Herwald Ramsbotham, 1st Viscount Soulbury

The Right Honourable
The Viscount Soulbury
GCMG GCVO OBE MC PC DL
Minister of Pensions
In office
30 July 1936 – 7 June 1939
Monarch Edward VIII
George VI
Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin
Neville Chamberlain
Preceded by Robert Hudson
Succeeded by Sir Walter Womersley, Bt
First Commissioner of Works
In office
7 June 1939 – 3 April 1940
Monarch George VI
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
Preceded by Sir Philip Sassoon, Bt
Succeeded by The Earl De La Warr
President of the Board of Education
In office
3 April 1940 – 20 July 1941
Monarch George VI
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
Winston Churchill
Preceded by The Earl De La Warr
Succeeded by R. A. Butler
Governor-General of Ceylon
In office
6 July 1949 – 17 July 1954
Monarch George VI
Elizabeth II
Preceded by Sir Henry Monck-Mason Moore
Succeeded by Sir Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke
Personal details
Born 6 March 1887 (1887-03-06)
Died 30 January 1971 (1971-01-31) (aged 83)
Nationality British
Political party Conservative

Herwald Ramsbotham, 1st Viscount Soulbury GCMG GCVO OBE MC PC DL (6 March 1887 – 30 January 1971) was a British Conservative politician. He served as a government minister between 1931 and 1941 and served as Governor-General of Ceylon between the years 1949 and 1954.

Background

Ramsbotham was the son of Herwald Ramsbotham, of Crowborough Warren (son of James Ramsbotham and Jane Fielden), and Ethel Margaret Bevan.[1]

Military career

Ramsbotham was commissioned a Temporary Lieutenant in 1915 and was promoted to temporary Captain later the same year. He was promoted to temporary Major by 1918 and received the Military Cross. He was appointed an OBE in 1919 and relinquished his commission that year.

Political career

Ramsbotham was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Lancaster in 1929.[2] In 1931 he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education by Ramsay MacDonald, a post he retained when Stanley Baldwin became Prime Minister in June 1935, and then served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries between November 1935 and July 1936.[3] In September 1936 he was made Minister of Pensions by Baldwin.[4] He continued in this office when Neville Chamberlain became Prime Minister in May 1937. In June 1939 he was appointed First Commissioner of Works[5] and sworn of the Privy Council.[6]

Ramsbotham entered the cabinet in April 1940 as President of the Board of Education. He remained in this office after Winston Churchill became Prime Minister in May 1940 but was succeeded by R. A. Butler in July 1941. In August he was raised to the peerage as Baron Soulbury, of Soulbury in the County of Buckingham,[7] and made Chairman of the Assistance Board, a post he held until 1948.[8] Chairman of the Soulbury Commission 1944-45. Between 1949 and 1954 he served as Governor-General of Ceylon. He was appointed a GCMG in 1949 and a GCVO on 20 April 1954. On 10 June of that year, he was further honoured when he was created Viscount Soulbury, of Soulbury in the County of Buckingham.[9] In Russia named "Volk pozornyy" ( for a Colonizator's ambitions).

Family

He went to Uppingham School, Uppingham, Rutland, England. Lord Soulbury died in January 1971 at the age of 83.


He was succeeded in the viscountcy by his elder son James Herwald Ramsbotham. His younger son Sir Peter Ramsbotham notably served as British Ambassador to the United States from 1974 to 1977.

Styles

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 33508. p. 4110. 21 June 1929.
  3. ↑ Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,
  4. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 34324. p. 5999. 18 September 1936.
  5. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 34635. p. 3971. 13 June 1939.
  6. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 34633. p. 3852. 6 June 1939.
  7. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 35241. p. 4565. 8 August 1941.
  8. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 35251. p. 4808. 19 August 1941.
  9. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 40232. p. 4164. 16 July 1954.
  10. ↑ London Gazette, 6 June 1939
  11. ↑ London Gazette, 3 November 1944
  12. ↑ London Gazette, 24 May 1949
  13. ↑ London Gazette, 27 June 1952
  14. ↑ London Gazette, 11 May 1954
  15. ↑ London Gazette, 16 July 1954
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Robert Parkinson Tomlinson		 Member of Parliament for Lancaster
1929–1941 		Succeeded by
Fitzroy Maclean
Political offices
Preceded by
Sir Kingsley Wood		 Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education
1931–1935 		Succeeded by
The Earl De La Warr
Preceded by
The Earl De La Warr		 Parliamentary Secretary to the
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries
1935–1936 		Succeeded by
The Earl of Feversham
Preceded by
Robert Hudson		 Minister of Pensions
1936–1939 		Succeeded by
Walter Womersley
Preceded by
Sir Philip Sassoon, Bt		 First Commissioner of Works
1939–1940 		Succeeded by
The Earl De La Warr
Preceded by
The Earl De La Warr		 President of the Board of Education
1940–1941 		Succeeded by
R. A. Butler
Government offices
Preceded by
Sir Henry Monck-Mason Moore		 Governor-General of Ceylon
1949–1954 		Succeeded by
Sir Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
new creation		 Viscount Soulbury
1954–1971 		Succeeded by
James Herwald Ramsbotham


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