Merlyn Rees

Merlyn Merlyn-Rees, Baron Merlyn-Rees, PC (né Merlyn Rees; 18 December 1920 – 5 January 2006) was a British Labour politician and Member of Parliament from 1963 until 1992. He served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1974–1976) and Home Secretary (1976–1979).

The Right Honourable The Lord Merlyn-Rees PC
Merlyn Rees on After Dark in 1988
Shadow Secretary of State for Energy
In office 4 November 1980 – 24 November 1982
Leader	Michael Foot
Preceded by	David Owen
Succeeded by	John Smith
Shadow Home Secretary
In office 4 May 1979 – 4 November 1980
Leader	James Callaghan
Preceded by	William Whitelaw
Succeeded by	Roy Hattersley
Home Secretary
In office 10 September 1976 – 4 May 1979
Prime Minister	James Callaghan
Preceded by	Roy Jenkins
Succeeded by	William Whitelaw
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In office 5 March 1974 – 10 September 1976
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson James Callaghan
Preceded by	Francis Pym
Succeeded by	Roy Mason
Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In office 24 March 1972 – 4 March 1974
Leader	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Francis Pym
Member of Parliament for Morley and Leeds South
In office 9 June 1983 – 16 March 1992
Preceded by	Constituency created
Succeeded by	John Gunnell
Member of Parliament for Leeds South
In office 20 June 1963 – 13 May 1983
Preceded by	Hugh Gaitskell
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	Merlyn Rees 18 December 1920 Cilfynydd, Wales
Died	5 January 2006 (aged 85) London, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Alma mater	Goldsmiths, University of London University of Nottingham London School of Economics

Early life

Rees was born in Cilfynydd, near Pontypridd, Glamorgan, the son of Levi Rees, a war veteran who moved from Wales to England to find work.[1] He was educated at Harrow Weald Grammar School, Harrow, England and Goldsmiths College, London where he was president of the students' union from 1939 to 1941. In 1941 he joined the RAF, becoming a squadron leader and earning the nickname "Dagwood". He served in Italy as operations and intelligence officer to No 324 Squadron under Group Captain WGG Duncan-Smith (father of the future Tory leader). One of Rees's Spitfire pilots in Italy, Frank Cooper, became his Permanent Secretary at the Northern Ireland Office. He attended the London School of Economics where he received BSc(Econ) and MSc(Econ). He was appointed schoolmaster at his old school in Harrow in 1949, teaching economics and history. He taught for eleven years, during which time he was three times an unsuccessful parliamentary candidate for Harrow East, in 1955, 1959, and in a 1959 by-election. He was a member of the Institute of Education at the University of London from 1959 to 1962.

Member of Parliament

At a by-election in 1963, he stood successfully as the Labour candidate for Leeds South, succeeding Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell, who had died in office. He held the seat until he stepped down from the House of Commons at the 1992 general election. The constituency was renamed as Morley and Leeds South in 1983. He was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from March 1974 until September 1976,[1] when he was appointed Home Secretary. For two years before the Labour government came to power in 1974 he had been Labour Party spokesman on Northern Ireland. Rees wrote of his views on Northern Ireland in: Northern Ireland: a Personal Perspective.[2] One month after his appointment as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rees lifted the proscription against the illegal loyalist paramilitary organisation, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in an attempt to bring them into the democratic process,[3] however, the organisation was implicated in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings on 17 May 1974 and the group was once more banned by the British Government on 3 October 1975. Rees’ decision to permit the Sunningdale power sharing arrangements to collapse in Northern Ireland was described as ‘supine’ by former SDLP leader, Seamus Mallon.[4]

Retirement

Merlyn Rees Avenue, street sign in Morley, West Yorkshire

When he retired from the House of Commons in 1992, he was created a life peer as Baron Merlyn-Rees, of Morley and South Leeds in the County of West Yorkshire and of Cilfynydd in the County of Mid Glamorgan[5] and entered the House of Lords, having changed his name, on 23 June 1992, by deed poll to Merlyn Merlyn-Rees[6] to allow his title to be Merlyn-Rees rather than Rees.[7]

He was president of the Video Standards Council from 1990 and was the first Chancellor of the University of Glamorgan, a position he held from 1994 to 2002.

Death

He suffered injuries in a number of falls, and failing to recover from these, fell into a coma, dying at the age of 85. He was survived by his wife Colleen and three sons.

Legacy

Merlyn Rees Avenue in Morley, West Yorkshire is named after Rees. Merlyn Rees Community High School in Belle Isle, Leeds was named after Rees until its merger with Mathew Murray Comprehensive School in 2006 when it was renamed South Leeds High School.

References

1. Edward Pearce (5 January 2006). "Lord Merlyn-Rees". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
2. London: Methuen, 1985. ISBN 0-413-52590-2
3. Taylor, Peter (1999). Loyalists. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, p. 124.
4. ‘Seamus Mallon: I saw John Hume’s raw courage as he faced bloodthirsty Paras’; The Irish Times, 4 August 2020
5. "No. 52982". The London Gazette. 6 July 1992. p. 11339.
6. "No. 52985". The London Gazette. 8 July 1992. p. 11569.
7. "Obituary: Lord Merlyn-Rees". BBC. 5 January 2006. Retrieved 16 February 2019.

• BBC News (5 January 2006). “Peer's roots in 'gifted' street”. Retrieved 15 January 2006.
• "Belfast years remembered for vacillation in face of loyalist strike" (5 January 2006). The Irish Times, p. 14.
• Wakefieldtoday.co.uk."Your Online Guide to Yorkshire People". Retrieved 15 January 2006.

Reading

• Merlyn Rees, "Northern Ireland: a personal perspective", London: Methuen, 1985.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Merlyn Rees
• Merlyn Rees (The Second World War Experience Centre)
• Catalogue of the Merlyn-Rees papers at the Archives Division of the London School of Economics.