James Ramsden (politician)

The Right Honourable
James Ramsden
The Right Honourable James Ramsden
Minister of State for the Army
	In office; 1 April 1964 – 16 October 1964
Prime Minister	Sir Alec Douglas-Home
Preceded by	Office created
Succeeded by	Fred Mulley
Secretary of State for War
	In office; 21 October 1963 – 1 April 1964
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Sir Alec Douglas-Home
Preceded by	Joseph Godber
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Member of Parliament ; for Harrogate
	In office; 11 March 1954 – 8 February 1974
Preceded by	Christopher York
Succeeded by	Robert Banks
Personal details
Born	James Edward Ramsden; 1 November 1923; Liverpool, England
Died	29 March 2020 (aged 96); Ripon, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Juliet Ponsonby
Military career
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service / branch	British Army
Years of service	1942–51
Rank	Lieutenant
Service number	256071
Unit	King's Royal Rifle Corps
Battles / wars	Second World War

James Edward Ramsden PC (1 November 1923 – 29 March 2020) was a British Conservative politician. He was the last person to hold the office of Secretary of State for War.

Background

Ramsden was born in Liverpool in 1923,^[1] the son of Captain Edward Ramsden and his wife Geraldine. His father was a brother of George Taylor Ramsden, a Coalition Unionist MP for Elland, while his mother was a sister of brothers Sir Frank O'Brien Wilson (a Royal Navy officer and early settler of Kenya) and Sir Murrough John Wilson (a Conservative MP for Richmond, Yorkshire).^[2] During the Second World War, he served as a lieutenant with the King's Royal Rifle Corps.^[3]

Political career

Ramsden sat as Member of Parliament for Harrogate from 1954 to 1974. He served under Harold Macmillan as Under-Secretary of State and Financial Secretary for War from 1960 to 1963 and under Sir Alec Douglas-Home as Secretary of State for War from 1963 to 1964. At the April 1964 reshuffle, the former cabinet positions of First Lord of the Admiralty and Secretary of State for Air, along with Ramsden's post, were incorporated into an expanded Ministry of Defence, under the leadership of the new position of Secretary of State for Defence. Ramsden was appointed Minister of State for the Army at the Ministry of Defence, a post he held until the Douglas-Home government fell in October 1964. He was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council in 1963.

Ramsden was interviewed in 2012 as part of The History of Parliament's oral history project.^[2]^[4]

Personal life

Ramsden married Juliet Ponsonby, daughter of Conservative politician Charles Ponsonby. Their youngest child was the artist Charlotte Cheverton, who died in a car accident in 1991.^[5]

Ramsden died in March 2020 at the age of 96.^[6]

References

^ "RAMSDEN, James (b.1923). | History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org.
^ ^a ^b "Oral history: RAMSDEN, James (b.1923)". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
^ "No. 35893". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 February 1943. p. 699.
^ "Rt Hon James Ramsden interviewed by Alexander Lock". British Library Sound Archive. Archived from the original on 9 August 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
^ "Charlotte Cheverton | Mapping Memorials to Women in Scotland". womenofscotland.org.uk. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
^ "Ramsden - Deaths Announcements - Telegraph Announcements". announcements.telegraph.co.uk.

Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages ^{[self-published source]} ^{[better source needed]}
Rulers.org page on UK government officials (search for "Ramsden")

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Christopher York	Member of Parliament for Harrogate 1954 – February 1974	Succeeded by Robert Banks
Political offices
Preceded by Hon. Hugh Fraser	Under-Secretary of State and Financial Secretary for War 1960–1963	Succeeded by Peter Kirk
Preceded by Joseph Godber	Secretary of State for War 1963–1964	Office abolished
New office	Minister of State for the Army 1964	Succeeded by Fred Mulley

This article about a Conservative Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom representing an English constituency and born in the 1920s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] "RAMSDEN, James (b.1923). | History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org.

[HoPRamsden-2] "Oral history: RAMSDEN, James (b.1923)". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 14 July 2016.

[3] "No. 35893". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 February 1943. p. 699.

[BLRamsden-4] "Rt Hon James Ramsden interviewed by Alexander Lock". British Library Sound Archive. Archived from the original on 9 August 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2018.

[:0-5] "Charlotte Cheverton | Mapping Memorials to Women in Scotland". womenofscotland.org.uk. Retrieved 18 December 2016.

[6] "Ramsden - Deaths Announcements - Telegraph Announcements". announcements.telegraph.co.uk.

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