Piers Dixon

Piers Dixon
Member of Parliament for Truro
In office 18 June 1970 – 20 September 1974
Preceded by	Geoffrey Wilson
Succeeded by	David Penhaligon
Personal details
Born	Pierson John Shirley Dixon (1928-12-29)29 December 1928
Died	24 March 2017(2017-03-24) (aged 88)
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative

Pierson John Shirley Dixon (29 December 1928 – 24 March 2017), known as Piers Dixon, was a British Conservative Party politician who represented Truro between 1970 and 1974.[1]

Early life

The son of diplomat and writer, Sir Pierson Dixon, he was educated at Eton College; Magdalene College, Cambridge; and Harvard Business School. He worked as a stockbroker.^[citation needed]

Career

Dixon contested Brixton at the 1966 general election[2] and was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Truro in 1970.[3] He was re-elected in February 1974,[4] but lost the seat to the Liberal David Penhaligon in the October 1974 general election, by 464 votes (0.8%).^[citation needed]

No Conservative MP represented Truro after Dixon's defeat until Sarah Newton regained the seat from the Liberal Democrats in 2010. Alan Clark noted Dixon in his 1983–92 diaries, writing "when (the Liberals) get stuck in, really stuck in, they are devilish hard to dislodge".[5]

Interests

Dixon was a member of the Monday Club[6] and the Bow Group.[7]

Personal life

Dixon married four times. His first wife was the sculptor Edwina Sandys, a daughter of Duncan Sandys and Diana Churchill. They had two sons, Mark and Hugo. The second was Janet, Countess of Cowley.[8] In 1984, Dixon married Anne Cronin, daughter of John Desmond Cronin, former Labour MP; they had one son, Alexander. In 1994, he married Ann Mavroleon, daughter of John Davenport.[9]

Death

He died in March 2017 at the age of 88.[10]

References

1. Thorpe, D. R. (2004). "Avoiding Versailles, 1945". Eden: the life and times of Anthony Eden, first Earl of Avon, 1897-1977. London: Chatto & Windus. ISBN 9780712665056. Footnote 4: In 1973 Bob Dixon's son, Piers Dixon (then MP for Truro), was instrumental in getting the secret files on Yalta released by the Public Record Office...
2. The Times' guide to the House of Commons 1966. London: Times Newspapers. 1966. OCLC 6402521.
3. The Times' guide to the House of Commons 1966. London: Times Newspapers. October 1974. OCLC 317953937.
4. "Piers Dixon". parliament.uk. UK Parliament. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
5. Clark, Alan (2004). Diaries: in power, 1983-1992. London: Phoenix. ISBN 9780753818596.
6. Copping, Robert (April 1972). The Story of The Monday Club – The First Decade. London: Current Affairs Information Unit. OCLC 49541579. 21/28.
7. Staff writer (29 March 2017). "Obituary: Piers Dixon". The Times. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
8. McNally, Peter (2013). Time of my life: triumph and tragedy at London Weekend Television. Cirencester: Memoirs Publishing. p. 58. ISBN 9781909544550.
9. DIXON, Piers', Who's Who 2017. A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2016; online edn, Nov 2016. 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
10. "Obituaries: Well connected Conservative MP for Truro who was one of the last visitors to Churchill's death bed". Daily Telegraph. 25 March 2017. Issue no 50,388.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Piers Dixon

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Geoffrey Wilson	Member of Parliament for Truro 1970 – October 1974	Succeeded by David Penhaligon