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Posthumous honour

This month sees the 15th anniversary of the death of one of Newark's most fondly remembered residents, the town's former MP, Mr Ted Bishop.

In 1981 Mr Bishop was knighted with the title Baron Bishopston of Newark.

In 1996, some years after his death, he was commemorated through the naming of the Lord Ted pub on Farndon Road.

Ted Bishop died in April 1984 at the age of 63. It was a death that was both sudden and unexpected.

Earlier in the day he and Lady Bishopston had fulfilled a public engagement at the Royal Maundy distribution at Southwell Minster and had driven southwards to begin a short holiday in Cornwall.

They stopped off for a meal at the home of one of their daughters in Tiverton, Devon, and it was here, after a brief stroll in the garden, that Lord Bishopston collapsed and died.

Edward Stanley Bishop was born in Bristol in 1920, and after attending university there became an aeronautical design draughtsman with the British Aircraft Corporation.

Politics, however, had always been his great interest - he had joined the Labour Party in 1936 at the age of 15.

He was subsequently a member of Bristol City Council for two periods between 1946 and 1966.

Before becoming MP for Newark, however, he fought three unsuccessful parliamentary campaigns (Bristol 1950, Exeter 1951 and Gloucestershire South in 1955).

In 1964, succeeding George Deep as MP for Newark, he was returned to parliament with a 4,000 majority.

In 1966 he increased this to 7,000. In 1970, when Edward Heath took power for the Conservatives, Ted Bishop's majority in Newark was reduced to 1,000, but increased again to 4,500 and 5,700 in the two polls of 1974.

In parliament he was an early champion of equal rights, being responsible for introducing the Matrimonial Property Bill (1969-70) which gave equality of property to both partners in a marriage.

In his home town of Bristol it was known as 'Ted's His and Hers Bill'. In 1968 Mr Bishop was appointed a Church Commissioner and for some years prior to 1974 was part of the UK delegation to the North Atlantic Assembly.

Drawing on his early aeronautical training he also became chairman of the Labour Parliamentary Aviation Group. Between 1970 and 1974 he was the opposition spokesman on Aviation and Trade and Industry.

In October 1974 he was promoted to Minister of State for Agriculture, a post which he continued to hold until 1979. In 1977 he was made a member of the Privy Council in the Queen's birthday honours.

It was the General Election of 1979 which ended Mr Bishop's membership of the Commons. The Conservatives under Mrs Thatcher swept to power and Newark acquired a new Conservative MP - Mr Richard Alexander.

Mr Bishop described the defeat as a great shock and for two years remained outside active political life until 1981 when he became one of 15 life peers created by Mrs Thatcher.

He was created Baron Bishopston of Newark in the County of Nottingham about which he said: "The title was thought to be suitable as I wanted to avoid the flattery of being thought a Lord Spiritual.

"I wanted to keep my name as far as possible and also to link with associations, Bishopston is a part of Bristol, the city of my birth, and incidentally a part of Bristol West, the division of my first parliamentary contest".

He did not, however, view the title merely as an honour, but rather as a means by which he could serve his country once more.

Within an hour of the ceremony which admitted him to the House of Lords he was in the division lobby, and the following day he made his maiden speech.

It was the start of a very active time in the Lords which continued right up to the time of death.

He became an opposition Whip and spokesman for agriculture and defence, and in 1983, at the time of the Falklands crisis, visited those islands with a party of peers and commoners.

In Newark, Lord and Lady Bishopston made their home at 59 London Road, from where they became active in many aspects of town life. Lord Bishopston was president of the Balderton Hospital League of Friends and a member of the Southwell Diocese Centenary committee.

He was a regular worshipper at Newark parish church and in Who's Who listed his recreations as archaeology, genealogy and being with family.

At the time of Lord Bishopston's death in 1984 the Advertiser wrote: "The end was abrupt and shocking for a man who worked for his country with quiet distinction.

"Through all his political life, however, he remained a man of some paradox. He never asserted his politics in a combative way. He was concerned with sincere conviction and with consensus.

"Ted Bishop believed in the common man and in the common ground...His public work, much influenced by the Christian ethic, covered a wide spread, but he remained in many ways a very private person.

Newark and Bristol salute him. There will be many who mourn his death at 63, an age when he had still so much to give." The Lord Ted pub on Farndon Road - named in his honour - was opened in September 1996.

Guest of honour at the official opening was the now Deputy Prime Minister, Mr John Prescott, who said: "Ted was a wonderful man, a warm man, and a smile came to your lips whenever you thought of him.

"I think he would have been highly delighted to have a pub named after him, as he believed in enjoyment for all the community."

ABOVE: Lord Edward and Lady Winifred Bishopston in the Moses Room of the House of Lords before his introduction to the Lords in June 1981. Ted Bishop died 15 years ago this month having been MP for Newark for 15 years from 1964 to 1979. 16 April 99

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