Beschreibung:

An interesting political Knight Bachelor’s, Order of St. John group of nine awarded to Sir Alfred Broughton, M.P., whose absence from the Commons as a result of illness resulted in a vote of no confidence in Callaghan’s Government and Thatcher’s ensuing victory in the 1979 General Election Knight Bachelor’s Badge, 3rd type neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel, in its Garrard & Co. Ltd. case of issue; The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Officer’s (Brother’s) breast badge, in silvered-metal and enamel; The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Serving Brother’s breast badge, wartime period skeletal issue, in its fitted case of issue; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Coronation 1953; Jubilee 1977; St. John Service Medal (Div./Sgn. A. D. Broughton, Yorks. S.J.A.B., 1952); Spain, Trade Union Order of Merit, breast badge, silver and enamel, in its Villanueva & Laiseca, Madrid case of issue, with related lapel badge, mounted as worn where applicable, together with a set of related miniature dress medals (6), generally good very fine, and Presentation Keys for the opening of Morley Blackgates Primary School on 31 October 1953, silver-gilt, in its fitted case, and the opening of the Highland Services Reservoir at Birstall on 24 July 1954, silver-gilt and enamel, in its fitted case, both inscribed to ‘Dr. A. D. D. Broughton, M.P.’ (Lot) £800-1000 Footnote Knight Bachelor London Gazette 12 June 1969: Officer (Brother) Order of St. John London Gazette 4 January 1952. Alfred Davies Devonsher Broughton, who was born in Batley in October 1902, was educated at Rossall School, Downing College, Cambridge and the London Hospital, where he qualified as a Doctor. Having served as a Civil Surgeon in the Medical Corps of the Royal Air Force during the 1939-45 War, and been appointed a Serving Brother of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem (London Gazette 3 January 1947 refers), he successfully contended the seat for Batley and Morley in the 1949 by-election, and remained as M.P. for the constituency for the rest of his life. Broughton was a regular contributor to Parliamentary debates, not least on matters concerning the National Health Service and other medical subjects, including speeches on R.A.F. civilian doctors and aviation medicine; so, too, on wider subject matter, ranging from the textile industry to transport. He also served as an Opposition Whip and as a Member of the Speaker’s Panel of Chairmen, work that led to his appointment as Knight Bachelor for his services to Parliament in 1969. But such a distinguished career aside, he will be best remembered for events in March 1979 when, in the wake of “The Winter of Discontent” and the I.M.F. crisis, Margaret Thatcher orchestrated a vote of no confidence in Callaghan’s Labour Government. Crucially, as it transpired, Broughton was unable to attend the vote on account of being gravely ill, and Callaghan’s Government lost by one vote, thereby setting in motion a General Election and the advent of Thatcherism. A vivid account of that fateful occasion was published in an article written by Roy Hattersley for the Guardian in March 2009, in which he recalls Labour’s Chief Whip discussed the possibility of getting Broughton transported from his sick bed in Batley to the precincts of the House of Commons, thereby qualifying him to vote though not in the chamber proper - a process known as ‘nodding-through’. To that end transport arrangements were set in motion, the gallant Broughton lending his support for such a desperate enterprise, but on the morning of the vote on 28 March 1979, Walter Harrison, the Deputy Chief Whip, rightly concluded that it would be morally wrong to expose Broughton to the risks of such a journey. The rest as they say is history, the vote of no confidence being passed by the one vote. Sir Alfred died five days later, though the events of that fateful day in March 1979 continue to attract attention, a case in point being the Radio 4 play broadcast in June 2009, “How Are You Feeling Alf?”.