Joseph Godber

Joseph Bradshaw Godber, Baron Godber of Willington, PC (17 March 1914 – 25 August 1980) was a British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Grantham from 1951 to 1979 and held ministerial posts in the governments of Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Home, and Edward Heath.

The Lord Godber of Willington
Godber in 1970
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
In office
5 November 1972  4 March 1974
Prime MinisterEdward Heath
Preceded byJames Prior
Succeeded byFred Peart
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs
In office
19 June 1970  9 April 1972
Prime MinisterEdward Heath
Preceded byThe Lord Shepherd
Succeeded byThe Baroness Tweedsmuir
Minister of Labour
In office
21 October 1963  16 October 1964
Prime MinisterAlec Douglas-Home
Preceded byJohn Hare
Succeeded byRay Gunter
Secretary of State for War
In office
27 June 1963  21 October 1963
Prime MinisterHarold Macmillan
Preceded byJohn Profumo
Succeeded byJames Ramsden
Member of Parliament
for Grantham
In office
25 October 1951  7 April 1979
Preceded byEric Smith
Succeeded byDouglas Hogg
Personal details
Born(1914-03-17)17 March 1914
Bedford, England
Died25 August 1980(1980-08-25) (aged 66)
Bedford, England
Political partyConservative
Spouse
Miriam Sanders
(m. 1936)
Children2

Background

Godber was born in Bedford.[1] He was educated at Bedford School, between 1922 and 1931, and became a nurseryman. He became chairman of the county glasshouse section of the National Farmers Union and of the publicity and parliamentary committee. He was a member of the Tomato and Cucumber Marketing Board.

Political career

Godber was a Bedfordshire County Councillor from 1946 until 1952.[2] He was elected Member of Parliament for Grantham in 1951, a seat he held until 1979. He served under Harold Macmillan as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from 1957 to 1960, as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1960 to 1961, as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs from 1961 to 1963 and as Secretary of State for War in 1963, under Sir Alec Douglas-Home as Minister of Labour from 1963 to 1964 and under Edward Heath as Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 1970 to 1972 and as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from 1972 to 1974. Godber was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1963 and in 1979 he was made a life peer as Baron Godber of Willington, of Willington in the County of Bedfordshire.[3]

Personal life

In 1936, Godber married Miriam Sanders in Bedford. They had two sons (including one born in 1938 and the other in 1944). Godber died in Bedford in 1980.[4]

A number of Godber's siblings distinguished themselves in later life:

References

  1. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  2. The Times Guide to the House of Commons February 1974. London: Times Newspapers Ltd. 1974. p. 132. ISBN 0-7230-0115-4.
  3. "No. 47907". The London Gazette. 17 July 1979. p. 9009.
  4. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  5. Obituary in The Times, Mr W.T. Godber, 24 April 1981, p.14
  6. "SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE" (PDF). 10 June 1967. p. 6278.
  7. "Results for 'au:Godber, Joyce.' [WorldCat.org]". worldcat.org. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  8. "Private Papers R J Godber (Documents.20966)". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  9. "GODBER, Geoffrey Chapman (1912–1999), DL; Chief Executive, West Sussex County Council, 1974–75, retired (Clerk of the Peace and Clerk to the Council, 1966–74); Clerk to the Lieutenancy of West Sussex, 1974–76 (Sussex, 1968–74)". Retrieved 7 February 2016.
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