James Peddie, Baron Peddie

James Mortimer Peddie, Baron Peddie, MBE (5 April 1905 — 13 April 1978) was a British businessman and politician, a leading figure in the UK co-operative movement.

The Lord Peddie
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
8 February 1961 – 13 April 1978
Life Peerage
Personal details
Born5 April 1905
Died13 April 1978
(aged 73)
Political partyLabour Co-operative
SpouseHilda Mary Alice Bull

Early life and education

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Peddie was son of Crofton Peddie (1863-1938), of Hull, Yorkshire and of Stirling, a labourer at a colour-works, and his wife Ethel, daughter of George Whisker, of Hull, formerly a farmer in North Yorkshire.[1] The Peddie family were from Kelso, on the Scottish Borders (formerly Roxburghshire), and through marriage in the 1800s acquired property on Antigua; Peddie's great-grandfather, Robert Peddie, MD, was a member of the House of Assembly of Antigua.[2]

He was educated at St Paul's Council School, the Hull Municipal Technical College, and at the London School of Economics.[3][4][5]

Career

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Peddie started his work in the co-operative movement for the Hull Co-operative Society as Publicity Manager and a director. He served in the Ministry of Information during World War II then became a director of the Co-operative Wholesale Society. He served on the boards of the Co-operative Insurance Society and the Co-operative Permanent Building Society (now the Nationwide). He was the President of Co-operative Congress in 1958.

Peddie also served on the national executive of the Co-operative Party and chaired the Party 1957–1965. He became a bridge between the co-operative and trade union movements, and the Labour Party, serving on the National Council of Labour, Co-op and Trade Unions. He served as President of both the Co-operative Congresses of 1958.[6]

Peddie was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1944 Birthday Honours,[7] and was created Baron Peddie, of the City and County of Kingston upon Hull on 8 February 1961.[8] He sat on the Labour benches as a Labour Co-operative peer.

He was one of the first members of the National Consumer Council and was appointed chair of the National Board for Prices and Incomes and of the Post Office Users Council. Peddie was also a governor of the British Film Institute and the Advertising Standards Authority.

Personal life

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In 1931, Peddie married Hilda Mary Alice, daughter of Henry James Ernest Bull, of Lowestoft, Suffolk and of Hull.[9][10] They had a son and two daughters.[11][12]

References

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  1. ^ "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/48098. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage, Privy Council, and Order of Preference, 103rd ed., ed. Peter Townend, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1963, p. 9
  3. ^ Dod's Parliamentary Companion, 1978, p. 235
  4. ^ Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage, Kelly's Directories, 1973, p. 877
  5. ^ Who was Who, A Companion to Who's Who, Vol. 7, A. & C. Black, 1971, p. 616
  6. ^ Congress Presidents 1869-2002 (PDF), February 2002, archived from the original (PDF) on 28 May 2008, retrieved 10 May 2008
  7. ^ "No. 36547". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 June 1044. p. 2674.
  8. ^ "No. 42274". The London Gazette. 10 February 1961. p. 1016.
  9. ^ Dod's Parliamentary Companion, 1978, p. 235
  10. ^ Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage, Kelly's Directories, 1973, p. 877
  11. ^ The Blue Book: Leaders of the English-speaking World 1973-4, St James's Press, 1973, p. 1102
  12. ^ Who was Who, A Companion to Who's Who, Vol. 7, A. & C. Black, 1971, p. 616
Party political offices
Preceded by Chair of the Co-operative Party
1957–1965
Succeeded by
Herbert Kemp