LORD PHILIP NOEL-BAKER, 92, NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER
Author: Associated Press
Date: Saturday, October 9, 1982
Page: ?????
Section: RUN OF PAPER OBITUARY
Lord Noel-Baker, the 1959 Nobel Peace Prize winner, a Labor Party stalwart and
a former Olympic athlete, died yesterday at his London home at the age of 92,
his family announced. The cause of death was not made public.
A campaigner for peace and disarmament, he said on his retirement from the
House of Commons at the age of 80: "While I have the health and strength, I
shall give all my time to the work of breaking the dogmatic sleep of those who
allow the nuclear, chemical, biological and conventional arms race to go on."
He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his relief work during the Russian
famine in the 1920s, his work as an official and ardent supporter of the
League of Nations and his efforts for disarmament.
Born Philip Baker, he added Noel to his name when he married Irene Noel in
1915. She died in 1956.
An honor graduate of Cambridge in economics, he served throughout World
War I in the British Ambulance Corps in Italy and was decorated with the
Italian Croce di Guerra. After the war, he was instrumental in founding the
League of Nations and was a member of its secretariat for a time.
He also competed in the Olympic Games of 1920, 1924 and 1928 and won a
silver medal in the 1500-meter run in 1920.
He was elected to Parliament for the Labor Party in 1929 and re-elected
until 1970, when he retired from politics.
He became a minister in the Foreign Office in Clement Attlee's post-World
War II government, was named Secretary for Air in 1946, Commonwealth Secretary
in 1947-1950 and Minister of Fuel and Power in 1950-1951.
He was a member of the British delegation to the United Nations in 1945
and in 1946-1947.
Queen Elizabeth II made him a life peer in 1977 as Baron Noel-Baker of
Derby, the city he represented in Commons for many years.
He was the author of a number of books on world peace. The most notable
were "The Private Manufacture for Armaments," in 1936, a classic argument
against arms industries unfettered by government controls, and "The Arms Race"
in 1958.
Lord Noel-Baker opposed US participation in the Vietnam War and campaigned
actively against it as president of the British Vietnam Committee. But he
credited the Americans with good faith, saying: "I do not question the
honorable motives of President Johnson, still less the brave soldiers who are
giving their lives."
He leaves a son, Francis Noel-Baker, an author and former Labor member of
the House of Commons.
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