Editing Geoffrey Howe (section)

== Early life and education ==
Howe was born in 1926 at [[Port Talbot]], Wales, to Benjamin Edward Howe, a solicitor and coroner, and Eliza Florence (née Thomson) Howe. He was to describe himself as a quarter [[Scottish people|Scottish]], a quarter [[Cornish people|Cornish]] and half [[Welsh people|Welsh]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/lords/?id=2011-07-01a.1973.0&s=Scottish%2C+a+quarter+Cornish+and+half+Welsh#g1977.0|title=Devolution (Time) Bill [HL] – Second Reading|website=[[TheyWorkForYou]]|access-date=11 March 2019|archive-date=27 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190227060504/https://www.theyworkforyou.com/lords/?id=2011-07-01a.1973.0&s=Scottish,+a+quarter+Cornish+and+half+Welsh#g1977.0|url-status=live}}</ref> He had one older sister, Barbara, who died of meningitis just before he was born, and a younger brother, Colin.{{sfn|Howe|1994|p=4}}

He was educated at three [[Private schools in the United Kingdom|private schools]]: at Bridgend Preparatory School in Bryntirion, followed by [[Abberley Hall School]] in Worcestershire and by winning an [[Exhibition (scholarship)|exhibition]] to [[Winchester College]] in Hampshire.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/oral-history/member/howe-geoffrey-1926|title=Howe, Geoffrey (b.1926)|work=[[The History of Parliament]]|access-date=16 January 2015|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924212049/http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/oral-history/member/howe-geoffrey-1926|url-status=live}}</ref> Howe was not sporty, joining the debating society instead. It was during [[World War II|wartime]], so he was active in the [[Home Guard (United Kingdom)|Home Guard]] at the school and set up a National Savings group. He was also a keen photographer and film buff. A gifted classicist, Howe was offered an exhibition to [[Trinity Hall, Cambridge]] in 1945 but first decided to join the army. He did a six-month course in maths and physics. Then he did [[Conscription in the United Kingdom|national service]] as a [[Lieutenant (British Army and Royal Marines)|lieutenant]] with the [[Royal Corps of Signals]] in East Africa, by his own account giving political lectures in [[Swahili language|Swahili]] about how Africans should avoid communism and remain loyal to "{{wt|en|bwana|Bwana}} [[George VI|Kingy George]]"; and also climbed [[Mount Kilimanjaro]].{{sfn|Howe|1994|p=16}}

Having declined an offer to remain in the army as a [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]], he [[Matriculation#United Kingdom|matriculated]] at Trinity Hall in 1948, where he read law and was chairman of the [[Cambridge University Conservative Association]], and on the committee of the [[Cambridge Union Society]].<ref name="IndObit">{{cite web |first=John |last=Barnes |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/geoffrey-howe-one-of-the-architects-of-the-thatcher-revolution-who-became-one-of-the-primary-factors-a6689811.html |title=Geoffrey Howe: One of the architects of the Thatcher revolution who became one of the primary factors in her downfall |newspaper=The Independent |date=11 October 2015 |access-date=11 March 2019 |archive-date=24 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190924175937/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/geoffrey-howe-one-of-the-architects-of-the-thatcher-revolution-who-became-one-of-the-primary-factors-a6689811.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He was [[called to the bar]] by the [[Middle Temple]] in 1952 and practised in Wales. On 28 August 1953,<ref name="ODNB" /> Howe married [[Elspeth Howe|Elspeth Shand]], daughter of [[P. Morton Shand]]. They had a son and two daughters. At first, his legal practice struggled to pay, surviving thanks to a £1,200 gift from his father and a prudent marriage.{{sfn|Laybourne|2014|loc="Howe"}} He served on the Council of the Bar from 1957 to 1962 and was a council member of the pressure group [[JUSTICE]]. A high-earning barrister, he was made a [[Queen's Counsel|QC]] in 1965.<ref name="Telegraph obit">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Geoffrey Howe – obituary |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11924113/Geoffrey-Howe-obituary.html |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |date=12 October 2015 |page=29 |access-date=21 September 2016 |archive-date=10 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010044004/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11924113/Geoffrey-Howe-obituary.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Choosing a parallel career in politics, Howe stood as the Conservative Party candidate in his native [[Aberavon (UK Parliament constituency)|Aberavon]] at the [[Aberavon (UK Parliament constituency)#Elections in the 1950s|1955 and 1959]] [[United Kingdom general elections|general elections]], losing in what was a very safe [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] seat. He helped to found the [[Bow Group]], an internal Conservative think tank of "young modernisers" in the 1950s; he was one of its first chairmen in 1955–1956 and edited its magazine ''Crossbow'' from 1960 to 1962.<ref name="IndObit" /> In 1958, he co-authored the report ''A Giant's Strength'' published by the [[Inns of Court]] Conservative Association. The report argued that the unions had become too powerful and that their [[Trade Disputes Act 1906|legal privileges]] should be curtailed. [[Iain Macleod]] discouraged the authors from publicising the report.

[[Harold Macmillan]] believed that trade union votes had contributed towards the 1951 and 1955 election victories and thought that it "would be inexpedient to adopt any policy involving legislation which would alienate this support".{{sfn|Kynaston|2013|page=158}} Through a series of Bow Group publications, Howe advanced free market ideas, primarily inspired by the thinking of [[Enoch Powell]], which was later to be known as [[Thatcherism]].