William Douglas-Home

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William Douglas-Home (3 June 1912 – 28 September 1992) was a tank officer in World War II who was imprisoned for refusing to obey orders, and who later became a successful writer and dramatist.

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[edit] Early life

From an aristocratic family, he was the son of the 13th Earl of Home and his oldest brother was Prime Minister and 14th Earl Sir Alec Douglas-Home.

Douglas-Home was educated at Eton College and New College, Oxford where he read history. His first play, Murder in Pupil Room, was performed by his classmates at Eton in 1926 when he was only fourteen.

[edit] Politician

During World War II, Douglas-Home contested three parliamentary by-elections as an independent candidate opposed to Winston Churchill's war aim of an unconditional surrender by Germany.[1] At Glasgow Cathcart in April 1942, he won 21% of the votes, and at Windsor in June 1942, he won 42%. He polled a poor third at the Clay Cross by-election, 1944.[2]

[edit] Military Service

In 1944 Douglas-Home was an officer in the 141st Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps (The Buffs). This was the first regiment to be equipped with the Churchill Crocodile flame-thrower tank.

One of the officers, Second Lieutenant James Wareing, described Douglas-Home as follows:

"He did not go into any action as far as I am aware and when we were not in action he did nothing. I really don’t know how he came to be there at all in such an elite regiment.
"In the field he ate by himself and slept under a tank. He did not seem to be in charge of anyone. However he was put in charge of a group of tanks for the attack on Le Havre. This created something of a situation because he refused to go into action but at the same time was claiming that he could capture Le Havre without firing a single shot. The CO accordingly put him under close arrest under the supervision of another officer."[3]

Another officer described the incident in front of Le Havre as follows:

"I was a troop leader in C Squadron 141 RAC and was the escorting officer of William Douglas Home, for two or three days, following his arrest. If my memory serves me correctly he was arrested by order of Major Dan Duffy, our squadron commander and he so ordered the arrest because Captain Douglas Home refused to act as an LO. Home told me that the reason he refused this duty was that if the operation was carried out as planned a large number of French civilians would be killed. He told me that he had offered to negotiate a German surrender but had been refused and consequently declined to serve."[4] "I did not know Home before his secondment to the squadron as an LO for the LeHavre operation as he spent most of his time at RHQ."[5]

Wareing continued:

"Whilst under arrest Home had written to the editor of the Maidenhead Advertiser who published an exclusive on how Le Havre was captured without firing a single shot. Unlike the letters from other ranks the letters from officers were not subject to 100% censorship but to random screening."
"In any event when the War Office saw the newspaper article they immediately investigated the source of the information. The initial upshot was that our CO Lieutenant Colonel H.Waddell was relieved of command and demoted to Major although he continued in combat until we reached Brussels. Here he [Lt Col Waddell] faced a Court Martial and managed to win his case and be reinstated. It was suspected that Home had used his influence with his brother, a member of the Government, the future Lord Home and future Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas Home. This could have explained the demotion of our CO. Justice was finally seen to be done because William Home was sent to prison."
"He served 8 months, initially in Wormwood Scrubs, then completing his term in Wakefield Prison."[6]

Captain Andrew Wilson, M.C. also served in 141 RAC. In his autobiography "Flame Thrower", published in 1956, and republished several times more recently, he recounts this incident and its consequences. Wilson wrote his story deliberately in the third person:

"Even when he sailed with the regiment to Normandy, William had continued his private war-against-war. While headquarters were near Bayeux, he had written to the newspapers about some German ambulances shot up by British fighters. And what he had written was true. Wilson had seen the ambulances, riddled with bullets on the Tilly road. Later Waddell had posted William to Duffy’s squadron to take part in the assault on Le Havre. There were thousands of civilians in the town, which was soon to be bombed with 50,000 tons of explosive. William’s moment of decision had at last arrived. On the morning of the battle he returned to regimental headquarters and, finding the C.O. in the act of shaving, told him that be refused to take part. Waddell called a witness. “Will you carry out my order, Home?” – “No. sir.”"

Towards the end of his life, Douglas-Home tried to petition the Queen for a pardon, on the grounds that his was a humanitarian act. The appeal was abandoned.[7]

[edit] Playwright

"In the space of a month or two after his release he wrote two plays which were successful in London in 1947. The first one [Now Barabbas] was based on his experience in gaol and in the latter some of the characters were drawn from his family."[8]

William Douglas-Home wrote roughly 50 plays, most of them comedies in an upper-class setting.

In 1951, he married the equally aristocratic Hon. Rachel Brand (who later inherited the barony of Dacre) and had four children. They enjoyed a truly happy marriage.

Douglas-Home's play The Reluctant Debutante has been adapted twice into film. The first movie, made in 1958, retained the same title and featured Rex Harrison and Sandra Dee with a screenplay by the playwright himself. The second was released in 2003, starred Amanda Bynes, Colin Firth, and Kelly Preston, and was called What a Girl Wants. Interestingly, the latter film features a hereditary peer in the House of Lords who disclaims his title in order to stand for election to the House of Commons. Douglas-Home's brother was one of the first to do that after the enacting of the Peerage Act 1963. Douglas-Home was a prolific playwright, but his works have neither the depth nor the durability of such near contemporaries as Terence Rattigan or Noel Coward.

[edit] Plays

  • Murder in Pupil Room
  • Now Barabbas
  • The Manor of Northstead
  • The Reluctant Debutante
  • The Reluctant Peer
  • The Jockey Club Stakes
  • Lloyd George Knew My Father
  • At the End of the Day
  • The Dame of Sark
  • The Kingfisher
  • The Chiltern Hundreds
  • The Secretary Bird
  • A Christmas Truce

[edit] References

  1. ^ William Douglas-Home in the Dictionary of National Biography
  2. ^ *Craig, F. W. S. [1969] (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, 3rd edition, Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X. 
  3. ^ "A Lesson in Opportunism: With 141 Regiment RAC at Le Havre 1944", by 2nd Lieutenant James Wareing, 141 RAC, The Kentish Regiment (The Buffs), 79th Armoured Division, 2nd British Corps, 1st Canadian Army, contributed on 19 April 2004.
  4. ^ Message 3 - A Lesson in Opportunism, posted on 02 February 2005 by phrchilds
  5. ^ Message 5 - A Lesson in Opportunism, posted on 03 February 2005 by phrchilds
  6. ^ "A Lesson in Opportunism: With 141 Regiment RAC at Le Havre 1944", by 2nd Lieutenant James Wareing, 141 RAC, The Kentish Regiment (The Buffs), 79th Armoured Division, 2nd British Corps, 1st Canadian Army, contributed on 19 April 2004.
  7. ^ Message 5 - A Lesson in Opportunism, posted on 03 February 2005 by phrchilds
  8. ^ "A Lesson in Opportunism: With 141 Regiment RAC at Le Havre 1944", by 2nd Lieutenant James Wareing, 141 RAC, The Kentish Regiment (The Buffs), 79th Armoured Division, 2nd British Corps, 1st Canadian Army, contributed on 19 April 2004.
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