Former Ealing North MP Harry Greenway Dies
He represented the seat until losing it to Stephen Pound in 1997
Harry Greenway. Picture: National Equine Welfare Council
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February 20, 2024
The death has been announced of the former MP for Ealing North Harry Greenway. He passed away last month at the age of 89 after a long illness.
He represented the local constituency from 1979 ousting the sitting Labour MP Bill Malloy. He defeated Hilary Benn, who was then leader of Ealing Council, twice in the eighties to retain it at general elections until finally coming up against Stephen Pound in 1997. He was appointed an Honorary Freeman of the London Borough of Ealing on 19 February 2008.
The former school teacher was born in Worcester in 1934 and was educated at Warwick School then trained to be a teacher at the College of St Mark & St John, which was then based in Chelsea as well as attending the University of Caen. He also had an honorary doctorate from the Open University.
He taught mainly at large comprehensives in London and introduced new sports to the schools at which he was employed including horse riding for which he had a particular passion. He was the first president of The Association of British Riding Schools and retained that position until 2002.
He was often a controversial figure and was on the right of the Conservative party favouring corporal punishment in schools and advocating for the reintroduction of hanging. A devout Anglican, he opposed Sunday trading and advocated for the right of parishes not to have a woman priest if they did not wish to.
He knew the family of the 1986 Ealing Vicarage burglary and rape and the incident deeply affected him. He branded the sentences given to the offenders as ‘an utter disgrace’ and petitioned for a minimum 20-year sentence for rape and all rapes trials to be held before a female judge.
He was an advocate for the safety of teachers in the work place and in 1995 he raised over £100,000 along with the Abbot of Ealing Abbey for a memorial fund for Philip Lawrence who was murdered by one of his pupils.
He also led the campaign to save the Hoover building in Perivale from demolition.
In 1992 he faced prosecution for a charge of bribery but the case against him collapsed due to lack of evidence. The allegations related to the nature of his relationship with the Austrian-owned Plasser Railway Machinery, which had operations in the Ealing North constituency.
His funeral will take place at midday on 8 March at St Stephen’s Church, Rochester Row, Westminster. He is survived by his wife Carol and two daughters and a son.
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