Talk:Hugh Dalton

Untitled
He should be at Hugh Dalton - he is much better known without his peerage title, which was given to him long after his retirement from public life. john k 04:48, 4 Oct 2004 (UTC)

What was the off-the-cuff remark that led to his resignation?--Cunningham 15:37, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

ROYAL GODFATHER
Someone should put in that Hugh Dalton's godfather was Prince Albert Victor (Eddy), The Duke of Clarence and Avondale, who his father was a tutor to. Hugh Dalton was given the first name Edward after Prince Eddy as well.
 * Feel free to add it, if you have a source. MagnoliaSouth (talk) 16:02, 29 June 2022 (UTC)

Cut the Crap
Dalton seems to have a detractor in web space regarding purported "irregularities" vis a vis Dalton's supposed sexual preferences. All of this is based on nothing more than the fact that one partiular Conservative biographer has taken issue with Dalton's Liberal preferences. If anyone can provide factual evidence of Dalton's homosexuality, please stand. Otherwise, please desist from your unwarranted and unfoudned character assassinations. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.60.224.85 (talk • contribs) 03:58, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

It's not derogatory at all, other than evoking a vague sense of pity that people couldn't admit these things, sometimes not even to themselves, in the days when it was still illegal. The late Ben Pimlott (who was a socialist not a Conservative - see his obituaries on line) was a highly respected biographer, and his biography of Dalton won the Whitbread Prize - in other words it is a very reputable source. Dalton's obsessive promotion of the careers of younger men was a part of Labour history, and thus worth mentioning along with the possible motivation for it.

If there is any evidence that Dalton was interested in women, please insert it - as far as I know there isn't. He did not chase women. Tony Crosland (who was a promiscuous heterosexual in his youth but as far as I know not bi-) was perfectly well aware that Dalton was an old queen with a crush on him, and used to play up to it at conferences by draping himself across banisters etc in front of him. I don't have the Pimlott book to hand sadly. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 171.192.0.10 (talk) 14:51, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

2/12/2010 Well actually, my family history research indicates that at some point, in his constituency, Lord Dalton likely conducted a gay relationship of some sort with a distant relative of mine by marriage, and that he later helped this man to emigrate to Australia, where he owned a bar and sadly died eventually of alcoholism. For obvious reasons I doubt this will be recorded anywhere in official documentation. I don't see how this detracts in any way from the value of Lord Dalton's life or work, only that he lived in a time when he could not openly acknowledge this part of his life. Both men are now long dead, RIP.

"If there is any evidence that Dalton was interested in women, please insert it". He was married. I tend to agree that Dalton's slightly obsessive promotion of the careers of younger men - especially C A R Crosland - may have had aspects which today we would regard as evidence of repressed homosexuality, and you are right that Pimlott's superb biography does discuss the issue. However, I think a citation of the relevant pages in Pimlott's book would be desirable, and have added a "citation needed" flag to make that point.Tamanou (talk) 13:37, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

Getting married in your early thirties isn't evidence of very much, sadly, especially if the marriage quickly fails and the husband shows no further interest in women. There is also material on Dalton's marriage which soon became one in little more than name, and his largely unrequited love for Rupert Brooke and Tony Crosland, in the essay on Dalton in Roy Jenkins "The Chancellors", which again I sadly don't have to hand any more. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 171.159.33.4 (talk) 17:06, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

Okay, here's the thing. What evidence is there that he was homosexual? I'm not talking hearsay, I'm talking actual evidence. Anyone can claim something, but that doesn't make it true. Jussie Smollet anyone? There are rumors, but not a single shred of evidence. One poster here surprisingly reaches to the stars saying that marriage "isn't evidence of very much". Well, it's much more evidence than those who are trying to say he is homosexual has. I wouldn't even care if he was a cross dressing homosexual. I have no judgement, when it comes to sexual preferences but when there is no proof, there is simply no proof and an article loaded with hearsay is not an article to be trusted. This article needs cold hard facts and without that, it's just a bunch of theory which a biography does not make. Besides, why is his sexual preference more important than his success? If I were to become famous, I would not want people discussing my sexual preferences on a Wiki page! Sex is private. We should remember that he is famous for other things and not this silliness. MagnoliaSouth (talk) 15:46, 29 June 2022 (UTC)


 * Okay, here's the thing. The "cold hard facts", as reported in published works, are that Dalton's marriage soon became at best a partnership of convenience (inevitably soured by the death of their infant daughter), and that many people who knew Dalton at Cambridge and in later life suspected that his inclinations were homosexual. His flirtation with Tony Crosland was anything but private. Hearsay is when somebody reports at second hand what somebody else has told them happened - not stuff that they themselves have seen.Paulturtle (talk) 05:18, 3 August 2022 (UTC)

ECONOMETRICS
Dalton made a leading contribution to the economics theory and applications in equality measurement, as shown in the enduring references to the Pigou-Dalton principle. See, Dalton, H. (1920), The measurement of the inequality of incomes. Economic Journal, 30, 348-361. Cf, Sen, Amartya (1973). "On Economic Inequality" (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. See also: Rogers, Francis (2004). "The measurement and decomposition of achieveement equity." Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University. Rogers.161@osu.edu —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.60.224.85 (talk • contribs) 03:58, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

clean up needed
The above IP editor appears to be Francis Rogers, the author of the book reference which he has inserted into the page. I have moved his new "Contributions in Economics" section from the top of the page, and partly cleaned it up. For the time being I have left his book reference in, despite the possible WP:COI, as it may well be relevant.

But really the whole article needs a major clean up effort. --NSH001 (talk) 14:02, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

Connection to Captain Dalton SOE, actor, Timothy Dalton's father ?
In Frank Muirs biography he mentions a Captain Dalton (father of 007 actor Timothy Dalton) working under Major Edwards in the SOE section at the Parachute Training School at Ringway airport Manchester during WW2. Reference here -. Any connection, I wonder ? -- John (Daytona2 · Talk ·  Contribs) 10:55, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

LGBT
FORMER Chancellor Lord Healey has fond memories of Susan Crosland, widow of his Cabinet colleague Anthony Crosland, who died at the weekend at the age of 84. “I’m so sorry,” says Denis Healey from his house in Sussex. “She was such a lovely girl, so much nicer than Tony’s first wife, who was a pain in the arse. “Tony was a bit AC/DC, you know. Susan Barnes, as she was known, used to pander to his tastes a little by wearing mannish clothes. I remember a walking holiday with Tony in the Black Forest in Germany in the 1940s. We were with Hugh Dalton, who was his boyfriend in a way. “Tony and I had to share a bed and, when I put the light out, he said ‘I’m feeling rather randy, are you?’ “I said ‘No, I’m not. Bugger off.’ So he got into bed with Dalton instead.” 1 March 2011.