to stand as an [[Independent (politician)|Independent]], subsequently losing the seat to future Prime Minister [[Harold Wilson]] in the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945 general election]]. During his term, he served in the [[Ministry of Aircraft Production]] under [[Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook|Max Aitken]] as Director of the Factory Defence Section.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Edgerton |first1=David |title=Warfare State: Britain, 1920-1970 |date=December 2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-67231-3 |pages=154 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-economic-history/article/abs/warfare-state-britain-19201970-by-david-edgerton-cambridge-and-new-york-cambridge-university-press-2006-pp-xv-364-3299-paper/4071777F96FBE77B97938A5EC878D571}}</ref>
In 1944 he founded and chaired the [[Hansard Society]] to promote [[parliamentary]] democracy. He presented a programme for children on current affairs on both BBC radio and television.
==Life after Parliament and death== He was invested as a [[Knight Bachelor]] on 6 July 1954<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=40227 |date=9 July 1954 |page=4026}}</ref> and was created a [[Life Peer]] as Baron King-Hall of [[Headley, East Hampshire|Headley]] on 15 January 1966.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=43877 |date=18 January 1966 |page=666}}</ref> He lived at Hartfield House, [[Headley, East Hampshire|Headley]] until his death in [[Westminster]] on 2 June 1966.<ref name="IWMBio">{{cite web |title=WE REMEMBER WILLIAM STEPHEN RICHARD KING-HALL |url=https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/6906065 |website=Imperial War Museum |access-date=8 November 2021}}</ref>
==Bibliography== ===Political and Historical=== * ''A Naval Lieutenant, 1914–1918'' as "Etienne" <ref name=WhoWasWho> [[Who Was Who]], A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007, accessed 17 November 2012. [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U50458 King-Hall] </ref> * ''Diary of a U-Boat-Commander'' 1918, as "Etienne", 1918 <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.manybooks.net/titles/anonetext058dubc10.html|title = The Diary of a U-boat Commander by Sir King-Hall Stephen - Free eBook}}</ref> * ''Western Civilisation and the Far East'', 1924 <ref name=WhoWasWho/> * ''Imperial Defence'' <ref name=WhoWasWho/> * ''The China of To-day'' <ref name=WhoWasWho/> * ''The War at Sea'', 1914–1918 <ref name=WhoWasWho/> * ''Submarines in the Future of Naval Warfare'', 1920. Thesis. * ''Our Own Times'', 2 vols, 1935 <ref name=WhoWasWho/> * ''A North Sea Diary : 1914-18'', Newnes, London, 1936.<ref> {{Cite web|url=https://opac.navalmarinearchive.com/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=39906|title = A North Sea Diary : 1914-18 | author = King-Hall, Stephen }}</ref> A "new edition" (minor edits and postscripts) of his earlier ''A Naval Lieutenant'' under pseudonym "Etienne". * ''London Newsletter'' (a.k.a. ''K-H Weekly News Letter Service'', National News Letter), 1936. <ref name=WhoWasWho/> * ''Total Victory'', 1941 <ref name=WhoWasWho/> * ''Britain's Third Chance'', 1943 <ref name=WhoWasWho/> * ''My Naval Life'', Faber and Faber, London, 1952,<ref> {{Cite web|url=https://opac.navalmarinearchive.com/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=49312|title = My Naval Life | author = King-Hall, Stephen }}</ref><ref name=WhoWasWho/> * ''History in Hansard'' (with Ann Dewar), 1952 <ref name=WhoWasWho/> * ''The Communist Conspiracy'', 1953 <ref name=WhoWasWho/> * ''Letters from Africa'', Geoffrey Bles, London, 1957. * ''Defence in the Nuclear Age''. Gollancz, London, 1958; Nyack, N.Y.: Fellowship, 1959. <ref name=WhoWasWho/> * ''Common Sense in Defence'', 1960 <ref name=WhoWasWho/> * ''Men of Destiny'', 1960 <ref name=WhoWasWho/> * ''Our Times'', 1900–1960, 1961 <ref name=WhoWasWho/> * ''Power Politics in the Nuclear age''. Gollancz, London, 1962. <ref name=WhoWasWho/>
In ''Defence in the Nuclear Age'' he advocated a British policy of unilateral nuclear disarmament and national defence involving some reliance on conventional military force. This was to be supplemented by "a defence system of non-violence against violence" - what is often called "defence by [[civil resistance]]" or "[[social defence]]".<ref> Stephen King-Hall, ''Defence in the Nuclear Age'', Gollancz, London, 1958; Nyack, N.Y.: Fellowship, 1959.</ref>
In ''Men of Destiny'' he criticised all sides for the creation of the Cold War and further promoted his aim of nuclear disarmament.
There have been several accounts and appraisals of his work advocating unilateral nuclear disarmament and defence by civil resistance.<ref>[http://www.genekeyes.com/SNVDCO.html Gene Keyes, "Strategic Nonviolent Defense: The Construct of an Option" (1981)] </ref><ref> [http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/pubs/05pc.html Brian Martin, "Researching nonviolent action: past themes and future possibilities" (2005)] </ref>
===Children=== * ''Letters to Hilary'', 1928 <ref name=WhoWasWho/> * ''Hilary Growing Up'', 1929, E. Benn, London. <ref name=WhoWasWho/> * ''The crowning of the King and Queen'', 1937 <ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Evans Brothers Ltd| last = King-Hall| first = Sir Stephen| title = The crowning of the King and Queen| location = London| date = 1937}}</ref>
"Hilary Growing Up" was described by the author as building ''"upon the foundations laid down in its predecessor Letters to Hilary. This book is for children from twelve to ninety... a series of essays, or talks... on sociology."''<ref>[[WorldCat]] - [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/002133850 ''Hilary Growing Up'']</ref>
===Novels=== * ''Moment of No Return'', [[Ballantine Books]] (No. F543), New York, 1961. A Cold - War novel about tensions between the Soviet Bloc and the West.
===Plays=== * ''Posterity'', 1927 * ''[[The Middle Watch (play)|The Middle Watch]]'', 1929 * ''[[The Midshipmaid (play)|The Midshipmaid]]'', 1931 * ''[[Admirals All (play)|Admirals All]]'', 1934 * ''Tropical Trouble'', 1936 * ''The Middle Watch'', 1940 * ''[[Off the Record (play)|Off the Record]]'', 1947 * ''Girls at Sea'', 1958
===Radio=== * [[BBC]] [[Children's Hour]]
==See also==
* [[Civil resistance]] * [[Hansard Society]] * [[Nonviolent resistance]] * [[Social defence]]
==References== {{reflist}}
* {{IMDb name|0455398}} * {{cite web | title = Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives | publisher = University of London - King's College | url = http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/summary/ki30-001.shtml }} * {{cite web | title = William Stephen Richard King-Hall, Baron King-Hall (1893-1966), Sailor, writer and commentator | publisher = [[National Portrait Gallery (London)]] | url = http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp02549 }} * {{cite web | title = Britain and the Future | publisher = The Empire Club of Canada | url = http://www.empireclubfoundation.com/details.asp?SpeechID=372&FT=yes }}
== External links == * {{Hansard-contribs | commander-william-king-hall | Stephen King-Hall }} * {{Gutenberg author | id=33135}} * {{FadedPage|id=King-Hall, Stephen|name=Stephen King-Hall|author=yes}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Stephen King-Hall}} * {{Librivox author |id=4615}} * [https://archive.org/details/northseadiary00kingiala ''A North Sea Diary 1914-1918''] Account of his experience on board the ''Southampton'' * {{PM20|FID=pe/009598}} *[https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/9/resources/1853 The papers of Baron King-Hall of Headley] at [[Churchill Archives Centre]]
{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box | title=[[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Ormskirk (UK Parliament constituency)|Ormskirk]] | before=[[Sam Tom Rosbotham]] | after=[[Harold Wilson]] | years=[[1939 Ormskirk by-election|1939]]–[[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945]] }} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:King-Hall, Stephen}} [[Category:1893 births]] [[Category:1966 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century British dramatists and playwrights]] [[Category:British anti–nuclear weapons activists]] [[Category:Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament activists]] [[Category:Knights Bachelor]] [[Category:Life peers]] [[Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies]] [[Category:National Labour (UK) politicians]] [[Category:Royal Navy officers of World War I]] [[Category:UK MPs 1935–1945]] [[Category:UK MPs who were granted peerages]] [[Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II]] [[Category:Writers from London]] [[Category:20th-century British male journalists]]