| Olympic medalist | ||
William Grenfell |
||
| Medal record | ||
| Men’s Fencing | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1906 Intercalated Games | ||
| Silver | 1906 Athens | Team épée |
William Henry Grenfell, 1st Baron Desborough, KG, GCVO, (30 October 1855 – 9 January 1945) was an athlete, sportsman, public servant and politician. He sat in the House of Commons firstly for the Liberal Party and then for the Conservatives between 1880 and 1905 when he was raised to the peerage. He was President of the Thames Conservancy Board for thirty-two years.
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Grenfell was the son of Charles William Grenfell, former member of parliament for Sandwich and Georgiana Lascelles, daughter of William Saunders Lascelles, MP. He was the nephew of Henry Riversdale Grenfell, the banker and politician, and the first cousin of Edward Grenfell, 1st Baron St Just. Grenfell was educated at Harrow School, and Balliol College, Oxford.
Grenfell rowed for Oxford in the Boat Race, in the dead heat race of 1877 and Oxford's win of 1878. He won the silver medal for fencing in the team épée at the 1906 Intercalated Games, having been the first person to carry the flag for Great Britain in the parade of nations.[1] In 1908, he was president of the Olympic games held in London. He was president of the Oxford University Boat Club, the Athletic Club and of the Bartitsu Club.
He enjoyed mountaineering, swimming, fishing and big-game hunting. He swam the Niagara rapids twice, climbed the Matterhorn three times, rowed across the English Channel and was Amateur Punting Champion of the Upper Thames.[2] He was President of the Amateur Fencing Association, Marylebone Cricket Club, and the Lawn Tennis Association. A tennis players golf day still survives in his name since 1912 to present The Desborough Cup. He was President of the Oxford University Boat Club in 1879.
In the 1880 general election, Grenfell was elected the Member of Parliament for Salisbury and held the seat until 1886. He was elected MP for Hereford in 1892. 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.[3] In 1905, Grenfell was raised to the peerage as Baron Desborough, of Taplow in the County of Buckingham, a title he took from the old hundred of Desborough in Buckinghamshire.
During a long career dedicated to public service, he was President of the Thames Conservancy Board from 1904 to 1937, 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 also an active freemason. He became a steward of Henley Royal Regatta. He was a J.P. for Buckinghamshire and a Deputy Lieutenant for Tower Hamlets.[4] He was appointed High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire in 1889.[5]
Desborough 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 planned and oversaw the construction the Desborough Cut a channel in the Thames between Walton-on-Thames and Weybridge which was opened in 1935. The island created thereby was named Desborough Island.
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. He actually died 25 years later at the age of 89.
Lord Desborough married Ethel Fane, daughter of Julian Fane and granddaughter 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. As all his sons predeceased him, the Barony became extinct. Grenfell lived at Taplow Court where he and his wife hosted gatherings of the elite and aristocratic group, the 'Souls'. In 1892 he built at Stické court at the house. In 1899 he became involved as a promoter of the Bartitsu Club, and he was named as the Club's President.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Granville Richard Ryder John Alfred Lush |
Member of Parliament for Salisbury 2-seat constituency 1880–1882 With: John Passmore Edwards) |
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 Sir Joseph Russell Bailey |
Member of Parliament for Hereford 1892–1893 |
Succeeded by Charles Wallwyn Radcliffe Cooke |
| Preceded by Richard Curzon |
Member of Parliament for Wycombe 1900–1905 |
Succeeded by Thomas Arnold Herbert |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Baron Desborough 1905–1945 |
Extinct |