Lieutenant-Colonel Evelyn George Harcourt Powell (21 February 1883 – 15 July 1961) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer, and Conservative MP for Southwark South East.

Biography

Powell was commissioned into the

Militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

as a second lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion,

Gordon Highlanders Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

on 2 May 1900. He joined the Regular Army on 5 January 1901 as a second lieutenant in the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

, and was promoted to lieutenant on 21 May 1904, captain on 16 November 1908 and major on 1 September 1915, later antedated to 15 July 1915. He was an acting lieutenant-colonel while commanding the 9th Battalion, London Regiment from 25 September 1916 to 6 September 1918 and from 12 October 1918 to 5 May 1919. On 3 June 1923 he succeeded

Bertram Sergison-Brooke Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom), Lieutenant General Sir Bertram Norman Sergison-Brooke, (born Brooke; 20 July 1880 – 26 March 1967) was an Anglo-Irish senior British Army officer who served as Major-General commanding the Household Divisi ...

as commander of the

1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

, with promotion to lieutenant-colonel. On 3 June 1927 he completed his period of service in command of the battalion and retired, being appointed a lieutenant-colonel in the Reserve of Officers with seniority from 30 November 1920. He contested Southwark South East in 1929, won it from Labour in 1931, but lost it back to them in 1935. He had two daughters: Elizabeth who married Christopher Tennant, 2nd Baron Glenconner and was the mother of

Emma Tennant Emma Christina Tennant FRSL (20 October 1937 – 21 January 2017) was an English novelist and editor of Scottish extraction, known for a post-modern approach to her fiction, often imbued with fantasy or magic. Several of her novels give a femini ...

, and Anne who married

Philip Toynbee Theodore Philip Toynbee (25 June 1916 – 15 June 1981) was a British writer and communist. He wrote experimental novels, and distinctive verse novels, one of which was an epic called ''Pantaloon'', a work in several volumes, only some of whi ...

and

Richard Wollheim Richard Arthur Wollheim (5 May 1923 − 4 November 2003) was a British philosopher noted for original work on mind and emotions, especially as related to the visual arts, specifically, painting. Wollheim served as the president of the British So ...

and was the mother of

Polly Toynbee Mary Louisa "Polly" Toynbee (; born 27 December 1946) is a British journalist and writer. She has been a columnist for ''The Guardian'' newspaper since 1998. She is a social democrat and was a candidate for the Social Democratic Party in the 19 ...

References

Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies 1883 births 1961 deaths Grenadier Guards officers British Army personnel of World War I {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1880s-stub