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Frederick Marquis, 1st Earl of Woolton

Frederick James Marquis, 1st Earl of Woolton (1883-1964) was a British businessman and politician.

In the 1930s he built up the department store John Lewis and for his contribution to British industry he was awarded a peerage in 1939. Despite his wishes, he was informed that it was not possible to be Baron Marquis and so he took the title Baron Woolton. In April 1940 he was appointed as Minister of Food by Neville Chamberlain, one of a number of ministerial appointments from outside politics. Woolton retained this position when Winston Churchill became Prime Minister the following month and was faced with the task of overseeing rationing due to wartime shortages. He took the view that it was unsufficient to impose restrictions but that a programme of advertising to support it was undertaken. There were many new recipes made out of the restricted supplies, including the "Woolton pie " named after the minister which consisted of carrots, parsnips, potatoes and turnips in oatmeal, with a a pastry or potato crust and served with brown gravy. It was Woolton's business skills that managed to make the Ministry of Food's difficult job a success and he engendered a strong personal popularity despite the shortages.

In 1943 Woolton entered the War Cabinet as Minister of Reconstruction, taking charge of the difficult task of planning for post-war Britain. In May 1945 he was including in Churchill's "Caretaker" government as Lord President of the Council, but in July the government fell when Churchill lost the 1945 general election. The very next day Woolton joined the Conservative Party and was soon appointed Party Chairman, with the job of imporiving the party's organisation in the country and revitalising it for future elections. Under Woolton many sweeping reforms were carried out and when the Conservatives returned to government in 1951, Woolton served in the Cabinet for the next four years.


|- style="text-align: center;" | width="30%" |Preceded by:
| width="40%" style="text-align: center;" |Minister of Reconstruction
1943–1945 | width="30%" |Succeeded by:
Office Abolished

|- style="text-align: center;" | width="30%" |Preceded by:
Clement Attlee | width="40%" style="text-align: center;" |Lord President of the Council
1945 | width="30%" |Succeeded by:
Herbert Stanley Morrison

|- style="text-align: center;" | width="30%" |Preceded by:
The Viscount Addison | width="40%" style="text-align: center;" |Lord President of the Council
1951–1952 | width="30%" |Succeeded by:
The Marquess of Salisbury

|- style="text-align: center;" | width="30%" |Preceded by:
The Viscount Swinton | width="40%" style="text-align: center;" |Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
1952–1955 | width="30%" |Succeeded by:
The Earl of Selkirk


Preceded by:
New Creation
Earl of Woolton
Succeeded by:
Roger David Marquis


Last updated: 05-20-2005 04:14:32