William Aitken

Sir William Traven Aitken, (10 June 1903 – 19 January 1964) was a Canadian-British journalist and politician who was an MP in the UK parliament for 14 years. He was a nephew of Lord Beaverbrook. Early life and family Aitken was born on 10 June 1903, the son of Joseph Mauns Aitken of Toronto. He was educated at Upper Canada College, the oldest independent school in Canada, and went on to the University of Toronto, where he was a member of the Kappa Alpha Society. In the late 1920s he travelled through Canada and the United States, before settling in England in 1930. In 1938 he married Penelope Loader Maffey, daughter of Sir John Maffey (later Lord Rugby, and a leading civil servant); they had one son, Jonathan Aitken, and one daughter, Maria Aitken. Wartime service He found a living as a financial journalist on the staff of the Evening Standard. When the Second World War broke out, Aitken joined the Royal Air Force and piloted fighter reconnaissance aircraft; he was severely injured in 1945 and invalided out. His son Jonathan Aitken, later a politician, was born in 1942, and his daughter Maria Aitken, later an actress, was born in 1945. Penelope Aitken became a leading socialite in post-war society. His grandson, Jack Davenport, became an actor. Alexandra Aitken is the grand-daughter of Sir William. Career At the 1945 general election, Aitken was the Conservative Party candidate who attempted to recapture West Derbyshire; he lost by only 156 votes. He became instead Manager of London Express News and Feature Services while he searched for another Parliamentary nomination. He was also a director of Shop Investments Ltd and Western Ground Rents Ltd, both of which were property investment companies.