Ronald Greville Explained

Honorific Prefix:The Honourable
Ronald Greville
Honorific Suffix:MVO
Office:Member of Parliament for Bradford East
Term Start:1896
Term End:1906
Predecessor:Henry Byron Reed
Successor:William Priestley
Birth Name:Ronald Henry Fulke Greville
Birth Date:14 October 1864
Residence:Polesden Lacey
Education:Rugby School
Party:Conservative
Parents:Algernon Greville, 2nd Baron Greville
Lady Beatrice Violet Graham
Relations:Charles Greville, 3rd Baron Greville (brother)

Hon. Ronald Henry Fulke Greville MVO (14 October 1864 – 5 April 1908) was an English Conservative Party politician. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Bradford East from 1896 to 1906.

Early life

Greville was born 14 October 1864 the eldest of four children of politician Algernon Greville, 2nd Baron Greville (1841–1909) and the writer Lady Beatrice Violet Graham.[1]

His paternal grandparents were Fulke Greville-Nugent, 1st Baron Greville and his wife, Lady Rosa Nugent (the only daughter and heir of the George Nugent, 1st Marquess of Westmeath).[2] His maternal grandparents were James Graham, 4th Duke of Montrose and the former Hon. Caroline Agnes Horsley-Beresford (third daughter of John Horsley-Beresford, 2nd Baron Decies).

Career

Greville was educated at Rugby School and entered the Army, at first in the 3rd (Militia) Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and then the 1st Life Guards. Greville resigned his commission as a captain in 1896 when he was elected as a Member of Parliament.[3]

Political career

Greville first stood for Parliament at the 1895 general election, as an unsuccessful candidate in the Liberal-held Barnsley division of the West Riding of Yorkshire.[4] After the death of Henry Byron Reed, the Conservative MP for the Eastern division of Bradford, Greville was selected as the Conservative candidate for the resulting by-election in November 1896. He won the contest, and was re-elected in 1900, holding the seat until he retired from the House of Commons at the 1906 general election.[5]

Personal life

On 25 April 1891, he married Margaret Helen Anderson (1863–1942).[6] Margaret was the illegitimate daughter of William McEwan, a multimillionaire brewer (later elected as an MP for Edinburgh Central)[7] and his mistress, Helen Anderson, a cook who married McEwan after her first husband's death in 1885.[8] After their marriage, they lived at Polesden Lacey, in Great Bookham, Surrey, a gift from his wife's father.[6]

On 5 April 1908, when Greville was 43, he died from pneumonia following an operation, predeceasing his own father and never acceding to the peerage. As Ronald had no children, after his father's death the following December 1909,[9] his younger brother Charles became the 3rd Baron Greville.[10]

He was High Sheriff of Westmeath in 1899.

Notes and References

  1. News: . Captain The Hon. Ronald Greville . Obituaries . 6 April 1908 . 6 . 38613 .
  2. Book: Mair, Robert H.. Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage: Comprising Information Concerning All Persons bearing Hereditary or Courtesy Titles, of Companions of the Orders of Knighthood and of the Indian Empire, and of all Collateral Branches of Peers and Baronets; Illustrated with 1400 Armorial Bearings.. Dean and Son. 1884. London. 314.
  3. Record of Service held at Household Cavalry Museum
  4. Book: Craig, F. W. S. . F. W. S. Craig . British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 . 1974 . 2nd . 1989 . Parliamentary Research Services . Chichester . 0-900178-27-2 . 432.
  5. Craig, op, cit, page 80
  6. Web site: Greville, Baron (UK, 1869–1987) . cracroftspeerage.co.uk . Heraldic Media Limited . 15 November 2019 . 15 November 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191115193616/http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/online/content/greville1869.htm . live .
  7. Web site: Dr. William McEwan: Overview of Dr. William McEwan . Scottish-places.info . 2016-03-29.
  8. Davenport-Hines 2015.
  9. News: Lord Greville Very Ill: Honeymoon of his son, Capt. Greville, and his bride interrupted . . 30 November 1909.
  10. News: Lord Greville Dead: Must Not Break Manhole Covers or Interfere with Mall Tube Service . . 3 December 1909.