William Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw
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The Right Honourable The Viscount Whitelaw KT CH MC PC DL |
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| Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |
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In office 4 May 1979 – 10 January 1988 |
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| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | Rab Butler |
| Succeeded by | Sir Geoffrey Howe |
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Leader of the House of Lords Lord President of the Council |
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In office 11 June 1983 – 10 January 1988 |
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| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | Baroness Young |
| Succeeded by | Lord Belstead |
| Home Secretary | |
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In office 4 May 1979 – 11 June 1983 |
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| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | Merlyn Rees |
| Succeeded by | Leon Brittan |
| Shadow Home Secretary | |
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In office 11 April 1976 – 4 May 1979 |
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| Leader | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | Ian Gilmour |
| Succeeded by | Merlyn Rees |
| Chairman of the Conservative Party | |
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In office 4 March 1974 – 11 February 1975 |
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| Leader | Edward Heath |
| Preceded by | Peter Carington |
| Succeeded by | Peter Thorneycroft |
| Secretary of State for Employment | |
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In office 2 December 1973 – 4 March 1974 |
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| Prime Minister | Edward Heath |
| Preceded by | Maurice Macmillan |
| Succeeded by | Michael Foot |
| Secretary of State for Northern Ireland | |
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In office 24 March 1972 – 2 December 1973 |
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| Prime Minister | Edward Heath |
| Preceded by | Office Created |
| Succeeded by | Francis Pym |
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Leader of the House of Commons Lord President of the Council |
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In office 20 June 1970 – 7 April 1972 |
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| Prime Minister | Edward Heath |
| Preceded by | Fred Peart |
| Succeeded by | Robert Carr |
| Chief Whip of the Conservative Party | |
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In office 16 October 1964 – 20 June 1970 |
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| Leader |
Sir Alec Douglas-Home Edward Heath |
| Preceded by | Martin Redmayne |
| Succeeded by | Francis Pym |
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Member of Parliament for Penrith and The Border |
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In office 26 May 1955 – 11 June 1983 |
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| Preceded by | Donald Scott |
| Succeeded by | David Maclean |
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Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal |
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In office 11 June 1983 – 1 July 1999 Hereditary Peerage |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
William Stephen Ian Whitelaw 28 June 1918 Nairn, Scotland |
| Died | 1 July 1999 (aged 81) Penrith, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Religion | Church of Scotland |
| a. ^ Office vacant from 18 October 1963 to 4 May 1979. b. ^ Office vacant from 10 January 1988 to 24 July 1989. | |
William Stephen Ian Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw, KT, CH, MC, PC, DL (28 June 1918 – 1 July 1999), often known as Willie Whitelaw, was a British Conservative Party politician who served in a wide number of Cabinet positions, most notably as Home Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister.
Whitelaw was born at the family estate, Monklaw, at Nairn, in northeast Scotland. He never knew his father, William Alexander Whitelaw (born 1892), a member of a Scottish landed gentry family, who was killed in the First World War when he was a baby. Whitelaw was raised by his mother and paternal grandfather, William Whitelaw (1868–1946), of Gartshore, Dumbartonshire, an Old Harrovian and alumnus of Trinity College, Cambridge, landowner, M.P. for Perth 1892–1895, and chairman of the London and North-Eastern Railway Company. His grandmother Dorothy was the niece of the former Prime Minister and author Benjamin Disraeli.
Whitelaw was educated first at Wixenford School, Wokingham, before passing the entrance exam to Winchester College. From there he went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he won a blue for golf and joined the Officer Training Corps. By chance he was in a summer camp in 1939 on the outbreak of the Second World War and was granted a regular, not wartime, commission in the British Army, in the Scots Guards, later serving in the 6th Guards Tank Brigade, a separate unit from the Guards Armoured Division. He commanded Churchill tanks in Normandy during the Second World War and during Operation Bluecoat in late July 1944. His was the first Allied unit to encounter German Jagdpanther tank destroyers, being attacked by three out of the twelve of these vehicles which were in Normandy.
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