Viscount Stansgate, of Stansgate in the County of Essex, is a title in the
Peerage of the United Kingdom
The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five Peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union 1800, Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the ...
. It was created in 1942 for the
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
politician, former
Secretary of State for India
His (or Her) Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for India, known for short as the India Secretary or the Indian Secretary, was the British Cabinet minister and the political head of the India Office responsible for the governance of th ...
and future
Secretary of State for Air
The Secretary of State for Air was a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state position in the British government, which existed from 1919 to 1964. The person holding this position was in charge of the Air Ministry. The Secretar ...
,
William Wedgwood Benn
William Wedgwood Benn, 1st Viscount Stansgate, (10 May 1877 – 17 November 1960) was a British Liberal politician who later joined the Labour Party. A decorated Royal Air Force officer, he was Secretary of State for India between 1929 and 19 ...
. He was the second son of
Sir John Benn, 1st Baronet, of The Old Knoll. Stansgate's eldest son and heir apparent, Michael Benn, was later killed in 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 ...
. Consequently, he was succeeded in the title by his second son, the Labour politician
Tony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British politician, writer and diarist who served as a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. ...
, who disclaimed the peerage on 31 July 1963, the day the
Peerage Act 1963
The Peerage Act 1963 (c. 48) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that permits women peeresses and all Scottish hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords and allows newly inherited hereditary peerages to be disclaimed.
Backgro ...
passed into law and made it possible for him to do so. , the title is held by Tony Benn's eldest son,
Stephen Benn, 3rd Viscount Stansgate.
Stansgate is a hamlet near the village of
Steeple, Essex, on the southern side of the
River Blackwater estuary
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...
. The village has been home to several generations of the Benn family since about 1900.
They live in Stansgate Abbey,
described by
Chris Mullin
Christopher Paul Mullin (born July 30, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player, executive and coach. He is a two-time Olympic Gold medalist and a two-time Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee (in 2010 as a memb ...
as "an ungainly, rambling 1920s house in a stunning location".
Viscounts Stansgate (1942—)
![Tony Benn2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Tony_Benn2.jpg)
* ''
William Wedgwood Benn, 1st Viscount Stansgate
William Wedgwood Benn, 1st Viscount Stansgate, (10 May 1877 – 17 November 1960) was a British Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician who later joined the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. A decorated Royal Air Force officer, he was Secretary ...
'' (1877–1960)
** ''Hon. Michael Julius Wedgwood Benn'' (1921—1944)
** ''
Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn, 2nd Viscount Stansgate'' (1925–2014) (
disclaimed 1963)
***
Stephen Michael Wedgwood Benn, 3rd Viscount Stansgate (1951—)
**** (1) Hon. Daniel John Wedgwood Benn (1991—)
*** (2)
Hon. Hilary James Wedgwood Benn (1953—)
**** (3) James Leon C. Benn (1983—)
**** (4) Jonathan Anthony C. Benn (1987—)
*** (5) Hon. Joshua William Wedgwood Benn (1958—)
**** (6) William Graydon F. Benn (1985—)
**** (7) Zachary Daniel T. Benn (1995—)
** ''Hon. David Julian Wedgwood Benn'' (1928—2017)
*** (8) Piers Michael Wedgwood Benn (1962—)
The
heir apparent
An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...
is the present holder's son, the Hon. Daniel John Wedgwood Benn (born 1991).
The heir apparent's
heir presumptive
An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir apparent or a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question.
...
is the present holder's brother, the
Hon. Hilary James Wedgwood Benn (born 1953).
See also
*
Benn baronets, of The Old Knoll
References
*Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stansgate
Viscountcies in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
Noble titles created in 1942
Benn family
Tony Benn