Spencer Summers

Sir Gerard Spencer Summers (27 October 1902 – 19 January 1976) was a British Conservative politician.

Biography

Summers was born in Flintshire, Wales, in 1902, and educated at Wellington School and Trinity College, Cambridge.[1] He became a director of the family business of John Summers & Sons, steelmakers.

During the Second World War (1940-1945) he was the elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Northampton and appointed the Director-General of Regional Organisation at the Ministry of Supply.[1] In 1945, he was the Secretary for Overseas Trade in the post-war caretaker government.

In 1946 he also assumed the role of first chairman of the Outward Bound Trust.[2] He was also a Governor of UWC Atlantic College from its opening in 1962–76, and was on the foundation committee for three years prior to its opening.[3]

He was MP for Aylesbury from 1950 until his retirement in 1970. He was knighted in 1956 [4] and selected High Sheriff of Northamptonshire for 1974–75.[5]

Personal life

Spencer Summers married Jean Pickering in London in 1930. Their son, Shane, was a racing driver who competed in a few non-Championship Formula One races, but was accidentally killed at the age of 24 when practicing for the 1961 Silver City Trophy at the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent.[6] Sir Gerard Spencer Summers died near Banbury, Oxfordshire in 1976, aged 73.

References

  1. ^ a b Streat, Raymond. Lancashire and Whitehall: The Diary of Sir Raymond Streat, vol 2. p. 256.
  2. ^ Arnold-Brown, Adam (1962). Unfolding Character: The Impact of Gordonstoun, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
  3. ^ Atlantic College Yearbook 1976.
  4. ^ "No. 40787". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 May 1956. p. 3100.
  5. ^ "No. 46249". The London Gazette. 28 March 1974. p. 4007.
  6. ^ "Shane Summers". Motorsport Memorial. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
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