Herbrand Edward Dundonald Brassey Sackville, 9th Earl De La Warr, (20 June 1900 – 28 January 1976), styled Lord Buckhurst until 1915 (and sometimes nicknamed "Buck De La Warr" after that), was a British politician. He was the first hereditary peer to join the Labour Party and became a government minister at the age of 23. He was later one of the few Labour politicians to follow Ramsay MacDonald in the formation of the National Government and the

National Labour Organisation The National Labour Organisation, also known as the National Labour Committee or simply as National Labour, was a British political group formed after the 1931 creation of the National Government to co-ordinate the efforts of the supporters of ...

. However, he ended his political career by serving as

Postmaster General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having a government official responsib ...

in the last Conservative administration of

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

Background and education

De La Warr was the son of Gilbert Sackville, 8th Earl De La Warr, and Muriel Agnes, daughter of

Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey (11 February 1836 – 23 February 1918), was a British Liberal Party politician, Governor of Victoria and founder of '' The Naval Annual''. Background and education Brassey was the eldest son of the railway m ...

, eldest son of the railway engineer

Thomas Brassey Thomas Brassey (7 November 18058 December 1870) was an English civil engineering contractor and manufacturer of building materials who was responsible for building much of the world's railways in the 19th century. By 1847, he had built about o ...

. 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 ...

thepeerage.com Herbrand Edward Dundonald Brassey Sackville, 9th Earl De La Warr
/ref> and

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

. The son of 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 ...

father and

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

mother, he developed trends towards

socialism Socialism is a left-wing Economic ideology, economic philosophy and Political movement, movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to Private prop ...

at university. In 1915 his father was killed in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and he succeeded to the title as a

minor Minor may refer to: * Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities. ** A person who has not reached the age of majority * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Music theory *Minor chord ** Barb ...

. On reaching 18, he refused as a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...

to take part in active combat, but joined the

Royal Naval Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...

(trawler section).

Political career

De La Warr became the first hereditary peer to join the Labour Party,The Guardian, 16 Feb 2022, At 6pm every evening the screen went blank’: the outlandish tale of the UK’s TV blackout
/ref> and in February 1924, then aged 23, was one of the youngest ever ministers when he was appointed

Lord in Waiting Lords-in-waiting (male) or baronesses-in-waiting (female) are peers who hold office in the Royal Household of the sovereign of the United Kingdom. In the official Court Circular they are styled "Lord in Waiting" or "Baroness in Waiting" (without ...

in the first Labour government of Ramsay MacDonald. He made his maiden speech in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

the same month.Mr Herbrand Sackville
Hansard In the

second Labour government The second (symbol: s) is the unit of Time in physics, time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally t ...

of 1929 to 1931 he served as

Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms The Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms is a post in the Government of the United Kingdom that has been held by the Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the ...

(government chief whip in the

) and

Under-Secretary of State for War The position of Under-Secretary of State for War was a British government position, first applied to Evan Nepean (appointed in 1794). In 1801 the offices for War and the Colonies were merged and the post became that of Under-Secretary of State for ...

between 1929 and 1930, as

Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries The Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries was a junior ministerial office in the British government, serving under the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. The title changed to Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of ...

between 1930 and 1931 and as a Lord-in-waiting between 1929 and 1931. In 1931, the Labour government fell and MacDonald formed a National Government. De La Warr was one of only a tiny handful of Labour ministers to join it, and before the 1931 general election was instrumental in the formation of the

to provide a vehicle of support for MacDonald and other ex-Labour members of the National Government. He resumed office as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, a post he held until 1935, and then served under

Stanley Baldwin Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, (3 August 186714 December 1947) was a British Conservative Party politician who dominated the government of the United Kingdom between the world wars, serving as prime minister on three occasions, ...

Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education The Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education was a junior ministerial office in the United Kingdom Government. The Board of Education Act 1899 abolished the Committee of the Privy Council which had been responsible for education matters a ...

between 1935 and 1936 and as

Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies The Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies was a junior Ministerial post in the United Kingdom government, subordinate to the Secretary of State for the Colonies and, from 1948, also to a Minister of State. Under-Secretaries of State for the Col ...

between 1936 and 1937. In 1936, he was sworn of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. In 1937, new Prime Minister

Neville Chamberlain Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeasemen ...

gave De La Warr his first cabinet post as Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal. Like several other younger members of the cabinet, De La Warr found himself disagreeing over the government's foreign policy, and contemplated resigning over the

Munich Agreement The Munich Agreement ( cs, Mnichovská dohoda; sk, Mníchovská dohoda; german: Münchner Abkommen) was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Nazi Germany, Germany, the United Kingdom, French Third Republic, France, and Fa ...

, but decided not to. In the aftermath of the agreement he was transferred in 1938 to be

President of the Board of Education The secretary of state for education, also referred to as the education secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department for Education. ...

. During his time in this post, it was expected that he would oversee legislation for raising of the school leaving age to 15, but the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

deferred all such plans until the end of hostilities. In April 1940 De La Warr became

First Commissioner of Works The First Commissioner of Works and Public Buildings was a position within the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and subsequent to 1922, within the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Irel ...

in a series of ministerial changes by Chamberlain, but was demoted from the cabinet. The following month Chamberlain was replaced by

, who formed an all-party coalition government, and the objections of the Labour Party to National Labour ministers meant that De La Warr was dropped, and he did not return to government for eleven years. In 1951, in Churchill's peacetime Conservative government, De La Warr was appointed

, and as such, was in charge at the time of the

Eastcastle Street robbery The Eastcastle Street robbery was the holdup of a Post Office van in London in May 1952 which, at the time, was Britain's largest postwar robbery.''The Guardian''; 26 January 1995; "Final curtain for robber who got away" The robbers escaped with ...

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

; 26 January 1995; ''Final curtain for robber who got away'' before leaving office for the final time in 1955. He continued to contribute regularly to the

until 1966, but from then on until his death ten years later only spoke twice, both times in 1972. Apart from his career in national politics, De La Warr was Mayor of

Bexhill-on-Sea Bexhill-on-Sea (often shortened to Bexhill) is a seaside town and civil parish situated in the county of East Sussex in South East England. An ancient town and part of the local government district of Rother, Bexhill is home to a number of arc ...

between 1932 and 1934 and a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

and Deputy Lieutenant for

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

. In 1956 he was made a

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

. The

De La Warr Pavilion The De La Warr Pavilion is a grade I listed building, located on the seafront at Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex, on the south coast of England. The Modernist and International Style building was designed by the architects Erich Mendelsohn and S ...

was built in 1935 in

and was named after Lord De La Warr. The "De La Warr" in both the pavilion's name and the Earl's name is pronounced "Delaware" (as in the American statebuildingopinions.com De La Warr Pavilion
named for his ancestor

Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr ( ; 9 July 1577 – 7 June 1618), was an English merchant and politician, for whom the bay, the river, and, consequently, a Native American people and U.S. state, all later called "Delaware", were named. He wa ...

Family

Lord De La Warr was twice married. He married firstly Diana Helena, daughter of Henry Gerard Leigh, in 1920. They had two sons and a daughter. Their younger son Thomas Sackville (1922–1943) was killed in action during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After Diana's death in March 1966, he married secondly Sylvia, Countess of Kilmuir, in 1968. She was the daughter of Edith and William Reginald Harrison, widow of

David Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir David Patrick Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir, (29 May 1900 – 27 January 1967), known as Sir David Maxwell Fyfe from 1942 to 1954 and as Viscount Kilmuir from 1954 to 1962, was a British Conservative politician, lawyer and judge who combine ...

, and the sister of actor Sir

Rex Harrison Sir Reginald Carey "Rex" Harrison (5 March 1908 – 2 June 1990) was an English actor. Harrison began his career on the stage in 1924. He made his West End debut in 1936 appearing in the Terence Rattigan play ''French Without Tears'', in what ...

, famously star of the film, ''

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play ''Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons f ...

''. One of his sisters was Lady Avice Ela Muriel Sackville (d. 1985). He attended her marriage to

Stewart Menzies Major General Sir Stewart Graham Menzies, (; 30 January 1890 – 29 May 1968) was Chief of MI6, the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), from 1939 to 1952, during and after the Second World War. Early life, family Stewart Graham Menzies wa ...

, (leader of British wartime intelligence or 'C'), dressed in a lower-deck seaman's bell-bottomed uniform.

Death

Lord De La Warr died in January 1976, aged 75, and was succeeded in the earldom by his elder and only surviving son,

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

. The Countess De La Warr died in June 1992.

Note

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:De La Warr, Herbrand Sackville, 9th Earl 1900 births 1976 deaths People educated at Eton College British conscientious objectors British Secretaries of State for Education Labour Party (UK) hereditary peers National Labour (UK) politicians Lords Privy Seal United Kingdom Postmasters General 9 4 Herbrand Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Conservative Party (UK) hereditary peers Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Labour Party (UK) Baronesses- and Lords-in-Waiting Herbrand Sackville, 09 Earl De La Warr Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms Ministers in the Chamberlain wartime government, 1939–1940 Ministers in the Chamberlain peacetime government, 1937–1939 Ministers in the third Churchill government, 1951–1955 Royal Naval Reserve personnel