Freddie Guest

Frederick Edward Guest

Frederick Edward "Freddie" Guest , CBE , DSO (born June 14, 1875 in London , † April 28, 1937 ibid) was a British politician . He was Parliamentary Executive Secretary of Prime Minister David Lloyd George's government from 1917 to 1921 . He was also Secretary of State for Air from 1921 to 1922 . In 1924 he won the bronze medal with the British polo team at the Summer Olympics in Paris .

Early years

Frederick Edward Guest was born in London as the third son of Ivor Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne and Lady Cornelia Spencer-Churchill . The Guest family made their fortune in the steel industry in the 18th and 19th centuries and married into the nobility. The Whimbornes belonged to conservative society and were friends with Benjamin Disraeli . Guest's mother was the eldest daughter of John Spencer-Churchill, the 7th Duke of Marlborough .

Guest's four brothers were also politically active. Ivor was 2nd Baron and 1st Viscount Wimborne, and Junior Minister and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland . Henry and Oscar were MPs in the British House of Commons and Lionel was a member of London County Council . Guests sister Frances Charlotte was married to Frederic Thesiger, 1st Viscount Chelmsford and Governor General and Viceroy of India .

Guest was a cousin of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill , Charles Spencer-Churchill, the 9th Duke of Marlborough, and Henry Innes-Ker, the 8th Duke of Roxburghe . He was also the nephew of the conservative politicians Lord Randolph Churchill , George Spencer-Churchill, 8th Duke of Marlborough and Lady Anne Innes-Ker, Duchess of Roxburghe .

Career

Training and military career

After graduating from Winchester College , Guest embarked on a military career. He was ordered to the East Surrey Regiment as a second lieutenant in the infantry and promoted to lieutenant on April 7, 1894. On May 15, 1897 Guest was promoted to officer of the 1st Regiment of Life Guards and on November 23 to lieutenant of this regiment. In 1899 he was sent to Egypt and was part of the Camel Corps during the military operation that led to the overthrow of Caliph Abdallahi ibn Muhammad . He also served from 1901 until the end of the fighting in June 1902 in the Second Boer War in South Africa . Back in the United Kingdom, he resumed regular service in the regiment from September 1902. Before he was released from active service in 1906, he was honored for his bravery and promoted to captain.

Political career

During the Conservative Party dispute over protectionism , Guest and other members of his family followed his cousin and close friend Winston Churchill to the Liberal Party to support free trade and, presumably, to hasten their political careers. In 1906, Guest was Junior Minister in the government of Henry Campbell-Bannerman and became the private secretary of Churchill. He ran three times for a seat in the House of Commons and was eventually elected for the seat of East Dorset in the British General Election in January 1910 . At first he was not given a seat due to irregularities in the election, but was re-elected in December 1910. Known as "Freddie Guest" he became a popular backbencher . In 1911 he became the Whip of the Liberal Party. In the same year he became a founding member of The Other Club and in 1912 was appointed Treasurer of the Household .

With the beginning of World War I in August 1914, he returned to active service as a wing adjutant to the commandant of the British Expeditionary Force Field Marshal Sir John French . Guest carried out secret missions for French, serving as a liaison officer to the War Office and political leaders. In 1916 he served in the East African war zone and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order . After being discharged from military service due to a serious illness, he resumed his political career. In May 1917 he joined Lloyd George's coalition government as a joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury . On December 3, 1917, Guest Loyd George sent a fourteen-page memorandum in which he stated that although only about a third of the Liberal MPs supported George's predecessor, HH Asquith , the time to replace Asquith as leader of the Liberal Party had not yet come . In 1920 Guest was admitted to the Privy Council and should bear the title "The Right Honorable". In 1921 he was appointed Secretary of State for Air . He held this position until the end of the coalition in 1922. In the November 1922 election, Guest lost his seat, but was able to win it back in 1923 and 1924. After losing the 1929 election as a liberal, he rejoined the Conservative Party and again won a seat in 1931, which he held until his death.

polo

Guest took for the United Kingdom at the Summer Olympics in 1924 in Paris and won with the British polo team consisting of Guest, Frederick W. Barrett , Denis Bingham and Percival Wise bronze . He is also one of the winners of the Roehampton Trophy . He also loaned his horses to the English polo team for games in the Westchester Cup .

Family and personal life

In 1905 Guest married the daughter of American industrialist Henry Phipps Jr. Amy in St George's Hanover Square Church in London . Amy was a well-known suffragette and aviation philanthropist who owned lands in Long Island . The couple visited the United States regularly during the 1920s and 1930s. The couple had daughter Diana and sons Winston Frederick Churchill and Raymond, all of whom were US citizens.

In addition to his political career, Guest was a racing driver and pilot . In 1930 he became vice chairman of the Honorable Company of Air Pilots , of which he became chairman in 1932. He also played polo, was a big game hunter in East Africa and a well-known bon vivant in London and New York society. He owned homes in Palm Beach and Roslyn and was a member of the Links Club of New York and the Piping Rock Club in Long Island. He was also friends with the Duke of Windsor , the former King Edward VIII .

Guest died in 1937 at the age of 61 years to cancer .

literature

• Stephen Koss: Asquith . Hamish Hamilton, London 1985, ISBN 978-0-231-06155-1 (English).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} CAPTAIN FE GUEST DIES IN ENGLAND, 61; Former British Air Secretary Also Known as a Soldier and Polo Player. The New York Times , April 29, 1937, accessed June 1, 2020 . 
2. ↑ London Gazette . No. 26501, HMSO, London, April 6, 1894, p. 1954 ( PDF , accessed June 1, 2020, English).
3. ↑ London Gazette . No. 27159, HMSO, London, January 30, 1900, pp. 597-600 ( PDF , accessed June 1, 2020, English).
4. ^ The Army in South Africa - Troops returning home . In: The Times . No. 36811 , July 4, 1902, p. 9 (English).
5. ↑ London Gazette . No. 27482, HMSO, London, October 14, 1902, pp. 6494–600 ( PDF , accessed June 1, 2020, English).
6. ↑ Stephen Koss: Asquith . Hamish Hamilton, London 1985, ISBN 978-0-231-06155-1 , pp. 232 (English).
7. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 31712, HMSO, London, p. 1 ( PDF , English).