Malcolm Bullock

Captain Sir Harold Malcolm Bullock, 1st Baronet, {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MBE}} (10 July 1889 – 20 June 1966GRO Register of Births: Sep 1889 Bullock, Harold Malcolm, Dartford 2a 455) was a British soldier and Conservative Party politician.

Life

Bullock was the son of iron merchant Frank M. Bullock, of Milhanger, Thursley, Surrey{{cite book |title=Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage |date=1963 |page=140 }}{{cite book |title=Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes |date=1921 |page=291 }} He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge.{{citation |title=Bullock, Captain Sir (Harold) Malcolm, (10 July 1890 – 20 June 1966), Hon. Colonel of 336 Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery |work=Who's Who & Who Was Who |date=8 June 2019 }} Bullock normally went by his middle name of Malcolm rather than his first name. He reached the rank of Captain in the Scots Guards. In 1923 he was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Waterloo in Liverpool, a position he retained until the constituency was abolished in 1950. He was re-elected in the new Crosby constituency at both the 1950 and 1951 general elections,{{cite web |url=http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/ge50/i06.htm |title=UK General Election results February 1950 |work=Political Science Resources |publisher=Richard Kimber |accessdate=2008-08-24 |archive-date=9 June 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080609184656/http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/ge50/i06.htm |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/ge51/i06.htm |title=UK General Election results October 1951 |work=Political Science Resources |publisher=Richard Kimber |accessdate=2008-08-24 }} before resigning as an MP in October 1953 due to ill-health.{{cite news |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS103371066/TTDA?u=surttda&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=8728bf32 |title=Conservative M.P. to Resign |work=The Times |date=26 September 1953 |page=6 |via=Gale Times Digital Archive }} In February 1954 he was created a baronet, of Crosby in the County Palatine of Lancaster.{{London Gazette |issue=40097 |date=9 February 1954 |page=865 }}

Bullock married Lady Victoria Alice Louise Primrose, daughter of Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby and widow of Neil Primrose, in 1919. They had one daughter, Priscilla, who married the racehorse trainer Peter Hastings, later Peter Hastings-Bass. Lady Victoria died in a riding accident in November 1927, aged 35. Bullock died in June 1966, aged 76, when the baronetcy became extinct.{{cite web |url=http://www.thepeerage.com/p1396.htm#i13952 |work=thepeerage.com |title=Sir Harold Malcolm Bullock, 1st and last Bt. }} His great-granddaughter is Clare Balding.{{Cite web |url=https://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/episode/clare-balding/ |title=Clare Balding |work=Who Do You Think You Are? |date=June 19, 2020 |access-date=26 August 2021 }}

According to the diaries of close friend and fellow Conservative MP Robert Boothby, Baron Boothby, Bullock was homosexual.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kw5iBQAAQBAJ&q=malcolm+bullock+homosexual&pg=PT85 |title=Closet Queens: Some 20th Century British Politicians |last=Bloch |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Bloch |date=2015-05-28 |publisher=Little, Brown Book Group |isbn=9781405517010 |language=en }}{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/16/double-lives-a-history-of-sex-and-secrecy-at-westminster |title=Double lives – a history of sex and secrecy at Westminster |last=Bloch |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Bloch |date=2015-05-16 |work=The Guardian |access-date=2017-07-22 |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077 }} At the time, homosexuality was illegal in the United Kingdom, yet Bullock was in a circle of renowned members of British high society who attended Sir Philip Sassoon’s glamorous house parties. Held at Port Lympne Mansion, it was understood as a venue where they could conduct secret relationships in privacy.