Frederick William Mulley,
Baron Mulley of Sheffield Park
1918-1995
Fred Mulley was a prominent post-war Labour politician, life-long Trade Union member, Barrister and Economist. He was born in Leamington at the end of the Great War to a family whose maternal ancestors were all involved in farming. Fred’s grandfather Boiles was a waggoner on farms at Harbury and Whitnash, and other relatives farmed in a small way at Wharfe Cottage on the Sydenham estate. His father William John Mulley was a driver in the Machine Gun Corps in WW1, and back in ‘civvy’ street, became a van driver for the local mineral water company. Fred grew up in Clemens Street, opposite the Stoneleigh Arms, where he and his parents lived with his grandmother at number 42. His family were passionate about education, and when Fred won a free place at Warwick School in 1929 (from Bath Place National School), they scrimped and saved to ensure that he could make the most of it. Warwick School archives reveal that F W Mulley was a school prefect, captain of the Chess Team 1934-36 and played in the 2nd XV Rugby Team in his last two years. He was a Sergeant in the Officers’ Training Corps and in a surprising contrast, was also Hon Secretary of the school’s League of Nations Union, which at that time had 200 members. In 1934 he gave a well- attended ‘lantern lecture’ about his visit to the League of Nations Junior Summer School at Geneva. Subsequently he was awarded a Geneva Scholarship by the Leamington Branch of the League of Nations Union, for an essay on ‘the Control of Armaments Firms’. This enabled a further visit to Geneva in the summer of 1935, resulting in a pleasant and informative article in the December 1935 issue of the school magazine, The Portcullis.
Leaving school in 1936, Fred became a clerk with the National Insurance Committee, but at the outbreak of war he enlisted in the Worcestershire Regiment. By December 1939 he had been posted to France. He was Intelligence Sergeant to the 7th Battalion during the retreat to Dunkirk, where in May 1940 he was wounded and captured, and spent the next five years as a prisoner of war in Stalag 383, Bavaria. Few young men can have used their time as prisoners of war to better effect to study. Later in life, as a passionate pro-European, Mulley paid tribute to a number of German personnel who enabled him to pursue his studies, going out of their way to provide him with books in the English language. This enabled him to obtain an external degree in Economics from the University of London. It was in Stalag 383 that he met fellow Leamingtonian Terry Frost, who in turn paid tribute to Fred in later years for sharing his study grant to enable him to take up painting, acting as his critic, and helping him get started professionally after the war. Dennis Healey MP confirmed in his obituary of Fred that “Terry Frost had told me of Fred’s generosity in helping him get started as a painter when the war ended, – after they had been together in a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany, Fred gave him a slice of his grant. That generosity was typical of the man” (The Independent, 16 March 1995). Back in Britain, Fred was awarded an adult scholarship to Christ Church Oxford, graduating with a First in Modern Greats (Philosophy, Politics and Economics). He progressed to Nuffield College and a Master’s Degree, followed by two years as a Research Fellow in Economics at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. There are still not many who can claim having earned an M.A. from both universities! Fred went on to study law and was called to the Bar in 1954, whilst serving as MP for Sheffield Park, a seat he held from 1950 until retirement in 1983. During his time as an MP he served on Select Committees, held Ministerial posts under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan, and travelled worldwide as a member of Parliamentary delegations. He was also a Privy Councillor, Deputy Defence Secretary and Vice-President of the Council of Europe’s Economic Committee. For many years he was an active member and treasurer of the all-party Arts and Heritage Group, an abiding interest shared with Joan, his wife of almost 50 years.
Family stories reveal that Fred was keen on gardening and cricket and used to play 3-person cricket on the beach with driftwood for a bat on family holidays, – given ‘out’ if he hit the ball into the sea. An abiding love was Sheffield United, a team he supported through thick and thin from the time he was elected. He was also a life-long trade union member – he was an APEX (now GMB) – sponsored MP and remembered by some for his support of the Grunwick dispute (1976-78). Tam Dalyell, fellow labour politician and the longest-serving MP when he retired in 2005, wrote of him, “Fred Mulley was one of the most self-effacing, yet effective, cabinet ministers, who throughout a long period of high office remained precisely what he always was – a considerate, helpful, extremely intelligent and thoroughly decent human being, devoid of airs and graces, pomp and circumstance.” Fred died in March 1995 at the age of 77 and was buried alongside his parents in the churchyard at Whitnash, not far from his childhood home.
Margaret Rushton, Leamington History Group
Updated December 2023
Postscript
A Blue Plaque was unveiled at the SPAR shop in Clemens Street on 30th November 2023, close to the site of Fred’s childhood home, with many family members, friends and colleagues present.
Acknowledgements: The Mulley Family, (information and Mulley family images)
Alan Griffin. Local Historian; Gervald Frykman, Archivist, Warwick School; Allan Jennings (Images of the Blue Plaque and the Headstone in Whitnash Churchyard)