Background
Lord Listowel was the eldest son of Richard Hare, 4th Earl of Listowel, and Freda, daughter of Francis Vanden-Bempde-Johnstone, 2nd Baron Derwent.
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William Francis
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Education
He was educated at Eton College, Balliol College, Oxford, Magdalene College, Cambridge and King"s College London (Doctor of Philosophy, 1932).
Career
He was the last Secretary of State for India as well as the last Governor-General of Ghana. Listowel served as a Lieutenant in the Intelligence Corps. He entered the House of Lords on the death of his father in November 1931, by right of the United Kingdom peerage of Baron Hare, and made his maiden speech in March of the following year.
He was a Labour Party whip in House of Lords from 1941 to 1944 and Deputy Leader of the House of Lords and Under-Secretary of State for India and Burma from 1944-1945.
When Labour came to power in 1945 under Clement Attlee, Listowel was appointed Postmaster-General, a post he held until April 1947, and was briefly Minister of Information between February and March 1946, when the office was abolished. In April 1947 he entered the cabinet as Secretary of State for India and Burma.
After India gained independence in August 1947, his cabinet title became Secretary of State for Burma, working from the Burma Office, but in January 1948 this too was abolished, when Burma also gained independence, and Listowel then left the cabinet. He continued to serve under Attlee as Minister of State for Colonial Affairs from 1948-1950 and as Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries from 1950-1951.
In 1957 he was appointed Governor-General of Ghana, a post he held until 1960, when Ghana became a Republic.
He was later Chairman of Committees in the House of Lords between 1965 and 1976. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1946 and a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Street Michael and Street George in 1957. Lord Listowel was thrice married:
firstly, to Judith, daughter of Raoul de Marffy-Mantuana, in 1933.
They had one daughter, Deirdre, who married Ian Curteis.
Lord and Lady Listowel were divorced in 1945. secondly, to Stephanie Sandra Yvonne, daughter of Sam Wise, in 1958. thirdly, to Pamela (née Day) in 1963. Pamela, Countess Listowel, lives in Hampstead.
Membership
He remained an active member of the House of Lords, speaking for the last time in July 1995, aged 88. Apart from his career in national politics, Lord Listowel was a member of the London County Council for East Lewisham between 1937 and 1946,and for Battersea North between 1952 and 1957.
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Born
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Died
March 12, 1997 (aged 90) -
Political Party
Labour Party