Norman Brook, 1st Baron Normanbrook
{{Short description|British civil servant}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable
|name = The Lord Normanbrook
|image = Norman Brook, 1st Baron Normanbrook, in 1951.jpg
|caption = Brook in 1951
|office = Cabinet Secretary
|term_start = 1947
|term_end = 1962
|monarch = {{Unbulleted list |George VI |Elizabeth II}}
|primeminister = {{Unbulleted list |Clement Attlee |Winston Churchill |Anthony Eden |Harold Macmillan}}
|predecessor = Sir Edward Bridges
|successor = Sir Burke Trend
|birth_name = Norman Craven Brook
|birth_date = 29 April 1902
|death_date = 15 June 1967 (aged 65)
|alma_mater = Wadham College, Oxford
|spouse = {{marriage|Ida Mary |1929}}
}}
Norman Craven Brook, 1st Baron Normanbrook, {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|GCB|PC}} (29 April 1902 – 15 June 1967), known as Sir Norman Brook between 1946 and 1964, was a British civil servant. He was Cabinet Secretary between 1947 and 1962 as well as joint permanent secretary to HM Treasury and head of the Home Civil Service from 1956 to 1962.
Background and education
Brook was born at 18, Cricklade Road, Bristol, the son of Frederick Charles Brook (1867–1937) and Annie (d. 1921), daughter of Thomas Smith, of Bradford, West Yorkshire. Frederick Brook was at different times a schoolmaster, inspector of schools, tax assessor, and district inspector for the Ministry of Health. He was the son of George Brook, of Bradford, a cabinet-maker.{{Cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/32089|doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/32089|year = 2004|last1 = Theakston|first1 = Kevin|title = Brook, Norman Craven, Baron Normanbrook (1902–1967), civil servant}}The New Extinct Peerage 1884-1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant and Suspended Peerages With Genealogies and Arms, ed. L. G. Pine, Heraldry Today, 1972, p. 205 Harold Macmillan (although himself of recent undistinguished crofting ancestry, notwithstanding his grandfather Daniel MacMillan's success in founding Macmillan Publishers) was fascinated by the fact that, despite Brook, his Cabinet Secretary, having "no background" and being of comparatively humble origins, he possessed "remarkably sound judgement". Brook was educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School and Wadham College, Oxford.[http://www.thepeerage.com/p23998.htm#i239980 thepeerage.com Norman Craven Brook, 1st and last Baron Normanbrook] Maurice Bowra, who taught Brook at Oxford, remarked when considering his progression to the heart of the establishment that Brook was "very quick ... Came up with a front pocket stuffed full of pens. Soon disappeared inside. Learned the tricks."Friends in High Places, Jeremy Paxman, 1990, p. 175
Career
Brook joined the Home Civil Service in 1925 and attained the grade of Principal in 1933 and of Assistant Secretary in 1938. He was Principal Private Secretary to Sir John Anderson from 1938 to 1942, Deputy Secretary (Civil) to the War Cabinet in 1942, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Reconstruction from 1943 to 1945, Additional Secretary to the Cabinet from 1945 to 1946,{{Citation needed|date=September 2010}} and Secretary of the Cabinet from 1947 to 1962. He was also joint permanent secretary to HM Treasury and head of the Home Civil Service from 1956 to 1962. Brook was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1942, promoted to Knight Commander (KCB) in 1946{{London Gazette |issue=37407 |date=1 January 1946 |page=6 |supp=y}} and Knight Grand Cross (GCB) in 1951,{{London Gazette |issue=39243 |date=7 June 1951 |page=3063 |supp=y}} and sworn of the Privy Council in 1953.
Churchill and Brook were colleagues during the Second World War and Churchill's 1951–1955 government. Brook was his adviser. Brook was a member of The Other Club. Brook succeeded Sir Edward Bridges as a secretary to the treasury in 1956. He served there to 1962.{{Cite book|title=Winston Churchill: A Biographical Companion|last=Wrigley|first=Chris|publisher=ABC-Clio|year=2002|pages=81–82}}
On 24 January 1963 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Normanbrook, of Chelsea in the County of London.{{London Gazette |issue=42903 |date=25 January 1963 |page=793}} Between 1964 and 1967 he was chairman of the Board of Governors of the BBC. He was one of the twelve pall bearers at Sir Winston Churchill's funeral in 1965.
Personal life
See also
- List of residents of Wolverhampton
- [https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/9/resources/1745 The Papers of Lord Normanbrook] held at Churchill Archives Centre
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- Bridges, Edward Ettingdene; The Other Club.
- Colville, John. 1981. The Churchillians.London:Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
- Gilbert Martin. 1983–1988. Winston S.Churchill.Vol.6-8.London:Heinemann.
- Seldon Abthony.1981.Churchill's Indian Summer. London:Hodder and Stoughton.
- Trend, Lord.1981."Brook, Norman Craven, Baron Normanbrook". In the Dictionary of National Biography 1961–1970, edited by E.T.Williams and C.S.Nicholls. Oxford:Oxford University Press.
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{{Succession box| title = Cabinet Secretary | years = 1947–1962 | before = Sir Edward Bridges | after = Sir Burke Trend}}
{{Succession box
| before = Sir Edward Bridges
| title = Head of the Home Civil Service
| years = 1956-1962
| after = Sir Laurence Helsby
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{{Succession box
| title = Permanent Secretary to the Treasury
| years = 1956-1962
| before = Sir Edward Bridges
| with = Sir Roger Makins (1956–1959)
| with2 = Sir Frank Lee (1960–1962)
| after = Sir William Armstrong
}}
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{{Succession box| before=Sir Arthur fforde | title=Chairman of the BBC Board of Governors | after=Charles Hill | years=1964–1967}}
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{{S-ttl
| title = Baron Normanbrook
| years = 1962–1967
}}
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{{Secretaries of the Cabinet}}
{{Heads of the Home Civil Service}}
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Category:People educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School
Category:Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford
Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath