Denis Winston Healey Biography and Timeline

Birth of Denis Healey

Denis Winston Healey is born in Mottingham.

Childhood

Healey grows up in Keighley in the West Riding of Yorkshire after early childhood in the south.

Role range: 1920-1936

Bradford Grammar School

Healey attends Bradford Grammar School before winning his Oxford scholarship.

Role range: 1929-1936

Scholarship

Healey wins academic recognition that helps take him from Bradford Grammar School to Oxford.

Role range: 1935-1936

Balliol College

Healey arrives at Balliol College, Oxford, where politics and classical studies dominate his student years.

Role range: 1936-1940

Education

Healey wins an exhibition to Balliol College, Oxford, to read Greats and becomes active in Labour politics.

Oxford Labour Club

Healey becomes active in the Oxford Labour Club and develops the political interests that shape his later career.

Role range: 1936-1940

Communist Party

Healey joins the Communist Party at Oxford in 1937 before leaving it in 1940 after becoming disillusioned with Soviet policy.

Role range: 1937-1940

Education

Healey combines classical studies with political activism and debate while studying at Oxford.

Role range: 1937-1940

Student Politics

Healey combines classical studies with intensive involvement in student politics at Balliol College.

Role range: 1936-1940

Oxford University

At Oxford, Healey joins the Communist Party during a period of intense political engagement.

Role range: 1937-1940

Junior Common Room

Healey serves as President of Balliol College Junior Common Room while active in student politics.

Role range: 1936-1940

Nazi-Soviet Pact

The Nazi-Soviet pact deepens Healey’s doubts about Communist policy and Soviet intentions.

Role range: 1937-1940

Communist Party Departure

Healey leaves the Communist Party after becoming disillusioned with Soviet conduct and Communist doctrine.

Role range: 1937-1940

Communist Party

Healey leaves the Communist Party after becoming disillusioned with Soviet policy and the consequences of the Nazi-Soviet pact.

Role range: 1937-1940

Double First

Healey completes his Oxford degree with a double first in classical studies.

Role range: 1936-1940

Education

Healey achieves a double first for his degree, awarded in 1940.

Merton College

Healey wins a Harmsworth Senior Scholarship at Merton before wartime service changes his path.

Role range: 1940-1940

Army Enlistment

Healey joins the British Army after completing his Oxford degree.

Role range: 1939-1945 – 1940-1945

British Army

Healey enters wartime service instead of pursuing an academic career at Oxford.

Role range: 1939-1945 – 1940-1945

Royal Artillery

Healey serves first as a gunner in the Royal Artillery before commissioning.

Role range: 1939-1945 – 1940-1941

Commission

Healey receives a commission and transfers into the Royal Engineers.

Role range: 1939-1945 – 1941-1945

Royal Engineers

Healey serves with the Royal Engineers after being commissioned during the war.

Role range: 1939-1945 – 1941-1945

Second Lieutenant

Healey is commissioned as a second lieutenant.

Role range: 1939-1945

Desert Service

Healey serves in North Africa during the Allied campaign against Axis forces.

Role range: 1939-1945 – 1942-1943

North African Campaign

Healey sees active service in the North African campaign against Axis forces.

Role range: 1939-1945 – 1942-1943

Italian Campaign

Healey continues active service during the long Allied campaign in Italy.

Role range: 1939-1945 – 1943-1945

Italian Landings

Healey continues his wartime service as Allied forces advance into mainland Italy.

Role range: 1939-1945 – 1943-1945

Operation Husky

Healey takes part in the Allied invasion of Sicily during Operation Husky.

Role range: 1939-1945 – 1943-1943

Sicily Campaign

Healey serves during the Allied invasion of Sicily.

Role range: 1939-1945 – 1943-1943

Anzio

Healey serves as a beach master during the British assault at Anzio.

Role range: 1939-1945 – 1944-1944

Beach Master

Healey works as a beach master during the difficult Allied landings at Anzio.

Role range: 1939-1945 – 1944-1944

General Election Candidate

Healey contests Pudsey and Otley for Labour, substantially increasing the party vote but failing to win the seat.

Role range: 1945-1945

Marriage

Healey marries Edna May Edmunds, whom he had met at Oxford before the war.

Oxford University

Healey’s marriage to fellow Oxford graduate Edna Edmunds begins a partnership lasting until her death.

International Department of the Labour Party

Healey directs Labour’s International Department and develops relationships with democratic socialist parties across Europe.

Secretary of International Department of the Labour Party

Healey is appointed secretary of Labour’s International Department and becomes a foreign-policy adviser to party leaders.

International Secretary

Healey becomes secretary of Labour’s International Department and advises party leaders on foreign affairs.

Role range: 1945-1952

Foreign Policy

Healey becomes an important Labour foreign policy adviser after the wartime coalition ends.

Role range: 1945-1952

Pudsey

Healey narrowly fails to win the Conservative-held seat of Pudsey and Otley, doubling the Labour vote but losing by 1,651 votes.