Herwald Ramsbotham, 1st Viscount Soulbury

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Herwald Ramsbotham, 1st Viscount Soulbury GCMG GCVO OBE MC PC (6 March 1887 – 30 January 1971) was a British Conservative Party politician.

Ramsbotham sat as Member of Parliament for Lancaster from 1929 to 1941 and served under Neville Chamberlain as Minister of Pensions from 1936 to 1939 and as First Commissioner of Works from 1939 to 1940. In 1939 he became a member of the Privy Council and during the Second World War he served in the wartime coalition of Winston Churchill as President of the Board of Education from 1940 to 1941. The latter year he was raised to the peerage as Baron Soulbury, of Soulbury in the County of Buckinghamshire.

Ramsbotham later served as Chairman of the Assistance Board from 1941 to 1948 and as Governor-General of Ceylon from 1949 to 1954. In 1955 he was further honoured when he was created Viscount Soulbury, of Soulbury in the County of Buckinghamshire.

Lord Soulbury died in January 1971 at the age of 83. He was succeeded in the Viscountcy by his eldest son James. His younger son Sir Peter Ramsbotham notably served as British Ambassador to the United States from 1974 to 1977.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Robert Parkinson Tomlinson	Member of Parliament for Lancaster 1929–1941	Succeeded by Fitzroy Maclean
Political offices
Preceded by Robert Hudson	Minister of Pensions 1936–1939	Succeeded by Sir Walter Womersley
Preceded by Sir Philip Sassoon	First Commissioner of Works 1939–1940	Succeeded by The Earl De La Warr
Preceded by The Earl De La Warr	President of the Board of Education 1940–1941	Succeeded by Rab Butler
Government offices
Preceded by Sir Henry Monck-Mason Moore	Governor-General of Ceylon 1949–1954	Succeeded by Sir Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by new creation	Viscount Soulbury 1954–1971	Succeeded by James Ramsbotham