William Grenfell, 1st Baron Desborough

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William Grenfell

Men's fencing
Olympic medal record
Silver	Athens 1906	Epee Teams

William Henry Grenfell, Baron Desborough, KG, GCVO, (October 30, 1855 – January 9, 1945) was an athlete, sportsman, public servant and a Liberal Party politician who left to join the Conservatives.

His father was Charles William Grenfell, former member of parliament for Sandwich, while his uncle was Henry Riversdale Grenfell, the banker and politician. He was educated at Harrow School, and Balliol College, Oxford and was the Member of Parliament for Salisbury and later for Hereford City. Politically, he was a Gladstonian Liberal, but he resigned in 1893 rather than support Gladstone's Second Irish Home Rule Bill. He returned to the House of Commons in 1900 as a Conservative. Socially, he and his wife became members of the elite and aristocratic group, the 'Souls'.

In 1905, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Desborough, of Taplow, a title he took from the old hundred of Desborough in Buckinghamshire.

He was a man of wide ranging sporting achievement and public service. He rowed for Oxford, and was president both of the Oxford University Boat Club and of the Athletic Club. He later became a steward of Henley Royal Regatta. He also enjoyed mountaineering, swimming, fishing and big-game hunting. He was President of the Amateur Fencing Association, Marylebone Cricket Club, and the Lawn Tennis Association. In 1908, he was president of the Olympic games held in London.

During a long career dedicated to public service, he was President of the Thames Conservancy Board (thirty-two years), the London Chamber of Commerce, and the Royal Agricultural Society, amongst many others. He was High Steward of Maidenhead, the nearest town to his home at Taplow Court, Taplow. He performed many good deeds for the town, including the donation of an old chalk pit for use as a park, to celebrate the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria. Grenfell Park contains many unusual trees, the seeds of which were collected by Lord Desborough as he travelled the world.

He was appointed CVO in 1907 and advanced to KCVO in 1908 and GCVO in 1925; and in 1928 he was admitted as a Knight of the Order of the Garter. From 1924 to 1929 he was Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard. Between 1919 and 1929 he was chairman of the Pilgrims of Great Britain.

He married Ethel Fane, grand-daughter of John Fane, 11th Earl of Westmorland, in 1887: they had three sons and two daughters. His eldest son was the poet Julian Grenfell, who was killed in action in 1915. His second son, Gerald William Grenfell, was also killed about two months after his elder brother. His third son, Ivo George Grenfell, died in 1926 as the result of a car accident.

Lord Desborough had the unfortunate distinction of having his obituary erroneously published on 2 December 1920 in The Times which had confused him with Lord Bessborough.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

William Henry Grenfell at Grenfell family history site

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Granville Richard Ryder John Alfred Lush	Member of Parliament for Salisbury 2-seat constituency (with John Passmore Edwards) 1880–1882	Succeeded by John Passmore Edwards Coleridge John Kennard
Preceded by John Passmore Edwards Coleridge John Kennard	Member of Parliament for Salisbury (1-seat constituency) 1885–1886	Succeeded by Edward Henry Hulse
Preceded by Richard Curzon	Member of Parliament for Wycombe 1900–1905	Succeeded by Thomas Arnold Herbert
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by (new creation)	Baron Desborough 1905–1945	Succeeded by (title extinct)