Colonel the Honourable Hubert Ernest Valentine Duncombe, DSO (14 February 1862 - 21 October 1918) was a British soldier and politician who served as the

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 i ...

MP for Egremont from 1895 to 1900. Duncombe was a younger son of

William Duncombe William Duncombe (19 January 1690 – 26 February 1769) was a British author and playwright. Life Duncombe worked in the Navy Office from 1706 until 1725. That year, he and Elizabeth Hughes won a very large lottery sum on a joint ticket. He mar ...

, a Conservative politician later created Earl of Feversham, and his wife Mabel Violet (''née'' Graham). He was educated at

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

, the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...

, and

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

. Following Cambridge, he was admitted to bar at the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

. In 1893 he was selected as the prospective Conservative candidate for Egremont; he had previously been suggested as a possible candidate for York. He was elected in the 1895 general election, with a majority of 131. He did not seek re-election at the 1900 general election. Duncombe was an officer of the

Volunteer Force The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated ...

, originally as a captain with the 5th VB Devonshire Regiment from 1891, and later with the 2nd VB Yorkshire Regiment. He volunteered for active service in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

in February 1900, and served with the

Imperial Yeomanry The Imperial Yeomanry was a volunteer mounted force of the British Army that mainly saw action during the Second Boer War. Created on 2 January 1900, the force was initially recruited from the middle classes and traditional yeomanry sources, but su ...

, originally ranked as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

and serving as the

adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...

of a battalion commanded by his fellow MP,

Arthur Montagu Brookfield Arthur Montagu Brookfield, KGStJ (18 March 1853 – 3 March 1940) was a British Army officer, diplomat, author and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1903. Biography Brookfield was the son of Rev. William Henry ...

. He was later promoted to

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

and awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...

. In 1904, he was declared bankrupt, with debts of around £4,400. In 1913, he was implicated in a fraud by Edmund Eaton, who had promoted an oil company as though it were endorsed by a Royal Commission; Duncombe was a director of the company, but resigned his directorship immediately and the charges against him were dismissed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duncombe, Hubert 1862 births 1918 deaths UK MPs 1895–1900 Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Imperial Yeomanry officers Younger sons of earls Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge People educated at Harrow School Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich British Army personnel of the Second Boer War