William Aitken (politician)
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Sir William Aitken KBE |
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Member of Parliament for Bury St Edmunds |
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In office 1950–1964 |
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| Preceded by | Geoffrey Clifton-Brown |
| Succeeded by | Eldon Griffiths |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
10 June 1903 Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | 19 January 1964 (aged 60) London, England, UK |
| Nationality | Canadian/British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Penelope Loader Maffey |
| Alma mater | University of Toronto |
| Profession | Journalist and politician |
Sir William Traven Aitken, KBE (10 June 1903 – 19 January 1964) was a Canadian-British journalist and politician who was a MP in the UK parliament for 14 years. He was a nephew of Lord Beaverbrook.
Aitken was born on 10 June 1905, the son of Joseph Mauns Aitkens of Toronto. He was educated at Upper Canada College, the oldest independent school in Canada, and went on to the University of Toronto, where he was a member of The Kappa Alpha Society. In the late 1920s he travelled through Canada and the United States, before settling in England in 1930. In 1938 he married the Hon. Penelope Loader Maffey MBE, daughter of Sir John Maffey (later Lord Rugby, and a leading civil servant); they had one son and one daughter.
He found a living as a financial journalist on the staff of the Evening Standard. When the Second World War broke out, Aitken joined the Royal Air Force and piloted fighter reconnaissance aircraft; he was severely injured in 1945 and invalided out. His son Jonathan Aitken, later a politician, was born in 1942, and his daughter Maria Aitken, later an actress, was born in 1945. Penelope Aitken became a leading socialite in post-war society. His grandson, Jack Davenport, became an actor.
At the 1945 general election, Aitken was the Conservative Party candidate who attempted to recapture West Derbyshire; he lost by only 156 votes. He became instead Manager of London Express News and Feature Services while he searched for another Parliamentary nomination. He was also a director of Shop Investments Ltd and Western Ground Rents Ltd, both of which were property investment companies.
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