Hervey Rhodes , Baron Rhodes Hervey Rhodes , Baron Rhodes , KG , DFC and Bar , PC , DL ( 12 August 1895 – 11 September 1987 ) was a British Labour Party politician . Born in Saddleworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire , Rhodes was educated at St Mary ' s School , Greenfield , then at Huddersfield Technical College . He was employed within the woolen industry . During the Great War he served initially with the King ' s Own Royal Lancashire Regiment , and later the Yorkshire Regiment . Seconded to the Royal Flying Corps , Rhodes served as an Observer / gunner with No . 12 Squadron flying the RE 8 . Despite the fact the Squadron was mainly engaged on reconnaissance and artillery spotting duties , Rhodes , with his usual pilot South African Lt . Croye Pithey , claimed as a crew a total of 5 enemy aircraft destroyed and a further 5 claimed ' out of control ' , Rhodes winning the Distinguished Flying Cross and Bar . He was badly wounded in September 1918 , and walked with a limp for the rest of his life . He left with the rank of Lieutenant - Colonel . During the Second World War , Rhodes , by then a mill - owner and Chairman of the Saddleworth Rural District Council , became the Commanding Officer of the Local Defence Volunteers ( LDV ) , formed in 1940 to defend England against the Armies of the Third Reich , then in occupation of much of North Europe and having succeeded in expelling the British Expeditionary Force from Europe at Dunkirk . Initially , the LDV were issued only with an armband and brought along to parades and training such implements or weapons as they could improvise . Quite soon the LDV was jokingly said to stand for " The Look , Duck & Vanish " . The name was quickly changed to the Home Guard and within a few short weeks the Home Guard was equipped with rifles , Army pattern khaki uniform and had officers and NCOs appointed . Hervey Rhodes became the CO of the 36th ( West Riding ) Battalion , Duke of Wellington ' s Regiment . Major Rhodes ( soon Lt . Col . ) came round to his various companies , limping , complete with stick and pipe . The Battalion was soon quite well - together and equipped with Thompson sub - machine guns and later , Sten guns and other weaponry . Rhodes served as CO of the Battalion until the Home Guard was disbanded . He then was able to develop his political career , alongside his business interests at his mill in Delph . In the 1945 general election , Rhodes stood without success as the Labour candidate in Royton , Oldham , Lancashire . A few months later , however , he was elected as Member of Parliament for Ashton - under - Lyne in a by - election on 1 October created by William Jowitt ' s elevation to the peerage . Rhodes was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Hilary Marquand , as Paymaster - General and Minister of Pensions . In 1950 , he was promoted to Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade , serving until Labour ' s defeat at the 1951 general election . He served as MP until the 1964 general election , when he was succeeded by Robert Sheldon . He was made a life peer in 1964 as Baron Rhodes , of Saddleworth in the West Riding of the County of Yorkshire . He again held office as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade from 1964 until 1967 . He served as Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire from 1968 . He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1969 , a Knight of the Garter in 1972 and served as Deputy - Lord Lieutenant of Greater Manchester from 1974 . He died in Oldham aged 92 .