Henry McLaren, 2nd Baron Aberconway

The 2nd Baron Aberconway
Henry McLaren
Spouse(s) Christabel Mary Melville Macnaghten
Father Charles McLaren, 1st Baron Aberconway
Mother Laura Elizabeth Pochin
Born 16 April 1879
Died 23 May 1953 (aged 74)

Henry Duncan McLaren, 2nd Baron Aberconway, CBE (16 April 1879 – 23 May 1953) was a British politician, horticulturalist and industrialist. He was the son of Charles McLaren, 1st Baron Aberconway and Laura Pochin.

Education

Born in Richmond upon Thames, he was educated at Eton and obtained a Master of Arts from Balliol College, Oxford. In 1903 he became a barrister of Lincoln's Inn.

Career

Bodnant House - a family seat

In 1906 he was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for West Staffordshire as a Liberal, and was Private Under-Secretary to the President of the Board of Trade, David Lloyd George, until 1908. In 1910, he stood for his father's old seat of Bosworth and replaced him. He left politics in 1922, and succeeded his father in the Barony in 1934.

McLaren was also a notable industrialist, and chaired companies from both sides of the family, including John Brown & Company and the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company. In 1915 he was the founding chairman of the Design and Industries Association.[1] Around the end of his political career, in 1920, he had Aberconway House built as a residence in Mayfair. He would also inherit the family estate (originally his maternal grandfather's) in Bodnant, where he extensively developed and added to the Bodnant Garden. He was an avid horticulturalist and took interest in the breeding of rhododendrons and magnolias. He sponsored several botanical collectors, including George Forrest, and Rhododendron aberconwayi is named in his honor. He died in Hiraethog aged 74.

Family

He married Christabel Mary Melville Macnaghten (1890–1974), the daughter of Sir Melville Macnaghten, and had five children:

References

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Sir Alexander Henderson, Bt
Member of Parliament for West Staffordshire
1906January 1910
Succeeded by
George Lloyd
Preceded by
Charles McLaren
Member of Parliament for Bosworth
December 19101922
Succeeded by
Guy Paget
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Charles McLaren
Baron Aberconway
1934–1953
Succeeded by
Charles McLaren