Sir John Stokes (1917-2003) former Conservative MP for Halesowen & Stourbridge
Michael Rhodes
1970-92, died 27 June, 2003. He was 85.
John Heydon Romaine Stokes was born 23 July, 1917, the only surviving
son of Victor Romaine Stokes, of Hitchin, Hertfordshire, and was
educated at Temple Grove; Haileybury College; Queen's College, Oxford
(BA 1938, MA 1946).
Career: Hon Agent and Treasurer, Oxford University Conservative
Association, 1937; President, Monarchist Society, 1937; President,
Mermaid Club, 1937; Assistant Master, Prep School, 1938-39; served in
WW2 1939-46: Dakar Expedition, 1940; wounded in North Africa, 1943;
Military Assistant to HM Minister at Beirut and Damascus, 1944-46;
Major, Royal Fusiliers; Personnel Officer, Imperial Chemical
Industries, 1946-51; Personnel Manager, British Celanese, 1951-59;
Deputy Personnel Manager, Courtaulds, 1957-59; Director, Clive &
Stokes, Personnel Consultants, 1959-80; Member, General Synod of the
Church of England, 1985-90; contested Gloucester for the Conservatives
at the General Election, 1964 (unsuccessful); contested Hitchin for
the Tories unsuccessfully in 1966; Conservative MP for Oldbury &
Halesowen, 1970-74, Halesowen & Stourbridge, 1974-92; Member of the
Select Committee on Parliamentary Commission for Administration
(Ombudsman), 1979-83; Leader of the Parliamentary delegations to
Portugal in 1980, to the Falkland Islands in 1985; to Malta in 1988;
to Trinidad and Tobago in 1991; Member of the Delegation to the
Council of Europe and WEU, 1983-92; Leader of the Delegation from the
Council of Europe to observe the elections in Albania in March, 1992;
President, West Midlands Conservative Clubs, 1971-84; Chairman,
General Purposes Committee, Primrose League, 1971-85; Vice-President,
Royal Stuart Society; Member of the Oxford Society from 1946; Prayer
Book Soc, from 1970; Trustee of the Battlefields Trust from 1998.
John Stokes was knighted in 1988. He was four times wed, (i) in 1939,
to Barbara Esmee, (died 1988), daughter of R.E. Yorke, of
Wellingborough; (ii) in 1989, to Elsie Frances (died 1990), widow of
John Plowman; (iii) in 1991, to Ruth (divorced 1996), widow of Sir
Timothy Bligh, KBE, DSO, DSC; (iv) in 1991, Frances Jean Stirling,
widow of Lt-Cdr Donald Packham, RN.
-- Michael Rhodes
Michael Rhodes
> Sir John Stokes, Conservative MP for Halesowen and Stourbridge,
> 1970-92, died 27 June, 2003. He was 85.
> John Stokes was knighted in 1988. He was four times wed, (i) in 1939,
> to Barbara Esmee, (died 1988), daughter of R.E. Yorke, of
> Wellingborough; (ii) in 1989, to Elsie Frances (died 1990), widow of
> John Plowman; (iii) in 1991, to Ruth (divorced 1996), widow of Sir
> Timothy Bligh, KBE, DSO, DSC; (iv) in 1991, Frances Jean Stirling,
> widow of Lt-Cdr Donald Packham, RN.
Sir John married his 4th wife in 1996.
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> -- Michael Rhodes