Sir Patrick Wall

Patrick Henry Bligh Wall was born in Cheshire on 19 October 1916, the son of Henry Benedict Wall and Gladys Eleanor Finney. He was educated at Downside School, Bath. In 1935 he was commissioned in the Royal Marines, training to become a specialist in naval gunnery. During the Second World War, he served on various Royal Navy vessels, including Iron Duke, Valiant and Malaya, between 1940 and 1943. From 1943 to 1945 he served in RN support craft, with the United States Navy and then with the Royal Marine Commandos. He was awarded both the Military Cross and the US Legion of Merit in 1945. After the war he studied at the Royal Naval Staff College and the Joint Services Staff College, and was a staff instructor at the School of Combined Operations between 1946 and 1948. His last appointment afloat was in HMS Vanguard in 1949. He retired as a Major in 1950 in order to concentrate on a political career. However he remained a Reservist, commanding 47 Commando, Royal Marine Forces Volunteer Reserve, from 1951 until its disbandment in 1956. He was awarded the Volunteer Reserve Decoration (VRD) in 1957. His involvement in naval affairs was continued for many years through his work with the City of Westminster Sea Scout and Sea Cadet organisations, and the London Sea Scout Committee.

He contested the Cleveland constituency for the Conservative Party in the general election of 1951, and again at a bye-election the following year. He was subsequently elected for the Haltemprice Division of Hull (later of East Yorkshire) at a bye-election in February 1954, which in 1983 became the Beverley constituency, where he remained MP until his retirement in 1987. In Parliament he served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food between 1955 and 1957, and then to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, January 1958 - December 1959. Thereafter, as a leading back-bencher, Sir Patrick served on numerous Parliamentary and Conservative Party committees, of which the most important were: President of the Yorkshire Area Young Conservatives (1955 - 1960), Chairman of the Mediterranean Group of the Conservative Commonwealth Council (1954 - 1967), Chairman of the Conservative Parliamentary East and Central Africa Committee (1956 - 1959), Vice Chairman of the Conservative Commonwealth Affairs Committee (1960 - 1968), Vice Chairman of the Conservative Overseas Bureau (1963 - 1973), and Vice Chairman of the Conservative Defence Committee (1965 - 1971). He was a member of the Select Committee on Defence, 1980 - 1983. He was also Chairman of the Conservative Fisheries Committee (1962 - 1983), the All Party Fisheries Committee, and of the Africa Committee of the Conservative Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee. He was a Committee member of the Monday Club, and its Chairman between 1978 and 1980. He was also Chairman of: the Africa Centre (1961 - 1965); Joint East and Central Africa Board (1965 - 1975); Conservative Southern Africa Group (1970 - 1978); Conservative Africa Sub Committee (1979 - 1983); and the Royal Marines Parliamentary Group (1956 - 1987). In 1964 he founded the 92 Committee, following a meeting of MPs at his London home (92 Cheyne Walk) who desired to 'keep the Conservative Party Conservative'. This was disbanded in 1984.

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