Denis Thatcher

Denis Thatcher, 1st Baronet of Scotney, MBE ( born May 10, 1915 in Lewisham, † 26 June 2003, London ) was a British businessman and husband of the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher.

Early years, business

Denis Thatcher, the son of a New Zealand businessman, visited the Mill Hill Boarding School, from which he came off at age 18 to work in the family business from his father. During World War II he served in the 34th Regiment of the Royal Engineers searchlight before he was promoted to Major. He has won twice in 1945 and a member of the Orders of the Empire.

In 1942 he married Margaret Kempson, from whom he divorced in 1948. In 1950, he met at a meeting of the Conservative Party Margaret Roberts, whom he married the following year. Addressed by the press on her, he called her "the boss."

Thatcher was a successful businessman and was among other things, director of Burmah Oil Trading Co., chairman of Atlas Preservative Co., vice chairman of Attwood AG, director of Quinton Hazell AG and advisor to the Amec AG and CSX Corp..

In the Spotlight

In parodies of the satirical magazine Private Eye, he was caricatured as a reactionary golfer with a penchant for gin, or in the play by John Wells Anyone for Denis. Margaret Thatcher always insisted, however, the support that they have learned from her husband. So she wrote in her autobiography: "I could never have been over 11 years Prime Minister, if I had not had Denis by my side. "

In 1991, Denis Thatcher hereditary Baronet (1st baronet of Scotney appointed in the county of Kent) was raised, bringing his wife Margaret was the honorary lady. At Denis Thatcher since the last hereditary title outside the royal family was awarded in 1991. After her retirement from the House of Commons, Margaret Thatcher in 1992 as Baroness Thatcher in her own right independent, however - supposedly at his own request - granted non-hereditary peerage for life.

Denis Thatcher was a member of the Order of the British Empire ( MBE).

Death

Denis Thatcher died with 88 years in London, after he had a few months previously undergone bypass surgery. The funeral took place on 3 July 2003 in the chapel of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London. Then his body was cremated in Mortlake Crematorium in London, buried the urn in the garden of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. In an obituary Tony Blair described him as a " kind and generous man, a real gentleman who had many friends here and abroad."

Denis Thatcher had two children, the twins Mark and Carol Thatcher Thatcher, born on August 15, 1953.

In the arts

In the movie The Iron Lady (2011) about the life of Margaret Thatcher Denis Harry Lloyd is shown ( as a young man ) and Jim Broadbent.