1662 William Benn

Constituency : Tower  Hamlets  St  George's  1906-18, Leith 1918-27, Aberdeen North  1928-31, Manchester  Gorton  1937-42  ( Labour ) 

William  took  St  George's  from  the  Tories.

William  was  the  son  of  the  Devonport  MP,  John  Benn. He  was  educated  in  Paris  and  at  University  College, London. He  was  a  strong  opponent  of  the  Boer  War.  He  was  a  teetotaller.

William   became  PPS  to  Reginald  McKenna  at  the  Treasury  and  then  Education.

William  was  re-elected  in  January  1910  but  lost  a  libel  suit  by  his  Conservative  opponent  over  something  he  said  during  the  campaign.

He was  a  whip  between  1910  and  1915.  He  upset  some  colleagues  by  raising  funds  for  the  striking  dockers  in  1912. He  was  an  admirer  of  Lloyd  George  up  to  the  Marconi  scandal  then  very  sceptical  about  him.

At  the  start  of  the  war  William  was  put  in  charge  of  the  National  Relief  Fund  and  raised  £1,000,000 in  ten  days. He  then  joined  the  Middlesex  Yeomanry  and  served  in  Egypt  in  1915
In  1916,  he  was  commissioned  an  observer  flying  officer  for  the  Royal  Flying  Corp. He  commanded  a  seaplane  observer  squadron  which  saw  service  at  Gallipoli. He  was  promoted  to  lieutenant  in  the  Royal  Naval  Air  Service  and  was  awarded  the  DSO  in  1917.

In  1916  William  declined  Lloyd  George's  invitation  to  become  Chief  Whip  in  his  government.

In  1918  William  achieved  one  of  the  best  results  for  an  independent  Liberal, seeing  off  a  couponed  Conservative  and  a  Labour  candidate  at  Leith. It  was  his  father  who  came  up  with  the  name  "Wee  Frees"  for  the  independent  Liberal  grouping.

William  was  one  of  a  radical  grouping  of  Liberal  MPs  in  the  mid-twenties  but  in 1927 , when  it  became  clear  that  Lloyd  George  had  gained  control  of  the  party,  he resigned  his  seat  and  joined  the Labour  party.

William  came  back  into  Parliament  for  Labour  at  Aberdeen  North  the  following  year. He  was  Secretary  of  State  for  India  between  1929  and  1931.

William  was  heavily   defeated  by  the  Conservative  candidate   in  1931. He  was  defeated  at  Dudley  in  1935 . He  came  back  for  Manchester  Gorton  in  1937.

In  1940  William   rejoined  the  Royal  Air  Force  and  rose  to  Air  Commodore. Although  his  role  was  mainly  ground-based  he  did  fly  in   some  operations  despite  being  in  his  late  sixties.
 
In  1942  William  was  created  Viscount  Stansgate . In  1944  he  was  appointed  Vice  President  of  the  Allied  Control  Commission  for  reconstructing  a  democratic  Italy. When  Attlee  took  power  in  1945  he  was  Secretary  of  State  for  air  for  a  year.

He  died  in  1960   aged  83  sparking  a  long  legal  battle  as  his  son  Tony  sought  to  renounce the  title  he  had  inherited  and  continue  to  sit  in  the  Commons.