Michael Knatchbull, 5th Baron Brabourne

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Michael Herbert Rudolf Knatchbull, 5th Baron Brabourne, GCSI, GCIE, MC (8 May 189523 February 1939) was a British peer and soldier, the son of the 4th Baron Brabourne.

Baptised Michael Herbert Rudolf Knatchbull-Hugessen, he dropped the Hugessen part of his surname by deed poll in 1919. Knatchbull was educated at Wellington College and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He served in the Royal Artillery, rising to the rank of Lieutenant and in the RAF, rising to Captain. He fought in the First World War (where he was mentioned in dispatches three times) and was awarded the Military Cross. On 22 January 1919, he married Lady Doreen Browne, daughter of the 6th Marquess of Sligo and they had two children:

Knatchbull was elected Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashford in 1931 and served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Samuel Hoare, Secretary of State for India, from 1932 to 1933. In 1933, upon his father's death, he succeeded as Baron Brabourne and was invested as a Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire; he became Governor of Bombay until 1937. Later that year he also became a Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India and served as Governor of Bengal until 1939, the year he died.

His wife, Lady Doreen, was killed in 1979 in the Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb blast that also killed Earl Mountbatten and one of their grandsons.

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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Roderick Kedward
Member of Parliament for Ashford
1931–1933
Succeeded by
Sir Patrick Spens
Political offices
Preceded by
Sir Frederick Sykes
Governor of Bombay
1931–1937
Succeeded by
Sir Lawrence Lumley
Preceded by
Sir John Anderson
Governor of Bengal
1937–1939
Succeeded by
John Arthur Herbert
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Cecil Knatchbull-Hugessen
Baron Brabourne Succeeded by
Norton Knatchbull
Languages