Ernest Marples
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Ernest Marples, Baron Marples of Wallasey (1907-1978) was a British politician.
Born Alfred Ernest Marples in 1907 at Henshaw Street in Stretford, Manchester this local elementary schoolboy succeeded in becoming Postmaster General and Minister of Transport during his time as a member of the Conservative Government Cabinet. He was eventually to be given the title Baron Marples of Wallasey.
His father had been a renowned engineering charge-hand and Manchester Labour campaigner, and his mother had worked in a local hat factory. Ernest attended Victoria Park Council School and won a scholarship to Stretford Grammar School, but by the age of 14 he was already active in the Labour Movement, as well as earning money selling cigarettes and sweets to Manchester football crowds. He also played football for the YMCA team.
There followed a succession of jobs - miner, postman, chef, and accountant. Eventually he joined the Territorial Army, and rose to the rank of Captain. During this time his whole perception seems to have changed, as, by 1945 he had become a prospective Conservative candidate and was elected to Parliament, and also set up his own company of Civil Engineers (Marples, Ridgeway & Partners) with his meagre savings and a bank loan.
As Minister of Transport he brought in roadside yellow lines, parking meters and seat belts. It was also under Ernest Marples that Dr Richard Beeching was brought in to controversially cut the British railway system down by two-thirds (The "Beeching Axe").
Marples emigrated to live in Monaco after his retirement from politics and he died in 1978.
Categories: British Secretaries of State | UK Labour Party politicians | British MPs | 1907 births | 1978 deaths | Life peers
