Sir Basil Edward Peto, 1st Baronet (13 August 1862 – 28 January 1945) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

businessman and Unionist politician.

Education and early life

Born at

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

, Peto was the seventh son of Sir Morton Peto, 1st Baronet. He entered

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

, but was withdrawn at the age of seventeen when his father experienced financial difficulties.

Career

Peto became an apprentice joiner with his family's business, Peto Brothers, building contractors, of

Pimlico Pimlico () is an area of Central London in the City of Westminster, built as a southern extension to neighbouring Belgravia. It is known for its garden squares and distinctive Regency architecture. Pimlico is demarcated to the north by London V ...

. He became a partner in the company in 1884 and married Mary Matilda Annie Baird in 1892. The couple had three sons. In 1890, Peto attempted to bring in a form of profit-sharing to the company. The proposal was opposed by the

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

s, leading to a strike. The company was dissolved in 1893 and Peto was financially ruined. He took up employment with

Morgan Crucible Morgan Advanced Materials is a company which manufactures specialist products, using carbon, advanced ceramics and composites. The company is headquartered in Windsor, United Kingdom, and has 85 sites across 30 countries. A public limited compa ...

in 1892, eventually becoming managing director by 1904, when he resigned. He travelled widely for the company supervising the mining and purchase of

plumbago ''Plumbago'' is a genus of 10–20 species of flowering plants in the family Plumbaginaceae, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the world. Common names include plumbago and leadwort (names which are also shared by the genus '' Cerat ...

in the

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India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. Peto was chosen by the Conservative Party to contest the

January 1910 general election The January 1910 United Kingdom general election was held from 15 January to 10 February 1910. The government called the election in the midst of a constitutional crisis caused by the rejection of the People's Budget by the Conservative-dominat ...

, regaining the Devizes constituency in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

which had been lost to the

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1906 United Kingdom general election Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Mus ...

. He retained the seat until the 1918 election. During the

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he held a temporary commission in the

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and acted as the Chief Commissioner for Belgian Refugee Affairs. He was made a Commander of the

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. Peto returned to the

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, twice serving as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for the Barnstaple constituency, holding the seat from 1922 to 1923 and again from 1924 to 1935. He was created a Baronet, of Barnstaple in the County of Devon, in January 1927. He found himself at odds with many of the policies of Stanley Baldwin's Conservative government, and lost the party whip to sit as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

in April 1928. Following a unanimous vote of confidence in him by his local party executive, he was readmitted to the parliamentary party in November. In June 1934 he announced that he would be retiring from parliament at the next general election, which was held in the following year. Peto served as chairman of the National Society for the Prevention of Venereal Disease from 1926 – 1939.

Death

Peto died at his home

Iford Manor Iford Manor () is a manor house in Wiltshire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building sitting on the steep, south-facing slope of the Frome valley, in Westwood parish, about southwest of the town of Bradford-on-Avon. Its Grade I registered ...

, near

Bradford on Avon Bradford-on-Avon (sometimes Bradford on Avon or Bradford upon Avon) is a town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England, near the border with Somerset, which had a population of 9,402 at the 2011 census. The town's canal, historic buildings, s ...

in January 1945 aged 82. He was succeeded by his elder son, James Michael Peto (1894–1971). A younger son,

Christopher Peto Brigadier Sir Christopher Henry Maxwell Peto, 3rd Baronet, (19 February 1897 – 19 May 1980) was a senior officer in the British Army during the Second World War and a post-war Conservative Party politician. Early life Peto was born in Chertse ...

(1897–1980), succeeded his elder brother and also served as MP for Barnstaple.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peto, Basil Edward 1862 births 1945 deaths People from Westminster British Army officers Military personnel from London Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Peto, Sir Basil, 1st Baronet UK MPs 1910 UK MPs 1910–1918 UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs 1929–1931 UK MPs 1931–1935 Younger sons of baronets People educated at Harrow School Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Barnstaple British Army personnel of World War I