Derick Heathcoat Amory, 1st Viscount Amory, KG, PC, GCMG, TD, DL, Bart. (26 December 1899 – 20 January 1981) was a British Conservative politician and Chancellor of the University of Exeter.
Heathcoat Amory was the son of Sir Ian Heathcoat-Amory, 2nd Baronet. He was educated at Eton College and at Christ Church, Oxford. He became a Devon County Councillor in 1932 and worked in textile manufacturing and banking.
After service in the Territorial Army Royal Artillery (including being wounded and captured during Operation Market-Garden), in which he reached the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, Heathcoat Amory was elected Member of Parliament for Tiverton in 1945. He entered the cabinet under Sir Winston Churchill in July 1954 succeeding Sir Thomas Dugdale as Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. In October 1954 the Ministry merged with the Ministry of Food still in command of Heathcoat Amory. Gwilym Lloyd George had previously been in charge of Food. He remained in the post until he became Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1958, under Harold Macmillan.
Heathcoat Amory was awarded the honorary degree of Hon. LLD (Exon) from the University of Exeter in 1959. He retired from the House of Commons in 1960, when he was created Viscount Amory, of Tiverton in the County of Devon, on 1 September 1960, one of the last new hereditary peerages created for senior politicians before life peerages became the norm. In his later years, he was Chancellor of the University of Exeter. On his death, the Viscountcy became extinct.
He was an uncle of David Heathcoat-Amory.
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Last updated on Monday May 05, 2008 at 13:33:01 PDT (GMT -0700)
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