Arthur Shirley Benn, 1st Baron Glenravel

Lord Glenravel

Arthur Shirley Benn, 1st Baron Glenravel KBE (20 December 1858 – 13 June 1937), known as Sir Arthur Shirley Benn, Bt, between 1926 and 1936, was a British businessman and politician.

The son of Reverend John Watkins Benn, he married Alys Maria Luling, daughter of Florenz Augustus Luling^[1] of New Orleans and later of Mobile, Alabama, on 9 May 1888.^[2]

Education

Benn studied at Clifton College, then at Inner Temple. He became a managing director, then the British Vice-Consul to Mobile, Alabama.

Political career

Benn became active in the Conservative Party, and stood in Battersea at the 1906 UK general election. In 1907, he was elected to London County Council, a post he held for four years. He stood in Battersea again in January 1910. In December, he was instead elected at Plymouth.

Benn moved to represent Plymouth Drake in 1918, and in the same year was awarded the KBE.^[3] In 1921, he became the President of the Association of British Chambers of Commerce, a position he held until 1923, and also became the Chair of the National Unionist Association. In 1926 he was created a baronet, of Plymouth in the County of Devon.^[4] From 1927, he was the Director of the International Chamber of Commerce.

Benn lost his seat in 1929, and in 1931 was elected for Sheffield Park, but then lost this seat in 1935. In 1936 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Glenravel, of Kensington in the County of London.^[5] He died the following year, aged 78, without issue, when the baronetcy and barony became extinct.

References

• Michael Stenton and Stephen Lees, Who's Who of British MPs: Volume III, 1919-1945

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Arthur Shirley Benn