John Cordle

John Howard Cordle (11 October 1912 – 23 November 2004) was a British Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1959 to 1977.

John Cordle
Member of Parliament for Bournemouth East (Bournemouth East and Christchurch, 1959–1974)
In office 8 October 1959 – 25 July 1977
Preceded by	Nigel Nicolson
Succeeded by	David Atkinson
Personal details
Born	John Howard Cordle (1912-10-11)11 October 1912
Died	23 November 2004(2004-11-23) (aged 92)
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouses	Grace Lucy Walkey ​ ​ (m. 1938; div. 1956)​ Venetia Caroline Maynard ​ ​ (m. 1957; div. 1971)​ Terttu Heikura ​ ​ (m. 1976)​
Children	11
Education	City of London School

Life and career

Cordle, the son of Ernest William Cordle, was educated at the City of London School and became managing director of E. W. Cordle and Son Ltd. in 1946. He was also a member of Lloyd's of London. He served as a member of the Church Assembly 1946–53, as a director of the Church Society from 1951 and of the Church of England Newspaper from 1959.

Cordle contested The Wrekin in 1951. He was Member of Parliament for Bournemouth East and Christchurch from 1959 to 1974, and after boundary changes, for Bournemouth East from 1974 to 1977, when he resigned as a result of the John Poulson scandal. David Atkinson was elected as his successor in the subsequent by-election.

Family

Cordle was married three times. He was first married in 1938 (divorced 1956) to Grace Lucy Walkey (1918-2021); by this marriage he had four sons and a daughter. He married secondly in 1957 (divorced 1971) to Venetia Caroline Maynard (b. 22 March 1936),^[1] by whom he had one son and three daughters, including Marina, Viscountess Cowdray. He married thirdly in 1976 to Terttu Heikura,^[1] his children's nanny who was 35 years his junior, by whom he had two sons.^[2]

Notes

Footnotes

References

1. Roth, Andrew (25 November 2004). "Obituary: John Cordle". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 August 2020. He married his second wife, Vanessa [sic], in 1957 and they divorced in 1971. She went public when he used the police and a security guard to ban his mother-in-law from the family home. He later legally suppressed her book, A Woman Crucified.
2. "John Cordle". The Daily Telegraph (obituary). 24 November 2004. Archived from the original on 10 November 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2020. He endured appalling misfortune in his family life: his grandson was killed in a road accident and his grand-daughter electrocuted; his daughter Sophie became a heroin addict and fell into prostitution; his son Rupert was jailed for theft (although he subsequently redeemed himself and became a respected businessman); Cordle was also predeceased by a son and a daughter.

Sources

• Times Guide to the House of Commons October 1974
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
• The Times obituary^{[dead link]}, 24 November 2004. Retrieved 17 November 2008.
• Daily Telegraph obituary 24 November 2004. Retrieved 17 November 2008.
• Andrew Roth. The Guardian obituary 25 November 2004. Retrieved 17 November 2008.
• John Barnes. The Independent obituary 9 December 2004. Retrieved 17 November 2008.
• Genealogy of Grace Lucy Walkey, the first Mrs Cordle Archived 26 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by John Cordle

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Nigel Nicolson	Member of Parliament for Bournemouth East & Christchurch 1959 – February 1974	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Bournemouth East February 1974 – 1977	Succeeded by David Atkinson