Douglas Hurd Launches his Peel Biography

"Launches" is the right word.  Douglas Hurd, Lord Hurd of Westwell, left his house in Westwell, Oxfordshire under 12 inches of water and battled through the floods in the Thames, Avon and Severn Valleys to come and speak to The Peel Society on Sunday.  The occasion was the launch of his new biography of Robert Peel, which has won acclaim from the critics.

L - R Norman Biggs, Chairman of the Peel Society, Lord Hurd, Mrs. Mavis Biggs, Committee member

Lord Hurd, former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Home and Foreign Secretary in the Thatcher and Major governments spent three years researching and writing his book on Peel.  The Peel Society was pleased to assist his research.

The luncheon was attended by two great, great grandchildren of the Prime Minister, the Hon. Robert Peel and Mrs Julia Longe.  They are both descended from Arthur Wellesley Peel, Speaker of the House of Commons in the 1890s.  Mrs. Julia Longe, named after her great, great Grandmother, is a direct descendant of the Hon. Rev. Maurice Peel, the vicar of Tamworth, who was killed in the 1st World War.

Douglas Hurd emphasised several aspects of Peel's life such as his determination to improve the lot of the ordinary working person by reducing the price of food through free trade.  Peel was often mocked by snobs for his slight Staffordshire accent, even though he was educated at Harrow and Oxford.  When he died after falling off his horse in 1850, there was a great up welling of grief, which surprised the smart commentators and snobs of the time.

The wash stand memorial set of Sir Robert Peel.

Ordinary working people subscribed halfpennies, pennies and sixpences to statues such as the one in Tamworth.  Wealthier people bought more sophisticated mementoes of the great man.  There was an excellent example on show for the first time at the luncheon.  David Biggs, Hon. Curator, of the Peel Society recently bought a magnificent wash stand set of Staffordshire ceramics, including a wash bowl, water jug, soap dish with sieve and a tooth brush holder.  These items all have pictures of Peel and Drayton Manor.  It is astonishing that these items have survived relatively undamaged for nearly 160 years.  They will be going on show in the Peel Collection at Middleton Hall shortly.

Lord Hurd invited the Society to attend the Houses of Parliament for a lecture on November 6th and wished it well in the future.