Sir Geoffrey Storrs Fry, 1st Baronet, (27 July 1888 – 1960) was private secretary to prime ministers Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin, and a member of the Fry family.

Early life

Geoffrey Storrs Fry was born on 27 July 1888. He was the younger son of Francis James Fry (1835–1918) and his second wife Elizabeth "Bessie" ( née Pass) Fry. His father served as Sheriff of Bristol in 1887. Among his siblings was older sister, Norah (née Fry) Cooke-Hurle, an advocate of better services for people with learning difficulties. His paternal grandfather was

Joseph Storrs Fry Joseph Storrs Fry (1767–1835) was an English chocolate and confectionery manufacturer and a member of the Fry Family of Bristol, England. Early life He was born in 1767, son of Joseph Fry (1728–1787), in business as a manufacturer of choc ...

and his first cousin,

Joseph Storrs Fry II Joseph Storrs Fry (6 August 1826 – 7 July 1913) was a member of the Bristol Fry family, head of the family chocolate firm of J. S. Fry & Sons and a philanthropist. He assumed control of the company as chairman in 1878 and built it up from 56 ...

, later took over the family business. His uncle, Sir Theodore Fry, 1st Baronet, the husband of philanthropist Sophia Fry, was a Liberal

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for Darlington.

Career

He was called to the bar in 1913. He was a director of J. S. Fry & Sons, the British chocolate company. Fry served as an unpaid private secretary to Bonar Law,

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 ...

M.P. from 1919 to 1921 and then while Law served as

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

from 1922 to 1923. He then served as private secretary to Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin from 1923 until 1939. Fry was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) on 25 May 1923. He was further honoured on 3 June 1929 by being appointed a

Commander of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, o ...

(CVO). On 29 July 1929, in the Dissolution Honours, the Fry Baronetcy of Oare in the

County of Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

was created in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom for him. Upon Baldwin's last act as Prime Minister in 1937, he requested and King

George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of I ...

approved the appointment of a

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as o ...

(KCB). The King then elevated Baldwin to the peerage as

Earl Baldwin of Bewdley Earl Baldwin of Bewdley is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1937 for the Conservative politician Stanley Baldwin, who had served as MP for Bewdley from 1908 to 1937 and was Prime Minister of the United Kingdo ...

Personal life

On 30 June 1915, he married the Hon. Alathea Margaret Gwendolin Valentine Gardner (b. 1893), the second daughter of Lord Burghclere. Her paternal grandfather was Alan Gardner, 3rd Baron Gardner and her maternal grandfather was

Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon, (24 June 1831 – 29 June 1890), known as Lord Porchester from 1833 to 1849, was a British politician and a leading member of the Conservative Party. He was twice Secretary of State for the C ...

. Alathea's younger sisters were Mary Gardner, who married

Geoffrey Hope-Morley, 2nd Baron Hollenden Geoffrey Hope-Morley, 2nd Baron Hollenden (28 January 1885 – 19 October 1977), was a British aristocrat who served as High Sheriff of the County of London. Early life He was the son of Samuel Hope Morley and Laura Marianne (née Birch) Morley ...

, and Evelyn Gardner, who was the first wife of author

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires '' Decl ...

. Together, Sir Geoffrey and Alathea were the parents of one child: * Ann Jennifer Evelyn Elizabeth Fry (1916–2003), who married

Robert Heber-Percy Robert Vernon Heber-Percy (5 November 1911 – 29 October 1987), known for much of his life as "the Mad Boy", was "an English eccentric in the grand tradition". Early life Heber-Percy was born in 1911, the fourth and youngest son of Algernon H ...

in 1942. They were the parents of Victoria Gala Heber-Percy (wife of engineer and inventor

Peter Zinovieff Peter Zinovieff (26 January 1933 – 23 June 2021) was a British engineer and composer. In the late 1960s, his company, Electronic Music Studios (EMS), made the VCS3, a synthesizer used by many early progressive rock bands such as Pink Floyd ...

) before they divorced in 1947 and she then married the poet Alan Ross. In 1921, he bought Oare House in Wiltshire, which was his home for the next forty years (and was later owned by Sir Henry Keswick). Fry hired architect

Clough Williams-Ellis Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis, CBE, MC (28 May 1883 – 9 April 1978) was a Welsh architect known chiefly as the creator of the Italianate village of Portmeirion in North Wales. He became a major figure in the development of Welsh architec ...

to remodel the 1740 home in the early 1920s. Sir Geoffrey died in 1960.''The Times'', Saturday, 15 October 1960; pg. 8; Issue 54903; col G: Obituary Sir Geoffrey Fry.

Arms

References

External links

Fry, Sir Geoffrey Storrs (1888-1960) 1st Baronet, Private Secretary to Stanley Baldwin
at

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Fry, Sir Geoffrey Storrs (1888-1960)
at

Cambridge University Library Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of the over 100 libraries within the university. The Library is a major scholarly resource for the members of the University of Cambri ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fry, Geoffrey Storrs 1888 births 1960 deaths Geoffrey Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order 20th-century English businesspeople