Macmillan, Harold (1894-1986), served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from January 1957 to October 1963. Macmillan succeeded Anthony Eden in that office.
Macmillan entered Parliament in 1924 as the Conservative representative for Stockton-on-Tees in the House of Commons. In the 1930’s, he became more progressive. He criticized British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and the Munich settlement with Nazi Germany in 1938 (see Munich Agreement ). He also urged action to combat Britain’s economic depression.
From 1942 to 1945, Macmillan served in Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s World War II government as British resident minister at Allied headquarters in northwest Africa. Macmillan served as Churchill’s minister of housing and local government from 1951 to 1954 and as minister of defense in 1954. He became foreign secretary under Eden in April 1955 and chancellor of the exchequer, Britain’s chief financial officer, in December 1955.
Maurice Harold Macmillan was born in London on Feb. 10, 1894. He was one of three sons born to Maurice Crawford Macmillan and Helen Artie Tarleton Belles. His grandfather founded the Macmillan publishing company. Young Harold was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford. He fought and was wounded in World War I (1914-1918). In 1984, he was granted the title Earl of Stockton. Macmillan was married to Lady Dorothy Cavendish, with whom he had four children. He died on Dec. 29, 1986, at Chelwood Gate, Sussex.
