Sir Henry Cosmo Orme Bonsor, 1st Baronet, DL (2 September 1848 – 4 December 1929) was an English brewer and businessman and a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

from 1885 to 1900. Bonsor was the son of Joseph Bonsor of

Polesden Lacey Polesden Lacey is an Edwardian house and estate, located on the North Downs at Great Bookham, near Dorking, Surrey, England. It is owned and run by the National Trust and is one of the Trust's most popular properties. This Regency house was exp ...

. He was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

and with his father and brother became a partner in the brewing firm of Combe & Co. He was a director of the Bank of England, and a Governor of

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. ...

. In 1885 Bonsor was elected M.P. for

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and held the seat until 1900. Also in 1885, Bonsor purchased the estate of Kingswood Warren, Surrey from Sir John Cradock Hartopp and lived there until 1906 when he put it on the market because of the rising cost of maintenance. In 1898 Bonsor organised the brewery amalgamation to form

Watney Combe & Reid Watney Combe & Reid was a leading brewery in London. At its peak in the 1930s it was a constituent of the FT 30 index of leading companies on the London Stock Exchange. It produced Watney's Red Barrel. History The Watney family were the mai ...

, of which he remained chairman until 1928. Bonsor was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...

on 26 January 1925. He died four years later at the age of 81 in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

. He was buried in St Andrew's churchyard. Bonsor was a public benefactor and was loved locally for his kindness and generosity to all. Bonsor married Emily Gertrude Fellowes in 1872. His son Reginald succeeded to the baronetcy.

Railway service

In 1895 Bonsor was appointed deputy-chairman of the South Eastern Railway (SER), and was elected chairman of that railway following the death of the incumbent, Sir George Russell, Bart, on 7 March 1898. At the start of 1899 the SER entered into a working union with its neighbour and hitherto competitor, the

London, Chatham and Dover Railway The London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR or LC&DR) was a railway company in south-eastern England created on 1 August 1859, when the East Kent Railway was given parliamentary approval to change its name. Its lines ran through London and no ...

(LCDR). Each of the two railways provided four members of the new

South Eastern & Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee (SE&CRCJMC),Awdry (1990), page 199 known as the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR), was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Easte ...

, and Bonsor was elected Chairman of that body, retaining his SER post. He retired from railway service upon the formation (by amalgamation of the SER, LCDR and other railways) of the Southern Railway at the start of 1923. In 1899 he formed a private syndicate to extend the Tattenham Corner Line from

Kingswood railway station Kingswood railway station serves Kingswood in the county of Surrey. It is a late-Victorian station on the Tattenham Corner Line, from . Train services and the station are operated by Southern. The station has a building on the up side only ...

Tattenham Corner railway station Tattenham Corner railway station is in Surrey, in England. The station and all trains serving it are operated by Southern, and it is the terminus of the Tattenham Corner Line. It is from . It lies on the outskirts of Epsom and is the closes ...

to take the racegoing traffic to Epsom Downs Racecourse. A train named in his honour formerly ran as part of the Southern services to London Bridge. The train stock was of Class 456. 456024 "Sir Cosmo Bonsor"
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonsor, Cosmo 1848 births 1929 deaths British businesspeople People educated at Eton College Masters of the Worshipful Company of Brewers Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Deputy Lieutenants of Surrey UK MPs 1885–1886 UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs 1892–1895 UK MPs 1895–1900 South Eastern and Chatham Railway people