Hubert Stanley Houldsworth
Sir Hubert Stanley Houldsworth (c1890-1956), chairman of the National Coal Board
1956 Obituary [1]
We regret to have to record the death of Sir Hubert Houldsworth, Bt., Q.C., which occurred suddenly in London on Wednesday of last week, February 1st.
Sir Hubert, who was sixty-six, had been chairman of the National Coal Board since 1951, and quite recently it was announced that he would retire in July when his five-year term of office was completed.
Sir Hubert was a native of Heckmondwike, Yorkshire and, after graduating at Leeds University, in 1911, with first-class honours in physics, entered the teaching profession, subsequently becoming an assistant lecturer at Leeds University. He gave up teaching, however, to study law, and was called to the Bar in 1926, having a year earlier taken his D.Sc. degree.
During the second world war Sir Hubert was fuel and power controller in the north-eastern region, regional controller for the Ministry of Fuel and Power in south and west Yorkshire, and during the last year of the war, controller-general at the Ministry.
For the first five years of nationalisation of the coal industry, Sir Hubert served as chairman of the East Midlands Divisions and in 1951 he was appointed to succeed Lord Hyndley as chairman of the National Coal Board. In that onerous position, Sir Hubert did not spare himself; throughout his tenure of office he made a noteworthy contribution to the fulfilment of the plans for reorganising, on a satisfactory basis, this country's coal mining industry.
Sir Hubert received his knighthood in 1944, and was created a Baronet in the recent New Year Honours.