raised to the peerage
Which position did Thomas Dugdale, 1st Baron Crathorne hold in Sep 1959?
Thomas Dugdale , 1st Baron Crathorne Thomas Lionel Dugdale , 1st Baron Crathorne , ( 20 July 1897 – 26 March 1977 ) , known as Sir Thomas Dugdale , 1st Baronet from 1945 to 1959 , was a British Conservative Party politician . He resigned as a government minister over the Crichel Down Affair , often quoted as a classic example of the convention of individual ministerial responsibility . Background and early life . Thomas Dugdale was the son of Captain James Lionel Dugdale , of Crathorne Hall near Yarm in Yorkshire . His grandfather John Dugdale ( died 1881 ) was from a family of Lancashire cotton manufacturers , and had bought the Crathorne estate in 1844 . Dugdale was educated at Eton College and the Royal Military College , Sandhurst . He joined the Army in 1916 , serving with the Scots Greys in the First World War and the Yorkshire Hussars in the Second World War . Political career . In 1929 , Dugdale was elected as Member of Parliament ( MP ) for Richmond , North Yorkshire , where he remained until 1959 . He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to several ministers , including Stanley Baldwin , and Deputy Chief Whip . He was later Chairman of the Conservative Party and Chairman of the Partys Agricultural Committee . He was created a baronet in the 1945 New Year Honours for political and public services . The Crichel Down affair . When the Conservatives won the 1951 election , Churchill made Dugdale his Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries . Crichel Down was a piece of farmland in Dorset compulsorily bought by the government for defence use . Commander George Marten , whose wife Mary was the only child and heiress of the original owner of the land Lord Alington , wanted to buy the land back in the 1950s now that it was no longer used by the Ministry of Defence . However , the Ministry of Agriculture resisted , wishing to use the land for experimental farming in a time of rationing and agricultural development . Marten , a former equerry to the royal family , had very influential friends and stirred up much trouble in the local Conservative Party and on the government backbenches . There followed a public inquiry that criticised the departments decision and its civil servants , especially their methods , which were seen as an example of an over-powerful state . Finally , in 1954 , Dugdale announced that Marten could buy the land back , and told the House of Commons he was resigning . Resignation . Dugdales resignation went down in history as an honourable , even heroic , one : a minister taking responsibility for civil servants actions , which would lead to the perceived code of individual ministerial responsibility . However , in papers released thirty years after the affair it was found that Dugdale had known and approved of his civil servants actions , and had to an extent passed the buck to them himself . It was also found that the inquiry was inaccurate and biased , having been led by a former Conservative candidate who was very opposed to civil servants and state interference . Dugdales junior minister , Lord Carrington , also tendered his resignation , but it was refused . He went on to be Foreign Secretary , resigning the post in 1982 over the Falklands War . Commander Marten received his land , but not a Conservative parliamentary seat , for which he had hoped . In 1959 , Dugdale himself was raised to the peerage as Baron Crathorne , of Crathorne in the North Riding of the County of York . Subsequently , he had a second political career in Europe , building links with parliamentarians in NATO and the Council of Europe . Family . Dugdale married Nancy , daughter of Sir Charles Tennant , 1st Baronet and Marguerite ( née Miles ) , in 1936 . He died in March 1977 , aged 79 . His son James succeeded him as Baron Crathorne . References . - Kidd , Charles , Williamson , David ( editors ) . Debretts Peerage and Baronetage ( 1990 edition ) . New York : St Martins Press , 1990 ,