SPICER, The Rt Hon Baron, (1943-2019)

[Henry W]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48454384

William Michael Hardy SPICER, Baron SPICER (LP) was the son of Leslie Hardy SPICER.

He married 1967 Patricia Ann HUNTER (born 1943), dau of Sq Leader Patrick Sinclair HUNTER (d 1981) and Eileen Dorothea WARD (born 1922; still living?), scion of the WARD baronets of Wellington (cr 1911), and with her had 1 son and 2 dau.

He was created a Knight Bachelor in 1996, a Life Peer in 2010 and a Privy Counsellor in 2013. He served in many junior ministerial posts in the Thatcher ministry, and most notably was Chairman of the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers from 2001 to 2010. In that role he has the distinction of presiding over 3 party leadership elections (2001, 2003, 2005).

[colinp]

Obituary in Daily Telegraph 30 May 2019 - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2019/05/29/lord-spicer-senior-tory-mp-former-minister-moved-left-party/

EXTRACTS

Lord Spicer, who has died aged 76, was an initially Left-wing Conservative who over 36 years as MP for South (later West) Worcestershire became a hard-line Eurosceptic on the Right of the party.

Michael William Hardy Spicer was born at Bath on January 22 1943, the son of Brigadier Leslie Spicer and the former Winifred Carter. His father was a friend of Field Marshal Montgomery, who dropped young Michael from his circle when he did not become a soldier.

Michael Spicer married Patricia Hunter in 1967; they had a son and two daughters.

Lord Spicer, born January 22 1943, died May 29 2019 

[G. Willis]

Had a little difficulty tracing the Spicers at first-

Leslie Hardy Spicer appears in the 1911 census with his mother, Jane Edwina Mary Hardy Spicer, but no father is present; I found the 1894 marriage to a William Spicer, but this didn't really prove useful as it lacked other details. However, a bit of poking around online led to this Rootschat thread- https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=792997.0 - which provided many helpful leads. I looked up the probate record for the William Spicer mentioned in that thread- a founder of Whitley Bay- and his wife was indeed mentioned to be Jane Edwina Mary Hardy Spicer.

Per that thread, with other details I've put together:

Leslie Hardy Spicer (1903-1981) of Shore Close, Milford-on-Sea, Lymington, Hants., formerly of Compton House, Farnham, Surrey, Brig. (he seems to have served with the East Yorkshire Regiment, per the London Gazette) m. 1940, (Muriel) Winifred Alice (1914-2003), dau. of - Carter.

L. H. Spicer was second son of William Spicer (1844-1925), of Lyndhurst, Whitley Bay, Northumberland, a banker with York City and County Banking Co., Newcastle, formerly of Dale, Young, Nelson & Co., Maj., Tynemouth Royal Garrison Artillery, a county councillor and J.P., and his 2nd wife (m. 1894), Jane Edwina Mary Hardy (1866-; 'Hardy' was apparently one of her middle names and her surname), dau. of Edward Hardy, of Chester le Street, Durham.

William Spicer was son of William Spicer (1814-1887), of Gilling, Yorks. (at the time of his death, of 11, Mount Pleasant Cottages, Walthamstow, Essex, formerly of Higham Hill, Walthamstow) and his first wife (m. 1834) Dinah, dau. of - Atkinson (her name appears in the 1851 census, as does a daughter, as 'Diana', but this is not corroborated by the children's birth records or her marriage record so can presumably be discounted). William Spicer (senior) was a coal and insurance agent, formerly a journeyman carpenter; when he married 2nd, in 1877, Susannah (1837-), dau. of William George Smith, gardener, he became a grocer and postmaster at Walthamstow. His second marriage record gives his father as Joseph Spicer, and per the Rootschat thread he was a publican; I couldn't find the birth record of William (senior), but census records indicate him to have been born at Gilling.

An article on William Spicer (junior) as a founder of Whitley Bay: https://www.newsguardian.co.uk/lifestyle/looking-back-at-whitley-bay-founder-william-spicer-1-9146697

This pdf has some details of the family and photographs of Lyndhurst and other houses at which the Spicers lived at Whitley Bay: http://www.rockclifferemembers.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/ROCKCLIFFEREMEMBERS2.pdf

[G. Willis]

Also- re: Eileen Dorothea Hunter (née Ward), her directorships of both an investment company and a building company (of both of which her son Michael Sinclair Ward Hunter was also a director) were terminated on 3 March 2019, but what this exactly indicates (aside from possibly the obvious) I am uncertain.

[G. Willis]

I think this pertains to Eileen Dorothea Hunter:

http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/231947/hunter

'Thea, late of Farnham, Surrey, on March 3rd 2019, aged 96 years'

The company records gave her address as Farnham, and the age plus her second name being 'Dorothea' all seem to indicate this to be the case.