Ronald Nall-Cain, 2nd Baron Brocket

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(Arthur) Ronald Nall Nall-Cain, 2nd Baron Brocket (August 4, 1904 – March 24, 1967) was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom.

Born into a millionaire brewing family, Nall-Cain was educated at Eton College and Oxford University, where he captained the golf team. He became a barrister and a Hertfordshire County Councillor. He was elected as Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Liverpool Wavertree at a by-election in 1931,^[1] and was a close associate of Neville Chamberlain. The title of Baron Brocket had been created for his father Charles Nall-Cain, a baronet and Justice of the Peace in 1933. Arthur Nall-Cain succeeded a year later and was elevated to the House of Lords.

Brocket inherited two grand houses: Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire and Bramshill Park, in Hampshire. In the 1930s, he bought the Knoydart estate and became an infamous absentee landlord, opposing the rights of crofters and dismissing and evicting workers, preferring the estate for shooting and fishing. He eventually owned 13,000 acres (53 km²) in England and 62,000 in Scotland. His homes were used for entertaining supporters of Germany and Brocket became a committed member of the Anglo-German Fellowship, and known in society as a Nazi sympathiser. See also Men of Knoydart.

So identified was Brocket with the cause of Germany that he became intimate with senior Nazis. He was a close friend of Joachim von Ribbentrop and had met Adolf Hitler. According to Neville Chamberlain, Foreign Secretary the Earl of Halifax used him as a conduit to convey to the leading Nazis the views of the British government. In 1939 he travelled to Germany to celebrate Hitler's fiftieth birthday.

After the outbreak of World War II, Brocket continued to work for an understanding between Britain and Germany. He urged a negotiated peace settlement and tried to arrange talks with Hitler. He had a contact with Herman Goering through a Swedish intermediary called Bengt Berg. Brocket worked closely with the historian Arthur Bryant, who shared his views and helped bring the negotiations to the attention of the Foreign Office. However, he was informed that the proposal to grant Germany control over Poland and Czechoslovakia was not acceptable to the British government.

In 1949, he bought the Carton House estate in Ireland.

Brocket was married to Angela Pennyman in 1927. Their daughter, Elizabeth, married Thomas Taylour, 6th Marquess of Headfort. Their son, Ronald, pre-deceased him in 1961, so the titles passed to his grandson, Charles.

[edit] References

1. ^ Craig, F. W. S. [1969] (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, 3rd edition, Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X. 

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by John Abraham Tinne	Member of Parliament for Liverpool Wavertree 1931–1934	Succeeded by Joseph Jackson Cleary
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Charles Nall-Cain	Baron Brocket 1934–1967	Succeeded by Charles Nall-Cain