Sir John Cecil Power, 1st Baronet, (21 December 1870 – 5 June 1950) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

export merchant, developer and

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politician at national level for 21 years then choosing not to seek re-election at the age of 74.

Working life and legacies

Born at Eldon,

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, he was the son of William Taylor Power by his wife, Cecilia ''née'' Burgoyne. The family moved to

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when he was aged 10. With his brother, Frederick, he entered the family business of Power, Power and Company export

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as industr ...

s. As a young man he travelled much in Europe and North America. In 1902 he married Mabel Perks, with whom he had five children. Power started his own

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more genera ...

business, becoming a wealthy developer owning prime property in central London including

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in the redeveloped Kingsway. Power became known for his generous financial gifts to various institutions. Of £24,000 collected to allow the construction of the

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in 1921, Power gave £20,000 (). In 1923 he gave a large donation that allowed for the purchase of the site of

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as the headquarters of the Institute of International Affairs; Power was Honorary Treasurer of that institute from 1921 to 1943. He was also an active member of the

League of Nations Union The League of Nations Union (LNU) was an organization formed in October 1918 in Great Britain to promote international justice, collective security and a permanent peace between nations based upon the ideals of the League of Nations. The League of ...

, sitting on its executive for seven years and also on various committees. He was a committee member of the

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and donated a site for the first headquarters of the

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. In 1924, Power 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 ...

, of Newlands Manor, Milford, Hampshire, reflecting his buying of that manor house from

George Cornwallis-West Major George Frederick Myddleton Cornwallis-West (14 November 1874 – 1 April 1951) was a British officer of the Scots Guards. George Cornwallis-West was noted primarily for his marriages, the first to Jennie Jerome, mother of Winston Churchi ...

. In the general election in the same year he was elected as

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 ofte ...

for Wimbledon, holding the seat until his retirement due to ill health at the 1945 general election. Lady Power died suddenly in the same year, a loss that affected him deeply. His retirement years were spent at his

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire is ...

home and a villa at

Grasse Grasse (; Provençal oc, Grassa in classical norm or in Mistralian norm ; traditional it, Grassa) is the only subprefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region on the French Riviera. In 2017, the commu ...

on the

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. He had sold Newlands Manor house before his death. He died in France in 1950, aged 79. Sir John was succeeded in the baronetcy by his elder son, Ivan McLannahan Cecil Power, a

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

lor and director of various companies. Ivan had, by his first wife Nancy, daughter of Rev. John Griffiths: John Power (3rd baronet) and Hilary, later Lady Cardoss then from 1984 therefore Countess of Buchan settled at Newnham House, Hampshire.

References

External links

*
www.thePeerage.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Power, John Cecil 1870 births 1950 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs 1929–1931 UK MPs 1931–1935 UK MPs 1935–1945