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 Chertsey,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, on 19 February 1897, the son of Sir Basil Peto, 1st Baronet and Mary Matilda Annie (née Baird).

Military service

Peto graduated from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and was commissioned a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers on 11 August 1915. He served in both the First World War and Second World War, attaining the rank of brigadier. Peto took command of the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers in October 1938, being one of the few officers in the regiment to have seen action in the First World War. He was tasked with carrying on the mechanised training of the regiment in the buildup to the war, to mobilise it when war came and to take it to France in May 1940. The regimental history of the Lancers has this description of him in its foreword: When the regiment deployed to France it was not well equipped and this was partly the reason for Peto becoming wounded: As well as being awarded the Distinguished Service Order, Peto also received: * 3

Mentioned in Despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

* French

Knight of the Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

* French

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

with palm * Belgian

Commander of the Order of Leopold Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

* Belgian

with palm * Czech Commander of the Order of the White Lion * Czech War Cross * Luxembourg Commander of the Order of Adolphe of Nassau * Luxembourg War Cross * Polish Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta

Political career

At the

1945 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1945. Africa * 1945 South-West African legislative election Asia * 1945 Indian general election Australia * 1945 Fremantle by-election Europe * 1945 Albanian parliamentary election * 1945 Bulgaria ...

, Peto was elected as the Member of Parliament for

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, bu ...

. For the 1950 general election, the Barnstaple constituency was abolished, and Peto was returned instead for the newly recreated Devon North constituency, where he served until the 1955 general election. In 1966, Peto was appointed the High Sheriff of Wiltshire for the year. He inherited the baronetcy created for his father in 1977, upon the death of his elder brother. Peto died at

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

, Hampshire, aged 83 in 1980. The title was inherited by his son, Michael, who became the 4th Baronet. Michael had three sons and the elder of these, Henry, is the 5th and current Baronet of this creation. The other Peto baronetcy, created for Peto's grandfather, is also still extant in the senior branch of the family.

References

External links

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UK Parliamentary Photograph
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peto, Christopher 1897 births 1980 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Deputy Lieutenants of Devon High Sheriffs of Wiltshire UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 British Army personnel of World War I British Army brigadiers of World War II 9th Queen's Royal Lancers officers Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Recipients of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Croix de guerre (Belgium) Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta Recipients of the Order of the White Lion Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Barnstaple Military personnel from Surrey Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst