# Stephen King-Hall > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Stephen_King-Hall > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Stephen_King-Hall.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King-Hall > Source revision: 1350842820 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) British naval officer, writer, and politician (1893–1966) The Right Honourable The Lord King-Hall of Headley Stephen King-Hall in 1917 Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal In office 15 January 1966 – 2 June 1966 Member of Parliament for Ormskirk In office 27 October 1939 – 15 June 1945 Preceded by Samuel Rosbotham Succeeded by Harold Wilson Personal details Born William Stephen Richard King-Hall (1893-01-21)21 January 1893 London, England Died 2 June 1966(1966-06-02) (aged 73) London, England Party Independent National Labour Spouse Kathleen Spencer (until 1963) Relatives George King-Hall (father) Military service Allegiance United Kingdom Branch/service Royal Navy Years of service 1914–1929 Rank Commander Unit 11th Submarine Flotilla 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](/source/Ormskirk_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) from 1939 to 1945.[1][2] ## Early life and career The son of Admiral Sir [George Fowler King-Hall](/source/George_King-Hall) and Olga Felicia Ker; theirs was an artistic naval family, King-Hall's sisters [Magdalen](/source/Magdalen_King-Hall) 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](/source/Lausanne) in Switzerland and at the [Royal Naval College](/source/Britannia_Royal_Naval_College) in Dartmouth. Him fought in the [First World War](/source/First_World_War) between 1914 and 1918, with the Grand Fleet, serving on [HMS *Southampton*](/source/HMS_Southampton_(1912)) 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](/source/Leonard_Woolf) for the Hogarth Essays. He joined the [Royal Institute of International Affairs](/source/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](/source/House_of_Commons_of_the_United_Kingdom) in 1939 as [Member of Parliament](/source/Member_of_Parliament_(United_Kingdom)) (MP) for [Ormskirk](/source/Ormskirk_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) unopposed, standing as the [National Labour](/source/National_Labour_Organisation) candidate. He later changed his affiliation and continued to stand as an [Independent](/source/Independent_(politician)), subsequently losing the seat to future Prime Minister [Harold Wilson](/source/Harold_Wilson) in the [1945 general election](/source/1945_United_Kingdom_general_election). During his term, he served in the [Ministry of Aircraft Production](/source/Ministry_of_Aircraft_Production) under [Max Aitken](/source/Max_Aitken%2C_1st_Baron_Beaverbrook) as Director of the Factory Defence Section.[3] In 1944 he founded and chaired the [Hansard Society](/source/Hansard_Society) to promote [parliamentary](/source/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](/source/Knight_Bachelor) on 6 July 1954[4] and was created a [Life Peer](/source/Life_Peer) as Baron King-Hall of [Headley](/source/Headley%2C_East_Hampshire) on 15 January 1966.[5] He lived at Hartfield House, [Headley](/source/Headley%2C_East_Hampshire) until his death in [Westminster](/source/Westminster) on 2 June 1966.[6] ## Bibliography ### Political and Historical - *A Naval Lieutenant, 1914–1918* as "Etienne" [1] - *Diary of a U-Boat-Commander* 1918, as "Etienne", 1918 [7] - *Western Civilisation and the Far East*, 1924 [1] - *Imperial Defence* [1] - *The China of To-day* [1] - *The War at Sea*, 1914–1918 [1] - *Submarines in the Future of Naval Warfare*, 1920. Thesis. - *Our Own Times*, 2 vols, 1935 [1] - *A North Sea Diary : 1914-18*, Newnes, London, 1936.[8] 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. [1] - *Total Victory*, 1941 [1] - *Britain's Third Chance*, 1943 [1] - *My Naval Life*, Faber and Faber, London, 1952,[9][1] - *History in Hansard* (with Ann Dewar), 1952 [1] - *The Communist Conspiracy*, 1953 [1] - *Letters from Africa*, Geoffrey Bles, London, 1957. - *Defence in the Nuclear Age*. Gollancz, London, 1958; Nyack, N.Y.: Fellowship, 1959. [1] - *Common Sense in Defence*, 1960 [1] - *Men of Destiny*, 1960 [1] - *Our Times*, 1900–1960, 1961 [1] - *Power Politics in the Nuclear age*. Gollancz, London, 1962. [1] 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](/source/Civil_resistance)" or "[social defence](/source/Social_defence)".[10] 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.[11][12] ### Children - *Letters to Hilary*, 1928 [1] - *Hilary Growing Up*, 1929, E. Benn, London. [1] - *The crowning of the King and Queen*, 1937 [13] "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."*[14] ### Novels - *Moment of No Return*, [Ballantine Books](/source/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](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Middle_Watch_(play)&action=edit&redlink=1)*, 1929 - *[The Midshipmaid](/source/The_Midshipmaid_(play))*, 1931 - *[Admirals All](/source/Admirals_All_(play))*, 1934 - *Tropical Trouble*, 1936 - *The Middle Watch*, 1940 - *[Off the Record](/source/Off_the_Record_(play))*, 1947 - *Girls at Sea*, 1958 ### Radio - [BBC](/source/BBC) [Children's Hour](/source/Children's_Hour) ## See also - [Civil resistance](/source/Civil_resistance) - [Hansard Society](/source/Hansard_Society) - [Nonviolent resistance](/source/Nonviolent_resistance) - [Social defence](/source/Social_defence) ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-WhoWasWho_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-WhoWasWho_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-WhoWasWho_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-WhoWasWho_1-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-WhoWasWho_1-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-WhoWasWho_1-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-WhoWasWho_1-6) [***h***](#cite_ref-WhoWasWho_1-7) [***i***](#cite_ref-WhoWasWho_1-8) [***j***](#cite_ref-WhoWasWho_1-9) [***k***](#cite_ref-WhoWasWho_1-10) [***l***](#cite_ref-WhoWasWho_1-11) [***m***](#cite_ref-WhoWasWho_1-12) [***n***](#cite_ref-WhoWasWho_1-13) [***o***](#cite_ref-WhoWasWho_1-14) [***p***](#cite_ref-WhoWasWho_1-15) [***q***](#cite_ref-WhoWasWho_1-16) [***r***](#cite_ref-WhoWasWho_1-17) [***s***](#cite_ref-WhoWasWho_1-18) [***t***](#cite_ref-WhoWasWho_1-19) [Who Was Who](/source/Who_Was_Who), A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007, accessed 17 November 2012. [King-Hall](http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U50458) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-Peerage_2-0)** Lundy, Darryl. ["Sir William Stephen King-Hall, Baron King-Hall"](http://www.thepeerage.com/p19150.htm#i191492). *The Peerage*. thepeerage.com. Retrieved 8 November 2021. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Edgerton, David (December 2005). [*Warfare State: Britain, 1920-1970*](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). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 154. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-521-67231-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-521-67231-3). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["No. 40227"](https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/40227/page/4026). *[The London Gazette](/source/The_London_Gazette)*. 9 July 1954. p. 4026. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["No. 43877"](https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/43877/page/666). *[The London Gazette](/source/The_London_Gazette)*. 18 January 1966. p. 666. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-IWMBio_6-0)** ["WE REMEMBER WILLIAM STEPHEN RICHARD KING-HALL"](https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/6906065). *Imperial War Museum*. Retrieved 8 November 2021. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["The Diary of a U-boat Commander by Sir King-Hall Stephen - Free eBook"](http://www.manybooks.net/titles/anonetext058dubc10.html). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** King-Hall, Stephen. ["A North Sea Diary : 1914-18"](https://opac.navalmarinearchive.com/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=39906). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** King-Hall, Stephen. ["My Naval Life"](https://opac.navalmarinearchive.com/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=49312). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Stephen King-Hall, *Defence in the Nuclear Age*, Gollancz, London, 1958; Nyack, N.Y.: Fellowship, 1959. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** [Gene Keyes, "Strategic Nonviolent Defense: The Construct of an Option" (1981)](http://www.genekeyes.com/SNVDCO.html) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** [Brian Martin, "Researching nonviolent action: past themes and future possibilities" (2005)](http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/pubs/05pc.html) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** King-Hall, Sir Stephen (1937). *The crowning of the King and Queen*. London: Evans Brothers Ltd. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** [WorldCat](/source/WorldCat) - [*Hilary Growing Up*](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/002133850) - [Stephen King-Hall](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0455398/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)) - ["Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives"](http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/summary/ki30-001.shtml). University of London - King's College. - ["William Stephen Richard King-Hall, Baron King-Hall (1893-1966), Sailor, writer and commentator"](http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp02549). [National Portrait Gallery (London)](/source/National_Portrait_Gallery_(London)). - ["Britain and the Future"](http://www.empireclubfoundation.com/details.asp?SpeechID=372&FT=yes). The Empire Club of Canada. ## External links - *[Hansard](/source/Hansard)* 1803–2005: [contributions in Parliament by Stephen King-Hall](https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/commander-william-king-hall) - [Works by Stephen King-Hall](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/33135) at [Project Gutenberg](/source/Project_Gutenberg) - [Works by Stephen King-Hall](https://fadedpage.com/csearch.php?author=King-Hall%2C%20Stephen) at [Faded Page](/source/Distributed_Proofreaders_Canada) (Canada) - [Works by or about Stephen King-Hall](https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28subject%3A%22King-Hall%2C%20Stephen%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Stephen%20King-Hall%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22King-Hall%2C%20Stephen%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Stephen%20King-Hall%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22King-Hall%2C%20S%2E%22%20OR%20title%3A%22Stephen%20King-Hall%22%20OR%20description%3A%22King-Hall%2C%20Stephen%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Stephen%20King-Hall%22%29%20OR%20%28%221893-1966%22%20AND%20King-Hall%29%29%20AND%20%28-mediatype:software%29) at the [Internet Archive](/source/Internet_Archive) - [Works by Stephen King-Hall](https://librivox.org/author/4615) at [LibriVox](/source/LibriVox) (public domain audiobooks) - [*A North Sea Diary 1914-1918*](https://archive.org/details/northseadiary00kingiala) Account of his experience on board the *Southampton* - [Newspaper clippings about Stephen King-Hall](https://purl.org/pressemappe20/folder/pe/009598) in the [20th Century Press Archives](/source/20th_Century_Press_Archives) of the [ZBW](/source/German_National_Library_of_Economics) - [The papers of Baron King-Hall of Headley](https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/9/resources/1853) at [Churchill Archives Centre](/source/Churchill_Archives_Centre) Parliament of the United Kingdom Preceded by Sam Tom Rosbotham Member of Parliament for Ormskirk 1939–1945 Succeeded by Harold Wilson Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND FAST WorldCat National United States France BnF data Japan Czech Republic Netherlands Poland Israel Catalonia Belgium People Trove Deutsche Biographie 2 DDB Other IdRef Open Library 2 SNAC Yale LUX --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Stephen King-Hall](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King-Hall) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King-Hall?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.