SIR WILLIAM g6 ( , _5-1932), Brit ish statesman, eldest son of Henry Hicks, of Bexhill, was born on June 23, 1865. The additional name of Joynson was assumed on his marriage in 1895 to Grace, daughter of Richard Hampson Joynson, of Chasefield, Bowdon. From 1888 he practised as a solicitor in London. He contested North Manchester (1900) and North-west Manchester (1906) as a Conservative, both unsuc cessfully, but in 1908 he won the latter seat from Winston Churchill, who had sought re-election on his appointment as presi dent of the Board of Trade. At the first general election of 1910, however, he was defeated. He returned to parliament in 1911 as member for the Brentford division of Middlesex, and from 1918 represented the Twickenham division. During the latter days of Lloyd George's administration Sir William—he had been cre ated a baronet in 1919—was prominent among those who favoured the withdrawal of the conservatives from the Coalition, and in the Conservative Government formed by Bonar Law in 1922 he was successively parliamentary secretary to the Overseas Trade Department, postmaster-general and paymaster-general, and finan cial secretary to the Treasury (with a seat in the cabinet). When
Baldwin succeeded Bonar Law as prime minister (1923), he became minister of health and in Baldwin's second administra tion (1924) he was appointed home secretary. Sir William took an active part in the affairs of the Church of England, was one of the lay leaders of the Evangelical party, and strongly opposed the Prayer Book measure of 1928. He did valuable work as chairman of the motor legislation committee of the House of Commons, and in 1929 was raised to the peerage as Viscount Brentford.
He wrote The Law of Heavy and Light Mechanic Traction an the Highways (1906) ; The Command of the Air (1916) ; The Prayer Book Crisis (1928).