Back ماكس آيتكن، بارون بيفربروك الأول Arabic ماكس آيتكين البارون الاول بيفربروك ARZ Макс Ейткън Bulgarian Max Aitken Czech Max Aitken, 1. Baron Beaverbrook German Max Aitken Esperanto William Maxwell Aitken Spanish Max Aitken (Beaverbrook I. baroia) Basque Max Aitken Beaverbrook Finnish Max Aitken French
The Lord Beaverbrook | |
|---|---|
 Lord Beaverbrook in 1943 | |
| Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal | |
| In office 24 September 1943 – 27 July 1945 | |
| Prime Minister | Winston Churchill |
| Preceded by | Viscount Cranborne |
| Succeeded by | Arthur Greenwood |
| Minister of War Production | |
| In office 4 February 1942 – 19 February 1942 | |
| Prime Minister | Winston Churchill |
| Preceded by | Office created |
| Succeeded by | Oliver Lyttelton (as Minister of Production) |
| Minister of Supply | |
| In office 29 June 1941 – 4 February 1942 | |
| Prime Minister | Winston Churchill |
| Preceded by | Sir Andrew Duncan |
| Succeeded by | Sir Andrew Duncan |
| Minister of Aircraft Production | |
| In office 14 May 1940 – 1 May 1941 | |
| Prime Minister | Winston Churchill |
| Preceded by | Office created |
| Succeeded by | John Moore-Brabazon |
| Minister of Information | |
| In office 10 February 1918 – 4 November 1918 | |
| Prime Minister | David Lloyd George |
| Preceded by | Office created |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Downham |
| Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster | |
| In office 10 February 1918 – 4 November 1918 | |
| Prime Minister | David Lloyd George |
| Preceded by | Sir Frederick Cawley |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Downham |
| Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| In office 2 January 1917 – 9 June 1964 Hereditary peerage | |
| Preceded by | Peerage created |
| Succeeded by | The 2nd Lord Beaverbrook |
| Member of Parliament for Ashton under Lyne | |
| In office 3 December 1910 – 23 December 1916 | |
| Preceded by | Alfred Scott |
| Succeeded by | Albert Stanley |
| Personal details | |
| Born | William Maxwell Aitken 25 May 1879 Maple, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | 9 June 1964 (aged 85) Leatherhead, Surrey, England |
| Political party | |
| Spouses | |
| Children |
|
| Residence(s) | Cherkley Court, Leatherhead, Surrey, England |
| Occupation | Legislator, author, entrepreneur |
William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook PC, ONB (25 May 1879 – 9 June 1964), generally known as Lord Beaverbrook ("Max" to his close circle), was a Canadian-British newspaper publisher and backstage politician who was an influential figure in British media and politics of the first half of the 20th century. His base of power was the largest circulation newspaper in the world, the Daily Express, which appealed to the conservative working class with intensely patriotic news and editorials. During the Second World War, he played a major role in mobilising industrial resources as Winston Churchill's Minister of Aircraft Production.[1]
The young Max Aitken had a gift for making money and was a millionaire by the age of 30. His business ambitions quickly exceeded opportunities in Canada and he moved to Britain. There he befriended Andrew Bonar Law and with his support won a seat in the House of Commons at the December 1910 United Kingdom general election. A knighthood followed shortly after. During the First World War he ran the Canadian Records office in London, and played a role in the removal of H. H. Asquith as prime minister in 1916. The resulting coalition government (with David Lloyd George as prime minister and Bonar Law as Chancellor of the Exchequer) rewarded Aitken with a peerage and, briefly, a Cabinet post as Minister of Information.
After the war, the now Lord Beaverbrook concentrated on his business interests. He built the Daily Express into the most successful mass-circulation newspaper in the world, with sales of 2.25 million copies a day across Britain. He used it to pursue personal campaigns, most notably for tariff reform and for the British Empire to become a free trade bloc. Beaverbrook supported the governments of Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain throughout the 1930s and was persuaded by another long-standing political friend, Winston Churchill, to serve as his Minister of Aircraft Production from May 1940. Churchill later praised his "vital and vibrant energy".[2] He resigned due to ill-health in 1941 but later in the war was appointed Lord Privy Seal.
Beaverbrook spent his later life running his newspapers, which by then included the Evening Standard and the Sunday Express.[3] He served as Chancellor of the University of New Brunswick and developed a reputation as a historian with his books on political and military history.[4]
- ^ Mcdowall, Duncan (10 April 2017). "Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook". The Canadian Encyclopedia (online ed.). Historica Canada.
- ^ Churchill 1949, pp. 12–13.
- ^ Jackson, Peter; de Castella, Tom (14 July 2011). "Clash of the press titans". BBC News.
- ^ Ramsden, John, ed. (2005). Oxford Companion to Twentieth Century British Politics. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-861036-X. P. 34
• Mavrikis, Peter, ed. (2005). History of World War II. Marshall Cavendish. ISBN 978-0-7614-7231-5. P. 285