Mastermind of Tory election hat-trick dies aged 92
Edmund Dockerill, who was secretary and agent for Wrekin Conservative Association in the 1950s and 1960s, and played a key part in a hat-trick of Tory wins in the marginal Wrekin seat, has died at the age of 92.
Mr Dockerill, who died in hospital at Chichester on March 29, had served as Conservative agent for The Wrekin from 1954 to 1968, when he left to move to Sussex, taking up a similar position at the Arundel and Shoreham constituency.
He will probably be best remembered for his role in the 1955 general election when he helped Tory candidate Bill Yates overturn a Labour majority of 1,804 to capture The Wrekin seat, and again in the 1959 general election, when Mr Yates as MP increased his majority.
Together they fought four elections, winning three. After the third victory in 1964 Mr Yates presented him with what he called the Wrekin Medallion, which Mr Yates had carried around his neck on a ribbon as a lucky token on his successful campaigns. It had been struck in 1841 to mark the return of 12 Shropshire MPs in a famous election of that year.
Mr Dockerill's resignation came 15 months after Mr Yates resigned as the Tory's prospective Parliamentary candidate after a row with the association, in which Mr Dockerill remained neutral. Mr Yates subsequently emigrated to Australia.
A native of Birmingham, Mr Dockerill came to The Wrekin on the back of being Tory agent in Wednesbury for four years.
A keen sportman, he had been an opening bat for Aston Unity in Birmingham League cricket, and played outside right at football for Old Nortonians in the first division of a Birmingham amateur football league.
At the time of his departure from The Wrekin he was the longest serving Tory agent. He and wife Fay lived in a 17th century cottage at Lilleshall.
