Hugh Seely, 1st Baron Sherwood

Hugh Michael Seely, 1st Baron Sherwood (2 October 1898 – 1 April 1970) was a British Liberal politician. He was the third baronet of the Seely family, of Sherwood Lodge, Nottinghamshire.

Seely was educated at Eton College and became a Lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for East Norfolk from 1923 to 1924, High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire for 1925 and MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed from 1935 to 1941. He was the Joint Under-Secretary of State for Air during a large part of the Second World War (1941–45). In 1946 he acquired and was Chairman of the famous gunmaker James Purdey and Sons [1].

He married Molly Patricia Chetwode, daughter of the first Viscount Camrose, who owned The Daily Telegraph newspaper. He was created Baron Sherwood in 1941; the barony became extinct when he died in 1970 without children. His brother Sir Victor Basil John Seely, 4th Baronet (1900-1980) inherited the baronetcy. Victor's son Sir Nigel Edward Seely is the current and 5th Baronet (b. 1923). Lord Sherwood was a member of a family of politicians, industrialists and significant landowners. His great-grandfather Charles Seely (1803-1887), grandfather Sir Charles Seely, 1st Baronet, father Sir Charles Seely, 2nd Baronet, and uncle John Edward Bernard Seely, 1st Baron Mottistone were all Members of Parliament.

Sources

• Burke's Peerage and Baronetage 107th Edition Volume III [ *Burke's Peerage and Baronetage 107th Edition Volume III [2]
• Seely Baronets
• Information on the Seely family estates at the UK National Registry of Archives
• Wight Life April/May 1975 article on The Seely Family and their Island Homes [3]
• The Great Houses of Nottinghamshire, Sherwood Lodge (1881)
• Correspondence with Winston Churchill [4]