- Frederick Mulley
Frederick William Mulley, Baron Mulley PC (
3 July ,1918 –15 March 1995 ) was a British Labour politician, barrister-at-law, and economist.Mulley attended
Warwick School between 1929 and 1936. He served in theWorcestershire Regiment in theSecond World War , reaching the rank ofsergeant , but was captured in 1940 and spent five years as a prisoner of war inGermany . During this time he obtained a BSc in economics and became a chartered secretary. [http://www.worcestershireregiment.com/wr.php?main=inc/pow_F_W_Mulley Worcestershire Regiment(29th/36th of Foot) Web site ] ]At the end of the war, he received an adult scholarship to
Christ Church, Oxford , and after a brief spell on an economics fellowship at theUniversity of Cambridge (1948-50) he trained as a barrister, being called to the Bar in 1954.Mulley had joined the Labour Party since 1936 and in 1945 he unsuccessfully contested the constituency of
Sutton Coldfield . He becameMember of Parliament for Sheffield Park in 1950, a position he held until retiring at the 1983 General Election.During a long career in politics he held many ministerial positions including
Minister of Aviation (1965-7),Minister for Disarmament (1967-9), and Minister of Transport (1969-70, 1974-5). In 1975Harold Wilson brought him to the Cabinet asSecretary of State for Education and Science , and in 1976 becameSecretary of State for Defence .He is best remembered for falling asleep during the Queen's Jubilee Review of the Royal Air Force at
RAF Finningley in 1977 when there was considerable noise around him. Having a small sleep during exercise was referred to by members of the RAF as having a "Fred Mulley". It was suggested in the satirical magazinePrivate Eye that Mulley was guilty of treason (then still a capital offence) for having slept with the Queen.After retiring from the House of Commons in 1983, he was awarded a life peerage as Baron Mulley, of Manor Park in the City of
Sheffield in 1984 and held a variety of directorial positions.A main road in the Lower Don Valley in Sheffield is named after him.
References
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