Walter Monckton, 1st Viscount Monckton of Brenchley

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Walter Turner Monckton, 1st Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, GCVO, KCMG, MC, PC (17 January 1891 – 9 January 1965) was a British politician.

Early years

Monckton was born in the small village of Plaxtol in Northern Kent. He was the eldest child of paper manufacturer Frank William Monckton (1861–1924), and his wife, Dora Constance (d. 1915). He was head boy of his preparatory school, The Knoll, at Woburn Sands in Buckinghamshire, and attended Harrow School from 1904 to 1910. He chose to enter Balliol College, Oxford as a commoner (despite winning a Scholarship at Hertford College, Oxford) and obtained a third in classical moderations (1912) and a second in history (1914). He was elected president of the Oxford Union in 1913. He played cricket for Harrow against Eton in the famous Fowler's match in 1910. Whilst at Oxford, he played a first-class cricket match for the Combined Universities in 1911.

Career

A lawyer, Monckton served as advisor to Edward VIII during the abdication crisis, having been Attorney General to the Duchy of Cornwall since 1932. He was Recorder of Hythe from 1930-37.

He worked in propaganda and information during World War II and became Solicitor General in Winston Churchill's 1945 caretaker government, although he refused to join the Conservative Party. He finally joined after the war and became a Member of Parliament for Bristol West at a 1951 by-election. Churchill soon appointed him to the cabinet as Minister of Labour and National Service, in which post he served from 1951 to 1955. He was Anthony Eden's Minister of Defence 1955–56, but was the only cabinet minister to oppose his Suez policy, and was moved to Paymaster-General 1956–57.

Monckton was made Viscount Monckton of Brenchley in 1957. He had wanted to become Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales and indeed had been promised the job by Churchill and the subsequent two prime ministers, but in 1957 he decided instead to join the board of Midland Bank.

Personal life

In 1947, he married, secondly, to Bridget, the former Countess of Carlisle (CBE), the wartime head of the ATS counterpart in India, the Women's Army Corps (India), and also of the Women's Royal Indian Naval Service (WRINS). The Viscountess was already a peer in her right, as the 11th Lady Ruthven of Freeland. Her title passed to her son by her previous marriage, the Earl of Carlisle, and not to her stepson, Viscount Monckton.

Lord Monckton of Brenchley was chairman of Midland Bank (1957–64), President of the Marylebone Cricket Club (1956–1957), President of Surrey County Cricket Club (1950–52 and 1959–65), Chairman of the Iraq Petroleum Company (1958), Chairman of the Advisory Commission on Central Africa (1960), and Chancellor of the University of Sussex (1961–65).

He was succeeded by his son Gilbert on his death in 1965 at the age of 73.

Walter Turner Monckton, 1st Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, GCVO, KCMG, MC, PC (17 January 1891 – 9 January 1965) was a British politician.

• Notes: Walter Turner Monckton was born at Reed House in 1891. He married Mary Adelaide Soames Collyer-Fergusson, eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Collyer-Fergusson of Ightham Mote, in 1914. He was adviser to King Edward VIII during the 1936 abdication crisis resulting from the King's wish to marry Wallis Simpson. He was appointed the first Viscount Monckton of Brenchley in 1957.1891 aged 2 months, living at Reed House, Dunks Green, Plaxtol, Wrotham with his parents, Frank W and Dora C Monckton, and three...
  • Reference: GenealogieOnline Family Tree Index - SmartCopy: Jun 2 2020, 21:13:14 UTC