The Hon.
David Layton
MBE
(5 July 1914 ? 31 July 2009) was a British
economist
and
industrial relations
specialist who in 1966 founded
Incomes Data Services
.
Life
[
edit
]
A younger son of
Walter Layton, 1st Baron Layton
(1884?1966), by his marriage to
Eleanor Dorothea Osmaston
, a daughter of Francis Plumptre Beresford Osmaston, a
barrister
, Layton had four sisters and two brothers.
[1]
He was educated at
Gresham's School
and
Trinity College, Cambridge
, where he earned a degree in
economics
and a
blue
for
field hockey
.
[2]
After
Second World War
service in the
Royal Engineers
, rising to the rank of
lieutenant colonel
, in 1946 Layton was appointed a
Member of the Order of the British Empire
.
[3]
He was an executive of the
National Coal Board
from 1946 to 1963, taking a break from that to serve on the
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
, in 1952?1953.
[4]
After leaving the National Coal Board, Layton spent a year with the
Acton Society Trust
, in his own words "preparing a study of the shortcomings of published information on wages and conditions of work", which was published in 1965.
[5]
At the 1964 general election, he stood as the
Liberal
parliamentary candidate for
Battersea South
, coming third, as expected, to the Labour and Conservative candidates. He did not stand again, but nevertheless kept up close links with the Liberal Party.
[2]
In 1966 Layton founded Incomes Data Services, an independent research organization offering information and advice for those determining pay and employment policies in the United Kingdom. When the British government began to insist that all collective agreements should be legally binding, Layton advised parties to write the words "Tina Lea" on all collective agreements, an acronym standing for This is Not a Legally Enforceable Agreement.
[2]
During a miners' strike in February 1974, Layton pointed out that figures being used to compare miners' pay with other workers' pay were flawed, as the National Coal Board was including holiday pay in earnings for miners, but not in the figures for the pay of others. The front page of the
London Evening Standard
called Layton "the man who did his sums", and the revelation had a large impact on the dispute.
[2]
In 1979 Layton met
Max Nicholson
, a founder of the
World Wildlife Fund
, and went on to establish Environmental Data Services and
The ENDS Report
, an early attempt to engage British business with
environmental protection
. This was largely funded by Layton and consumed much of his energy, and within ten years had become a successful business led by
Marek Mayer
.
[2]
In its obituary,
The Guardian
said of Layton "He was full of fun, often rather mischievous and perfectly at ease challenging nonsense." He was also an enthusiastic sportsman and was still walking the
Lake District
hills in his early nineties.
[2]
Private life
[
edit
]
Layton married firstly in April 1939 (Joan) Elizabeth Gray, a
Girton College, Cambridge
, graduate and daughter of the Rev. Robert Miller Gray,
[6]
with whom he had three children, Jonathan (now 4th
Baron Layton
), Mark and Hilary. They separated in 1966. He married secondly Joy Parkinson in 1972.
[2]
After the death of his brother
Michael Layton, 2nd Baron Layton
, in 1989, the title of Baron Layton went to Geoffrey Michael Layton (1947?2018), a nephew who had no sons, and Layton was thus
heir presumptive
to the title until his own death.
[7]
Publications
[
edit
]
- David Layton,
Wages ? fog or facts? A case for independent collection and analysis of information on incomes
(
Institute of Economic Affairs
, 1965)
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
L. G. Pine, ed.,
Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry
, (London: Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1952), p. 1,939
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Alastair Hatchett,
David Layton obituary
in
The Guardian
dated 29 September 2009
- ^
Burke's Peerage
, vol. 2 (2003), p. 2,267
- ^
The Times House of Commons 1964
(Times Office, 1964), p. 109
- ^
David Layton,
Wages ? fog or facts?
(1965), p. 5
- ^
Girton College Register: 1869-1946
(Girton College, 1948), p. 476
- ^
Dod's Parliamentary Companion
(1995), p. 197: "Heir, his uncle. Hon. David Layton. MBE. b. July 5. 1914"