Editing Maurice Cowling (section)

==Early life==
Cowling was born in [[West Norwood]], South London, son of Reginald Frederick Cowling (1901–1962), a patent agent, and his wife May (née Roberts).<ref>''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' 2005–2008, ed. [[Lawrence Goldman]], Oxford University Press, 2013, p. 257</ref> His family then moved to [[Streatham]], where Cowling attended an [[London County Council|LCC]] elementary school and, from 1937, [[Battersea Grammar School]]. When the [[Second World War]] started in 1939 the school moved to [[Worthing]] and then from 1940 to [[Hertford]], where Cowling attended sixth form.<ref>[[Michael Bentley (historian)|Michael Bentley]], "Prologue: The retiring Mr Cowling", in Bentley (ed.), ''Public and Private Doctrine. Essays in British History Presented to Maurice Cowling'' (Cambridge University Press, 1993), p. 3.</ref>

In 1943 Cowling won a scholarship to [[Jesus College, Cambridge]], but was called up for military service in September 1944, where he joined the [[Queen's Royal Regiment]]. In 1945, after training and serving in a holding battalion, he was sent to [[Bangalore]] as an [[officer cadet]].<ref>Bentley, p. 3.</ref>

In 1946 Cowling was attached to the [[Kumaon Regiment]] and the next year-and-a-half he travelled to [[Agra]], Razmak on the [[North-West Frontier (military history)|North-West Frontier]] and [[Assam]]. As independence for India neared in 1947, Cowling was dispatched to [[Egypt]] as a camp adjutant to the British HQ there. Cowling was then promoted to captain in [[Libya]]. By the end of 1947 he was finally demobilised, and in 1948 he went back to Jesus College to complete his History [[Tripos]], where he received a [[British undergraduate degree classification|double first]].<ref>Bentley, pp. 3–4.</ref> Cowling later remembered that he fell in love with Cambridge.<ref>[[Naim Attallah]], ''Singular Encounters'' (London: Quartet Books, 1990), p. 129.</ref> He toyed with the idea of being ordained and went to college chapel, possessing "a strong polemical Christianity". Of his religion, Cowling later said: {{quote|I'm not sure of the depth or reality of my religious conviction. It could well be that it was a polemical conviction against liberalism rather than a real conviction of the truth of Christianity&nbsp;... I suppose on a census I would describe myself as a member of the Church of England. If you ask me, do I think I ought to be an Anglican, the answer is that I probably ought to be a Roman Catholic, but I don't see any prospect of that happening&nbsp;... I have a very Protestant mind.<ref>Attallah, pp. 129–131.</ref>}}

In 1954 Cowling worked at the British [[Foreign Office]] for six months at the Jordan department, and in early 1955, ''[[The Times]]'' gave him the job of foreign leader-writer, which he held for three years. In 1957 Cowling was invited by the Director of the [[Conservative Political Centre]] to write a [[pamphlet]] on the [[Suez Crisis]]; it was never published however, as the party wanted to move on from Suez as quickly as possible. He stood unsuccessfully for the parliamentary seat of [[Bassetlaw (UK Parliament constituency)|Bassetlaw]] during the [[1959 United Kingdom general election|General Election of 1959]] for the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]].<ref>Bentley, p. 5.</ref> Cowling later said that "I enjoyed being a candidate, though it was very hard work and elections are like what I imagine having all your teeth out is like".<ref name="Attallah, p. 134">Attallah, p. 134.</ref>