Edward FitzRoy, Speaker of the House of Commons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_FitzRoy

Edward Algernon FitzRoy JP DL PC (24 July 1869 – 3 March 1943) was a British Conservative politician who served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1928 until his death in 1943.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/FitzRoy-170

https://www.thepeerage.com/p7165.htm#i71650

Early life

FitzRoy was the second son of the 3rd Baron Southampton and his second wife, Ismania Catherine Nugent, a granddaughter of Sir Charles Jenkinson, 10th Baronet. He came from a family with a long line of public service and was a descendant of Charles II's illegitimate son Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton. Through ancestor Anne Warren, the daughter of Admiral Peter Warren, he was a descendant of the Schuyler family, the Van Cortlandt family, and the Delancey family, all from British North America.

His mother was Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria and young FitzRoy was a Page of Honour to the Queen.

Political career

A member of Northamptonshire County Council from 1896 to 1921, FitzRoy first entered Parliament in 1900 General election as Member of Parliament (MP) for Northamptonshire South. He was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Northamptonshire in 1901. He was re-elected during the January 1910 General Election for Northamptonshire South. He held the seat in the December 1910 General Election.

During World War I, whilst still an MP, he served in the military as a Captain of the 1st Regiment of Life Guards, was injured at the First Battle of Ypres and commanded the mounted troops of the Guards Division from 1915–16.

In the 1918 General Election, he was elected for the seat of Daventry. He held the seat in the 1922 General Election, the 1923 General Election, the 1924 General Election, the 1929 General Election, and the 1935 General Election.

He served as Deputy Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, briefly during 1923 and from 1924 to 1928. He was made a Privy Councillor in February 1924. He was elected Speaker of the House of Commons in 1928. In 1931, he was awarded a Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Cambridge and an honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree from the University of Oxford in 1934. In 1935, there was considerable controversy when the Labour Party decided to stand a candidate against him in the general election.

Fitzroy died aged 73 in Westminster.

Personal life

FitzRoy was the second son of the 3rd Baron Southampton. He was a descendant of Charles I.

FitzRoy married Muriel on 19 November 1891. Upon his death she was given a Viscountcy, the customary retirement honour for Speakers, as Viscountess Daventry.