Fiennes Cornwallis, 1st Baron Cornwallis

Colonel The Right Honourable
The Lord Cornwallis
Fiennes Cornwallis c. 1902
Born
Fiennes Stanley Wykeham Cornwallis

(1864-05-27)27 May 1864
Chacombe Priory, Banbury, Oxfordshire, England
Died26 September 1935(1935-09-26) (aged 71)
Linton, Kent, England
NationalityBritish
EducationEton College
OccupationPolitician
Title1st Baron Cornwallis
Successor2nd Baron Cornwallis
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s)Mabel Leigh, Lady Cornwallis
Children7

Colonel Fiennes Stanley Wykeham Cornwallis, 1st Baron Cornwallis, CBE, TD, JP, DL (27 May 1864 – 26 September 1935) was a British Conservative politician.

Early life

Lord Cornwallis was born 27 May 1864 at Chacombe Priory, Banbury, Oxfordshire, the eldest son of Fiennes Cornwallis[1] and Harriet Elizabeth (née Mott). He had one brother and two sisters[2] and was educated at Eton College.[3]

Political career

He was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Maidstone in 1888, a seat he held until 1895 and again from 1898 to 1900. He was also chairman of the Kent County Council between 1910 and 1930. In 1927 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Cornwallis,[4] of Linton in the County of Kent, where his country house, Linton Park, was situated.

He was appointed Honorary Colonel of the Thames and Medway Heavy Brigade, Royal Artillery, on 11 March 1933.[5]

Family life

Lord Cornwallis married Mabel Leigh, daughter of Oswald Peter Leigh, in 1886. They had seven children, three sons and four daughters. [6]

Fiennes Wykeham Mann Cornwallis was killed in Ireland in May 1921 during the Irish War of Independence. Lord Cornwallis was succeeded in the barony by his second son, Wykeham Stanley. Lady Cornwallis died in 1957.

Cornwallis was the grandson of Charles Wykeham Martin and great-grandson of James Mann, 5th Earl Cornwallis.

Freemasonry

He was an eminent Freemason and was Provincial Grand Master of Kent and a Past Grand Warden [7] in the United Grand Lodge of England. Stanley Wykeham Lodge 6599 [8] was named for him.

Bibliography

  • Kidd, Charles; Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition).
    New York: St Martin's Press, 1990. ISBN 0-333-38847-X

Notes

  1. ^ Was born Fiennes Wykeham-Martin, but changed his name to Cornwallis after an inheritance.
  2. ^ His siblings were:
    • Arthur Wykeham Cornwallis 1865–1952.
    • Helen Florence Cornwallis 1867–1957.
    • Caroline Vere Cornwallis 1868–1909.
  3. ^ Old Etonians born in 1860s
  4. ^ Second creation of Baron Cornwallis in 1927, first being in 1661
  5. ^ Army List.
  6. ^ His children were:-
    • Lt. Fiennes Wykeham Mann Cornwallis, 1890–1921
    • Wykeham Stanley Cornwallis, 2nd Baron Cornwallis, 1892–1982
    • Capt. Oswald Wykeham Cornwallis, R.N., 1894–1974
    • Lady Julia Dorothy Cochrane (née Cornwallis), 1887–1971
    • Lady Vere Mabel Steel (née Cornwallis), 1889–1964
    • Hon. Yvonne Cecil (née Cornwallis), 1896–1983
    • Hon. Bridget Frances Kate Petherick (née Cornwallis) born 1900
  7. ^ A Past rank is an honorific title and not an active officer.
  8. ^ Stanley Wykeham Lodge 6599 Archived 23 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine

References

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Maidstone
1888 – 1895 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Maidstone
1898 – 1900 		Succeeded by
Civic offices
Preceded by
 Chairman of Kent County Council
1910–1930 		Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Cornwallis
1927–1935 		Succeeded by
Masonic offices
Preceded by Provincial Grand Master of Kent
1905–1935 		Succeeded by