Joseph Godber

Background

Godber was born in Bedford. He was educated at Bedford School, between 1922 and 1931, and became a nurseryman. He became chairman of the county glasshouse section of the National Farmers Union and of the publicity and parliamentary committee. He was a member of the Tomato and Cucumber Marketing Board.

Political career

Godber was a Bedfordshire County Councillor from 1946 until 1952. He was elected Member of Parliament for Grantham in 1951, a seat he held until 1979. He served under Harold Macmillan as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from 1957 to 1960, as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1960 to 1961, as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs from 1961 to 1963 and as Secretary of State for War in 1963, under Sir Alec Douglas-Home as Minister of Labour from 1963 to 1964 and under Edward Heath as Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 1970 to 1972 and as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from 1972 to 1974. Godber was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1963 and in 1979 he was made a life peer as Baron Godber of Willington, of Willington in the County of Bedfordshire.

Personal life

In 1936, Godber married Miriam Sanders in Bedford. They had two sons (including one born in 1938 and the other in 1944). Godber died in Bedford in 1980.

A number of Godber's siblings distinguished themselves in later life:

• W. T. Godber, adviser to the British Government on agricultural matters, President of the East of England Agricultural Society, Chairman of the Bedfordshire Agricultural Executive Committee and the Farmers' Club;
• Sir George Godber GCB, Chief Medical Officer of the United Kingdom;
• Joyce Godber, historian of Bedfordshire and author;
• Rowland John Godber, owner of a rubber plantation in Malaya and later a prisoner of war. The diary of his experiences as a prisoner of war are extant and held by the Imperial War Museum; and
• Geoffrey Chapman Godber, CBE DL, Chief executive of West Sussex County Council.

References

• Times Guide to the House of Commons 1979

References

1. "Index entry". ONS.
2. (1974). "The Times Guide to the House of Commons February 1974". Times Newspapers Ltd.
3. {{London Gazette. (17 July 1979)
4. "Index entry". ONS.
5. Obituary in ''[[The Times]]'', ''Mr W.T. Godber'', 24 April 1981, p.14
6. (10 June 1967). "SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE".
7. "Results for 'au:Godber, Joyce.' [WorldCat.org]". worldcat.org.
8. "Private Papers R J Godber (Documents.20966)". Imperial War Museums.
9. (December 2007). "GODBER, Geoffrey Chapman (1912–1999), DL; Chief Executive, West Sussex County Council, 1974–75, retired (Clerk of the Peace and Clerk to the Council, 1966–74); Clerk to the Lieutenancy of West Sussex, 1974–76 (Sussex, 1968–74)". Oxford University Press.