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Keith David Wickenden (22 November 1932 – 9 July 1983) was a Conservative Party politician who served as Member of Parliament for Dorking from 1979 until 1983.
Keith Wickenden had an older brother named Roland, who served as chairman of European Ferries.[1]
Wickenden worked as a partner at a firm of chartered accountants. When his brother Roland died in 1972, he became chairman of European Ferries. In 1973, he became a director of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C.[1] He also served as a director of Television South.[2]
During his time as chairman of European Ferries, the company made a counterbid against the UK government on the Port of Felixstowe.[1]
In 1980, Wickenden announced his intention to purchase Sealink, the major competitor of European Ferries, from British Rail. In the same year, he also took over the merchant bank Singer and Friedlander.[3][4]
In 1979, he became Member of Parliament for Dorking as a member of the Conservative Party.[2] He was elected with 61.4% of the vote, with a majority of 41.8% over the Liberal Party.[5]
The seat was abolished in 1983,[5] and he declined running for election in the Mole Valley seat which nearly replicated Dorking, due to a lung disorder.[2]
Wickenden was married and had four sons.[2] He was an experienced pilot, and often flew his own Spitfire to engagements.[2]
On 9 July 1983, Wickenden died in a plane crash. Moments after taking off from Shoreham Airport in West Sussex, his twin engine de Havilland Dove plunged into a bank of the River Adur before catching on fire.[2] An inquest into his death found the plane's engine to be at fault: instead of paying £10,000 for an engine replacement, Wickenden had paid £650 for a 1949-built engine which had been in storage for eight years before being fitted to the Dove.[6]
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