Harold Macmillan

**Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton**, OM, PC (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986), was a Conservative politician. He was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963.

Macmillan was in the Grenadier Guards during the First World War. After the war he joined his family publishing company. He entered Parliament at the 1924 general election. After losing his seat in 1929, he won it again in 1931.

During World War II, Churchill made Macmillan Minister Resident in the Mediterranean. This made him the go-between for Churchill and the British forces in North Africa and the Middle East. The Mediterranean was a major theatre of war, and Macmillan's work made his name as a serious politician.

Macmillan became Foreign Secretary and then Chancellor of the Exchequer under Churchill's successor Sir Anthony Eden. When Eden resigned in 1957 after the Suez Crisis, Macmillan succeeded him as Prime Minister and Leader of the Conservative Party.

Macmillan  presided over a country becoming richer, with low unemployment and high (but uneven) economic growth. In his Bedford speech of July 1957 he told the nation they had 'never had it so good'.

Macmillan was granted the last hereditary peerage given to a prime minister when he became the Earl of Stockton and Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden.

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **embed**: yes
- **order2**: Chancellor of the Exchequer
- **term start2**: 20 December 1955
- **term end2**: 13 January 1957
- **primeminister2**: Anthony Eden, Sir Anthony Eden
- **predecessor2**: Rab Butler
- **successor2**: Peter Thorneycroft
- **order3**: Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
- **term start3**: 7 April 1955
- **term end3**: 20 December 1955
- **primeminister3**: Anthony Eden, Sir Anthony Eden
- **predecessor3**: Sir Anthony Eden
- **successor3**: Selwyn Lloyd
- **order4**: Secretary of State for Defence, Minister of Defence
- **term start4**: 19 October 1954
- **term end4**: 7 April 1955
- **primeminister4**: Winston Churchill, Sir Winston Churchill
- **predecessor4**: Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, The Earl Alexander of Tunis
- **successor4**: Selwyn Lloyd
- **order5**: Minister of Housing and Local Government
- **term start5**: 30 October 1951
- **term end5**: 19 October 1954
- **primeminister5**: Winston Churchill, Sir Winston Churchill
- **predecessor5**: Hugh Dalton
- **successor5**: Duncan Sandys
- **order6**: Secretary of State for Air
- **term start6**: 25 May 1945
- **term end6**: 26 July 1945
- **primeminister6**: Winston Churchill
- **predecessor6**: Archibald Sinclair, 1st Viscount Thurso, Sir Archibald Sinclair
- **successor6**: William Wedgwood Benn, 1st Viscount Stansgate, The Viscount Stansgate
- **order7**: Resident (title), Minister Resident in Northwest Africa
- **term start7**: 30 December 1942
- **term end7**: 25 May 1945
- **primeminister7**: Winston Churchill
- **predecessor7**: New post
- **successor7**: Harold Balfour, 1st Baron Balfour of Inchrye, Harold Balfour
- **order8**: Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies
- **term start8**: 4 February 1942
- **term end8**: 30 December 1942
- **primeminister8**: Winston Churchill
- **predecessor8**: George Hall, 1st Viscount Hall, George Hall
- **successor8**: Edward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire, The Duke of Devonshire
- **order9**: Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Supply|
- **term start9**: 15 May 1940
- **term end9**: 4 February 1942
- **primeminister9**: Winston Churchill
- **predecessor9**: John Llewellin, 1st Baron Llewellin, John Llewellin
- **successor9**: Wyndham Portal, 1st Viscount Portal, The Viscount Portal


## Infobox (officeholder)

- **embed**: yes
- **office10**: Members of the House of Lords, Member of the House of Lords
Lords Temporal, Lord Temporal
- **term start10**: 24 February 1984
- **term end10**: 29 December 1986
 Hereditary Peerage
- **predecessor10**: _Earl of Stockton, Earldom created_
- **successor10**: Alexander Macmillan, 2nd Earl of Stockton, The 2nd Earl of Stockton
- **order11**: Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament
for Bromley (UK Parliament constituency), Bromley
- **term start11**: 14 November 1945
- **term end11**: 25 September 1964
- **predecessor11**: Sir Edward Campbell, 1st Baronet, Sir Edward Campbell
- **successor11**: John Hunt (British politician), John Hunt
- **order12**: Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament
for Stockton-on-Tees (UK Parliament constituency), Stockton-on-Tees
- **term start12**: 28 October 1931
- **term end12**: 15 June 1945
- **predecessor12**: Frederick Fox Riley
- **successor12**: George Chetwynd
- **term start13**: 30 October 1924
- **term end13**: 10 May 1929
- **predecessor13**: Robert Strother Stewart
- **successor13**: Frederick Fox Riley


## Infobox (officeholder)

- **honorific-prefix**: The Right Honourable
- **name**: The Earl of Stockton
- **image**: Harold Macmillan.jpg
- **caption**: Official portrait, 1959
- **alt**: Harold Macmillan in 1959
- **order**: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- **term start**: 10 January 1957
- **term end**: 18 October 1963
- **monarch**: Elizabeth II
- **deputy**: Rab Butler
- **predecessor**: Anthony Eden, Sir Anthony Eden
- **successor**: Alec Douglas-Home, Sir Alec Douglas-Home
- **order1**: Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party
- **term start1**: 10 January 1957
- **term end1**: 18 October 1963
- **predecessor1**: Anthony Eden, Sir Anthony Eden
- **successor1**: Alec Douglas-Home, Sir Alec Douglas-Home
- **birth name**: Maurice Harold Macmillan
- **birth place**: Belgravia, Belgravia, London, England
- **death place**: Chelwood Gate, Chelwood Gate, East Sussex, England
- **resting place**: St Giles' Church, Horsted Keynes
- **party**: Conservative Party (UK), Conservative
- **alma mater**: Balliol College, Oxford
- **children**: 4, including Maurice Macmillan, Maurice and Lady Caroline Faber, Caroline
- **unit**: Grenadier Guards
- **serviceyears**: 1914–1920
- **rank**: Captain (British Army and Royal Marines), Captain
- **battles**: * History of the United Kingdom during the First World War, First World War
**Battle of Loos
**Battle of the Somme