When The Hon Francis Walter Stafford McLaren, MP for Spalding, fell out of the early morning sky at Montrose in 1917, he made history in a quiet sort of way. Aged 32, he had at last fulfilled his dream of wings, a pioneer just as he had been as the youngest MP in the House of Commons, elected in the great Liberal victory of 1910. The two combined tragically to make him the only MP killed in the Royal Flying Corps during WW1.
McLaren had striven hard from the very beginning of the war to make a difference. His background was deeply political, with radicals Duncan McLaren and Priscilla Bright (sister of John) as grandparents on one side and Henry Pochin the industrialist and his equally radical wife Agnes on the other. His mother, Laura, wrote on Rights for Women and developed outstanding gardens at Bodnant and La Garoupe in Antibes. His father and brother were in parliament. At one point Francis was giving his maiden speech in the Commons while his father, Lord Aberconway, was addressing the Lords. These antecedents are the tip of a deep iceberg of public service, confidence and enormous drive.
This site outline’s Francis McLaren’s story and explores something of his life and times in the words of him and his contemporaries.
When The Hon Francis Walter Stafford McLaren, MP for Spalding, fell out of the early morning sky at Montrose in 1917, he made history in a quiet sort of way. Aged 32, he had at last fulfilled his dream of wings, a pioneer just as he had been as the youngest MP in the House of Commons, elected in the great Liberal victory of 1910. The two combined tragically to make him the only MP killed in the Royal Flying Corps during WW1.
McLaren had striven hard from the very beginning of the war to make a difference. His background was deeply political, with radicals Duncan McLaren and Priscilla Bright (sister of John) as grandparents on one side and Henry Pochin the industrialist and his equally radical wife Agnes on the other. His mother, Laura, wrote on Rights for Women and developed outstanding gardens at Bodnant and La Garoupe in Antibes. His father and brother were in parliament. At one point Francis was giving his maiden speech in the Commons while his father, Lord Aberconway, was addressing the Lords. These antecedents are the tip of a deep iceberg of public service, confidence and enormous drive.
This site outline’s Francis McLaren’s story and explores something of his life and times in the words of him and his contemporaries.
When The Hon Francis Walter Stafford McLaren, MP for Spalding, fell out of the early morning sky at Montrose in 1917, he made history in a quiet sort of way. Aged 32, he had at last fulfilled his dream of wings, a pioneer just as he had been as the youngest MP in the House of Commons, elected in the great Liberal victory of 1910. The two combined tragically to make him the only MP killed in the Royal Flying Corps during WW1.
McLaren had striven hard from the very beginning of the war to make a difference. His background was deeply political, with radicals Duncan McLaren and Priscilla Bright (sister of John) as grandparents on one side and Henry Pochin the industrialist and his equally radical wife Agnes on the other. His mother, Laura, wrote on Rights for Women and developed outstanding gardens at Bodnant and La Garoupe in Antibes. His father and brother were in parliament. At one point Francis was giving his maiden speech in the Commons while his father, Lord Aberconway, was addressing the Lords. These antecedents are the tip of a deep iceberg of public service, confidence and enormous drive.
This site outline’s Francis McLaren’s story and explores something of his life and times in the words of him and his contemporaries.
