Anthony Fitzhardinge Gueterbock, 18th Baron Berkeley, Baron Gueterbock, (born 20 September 1939), otherwise known as Tony Berkeley, is a British

aristocrat The aristocracy (''from Greek'' ''ἀριστοκρατία'' ''aristokratía'', "rule of the best"; ''Latin: aristocratia'') is historically associated with a "hereditary" or a "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the ...

and Labour parliamentarian. Holder of an ancient

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

hereditary peer The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of April 2025, there are 800 hereditary peers: 30 dukes (including six royal dukes), 34 marquesses, 189 earls, 108 viscounts, and 439 barons (not counting subsidiary ...

age

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...

created in 1421, Lord Berkeley sits in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

by virtue of being created a

Life Peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

in 2000.

Background

Jewish descent ''Zera Yisrael'' (), also known as ''Zera Kadosh'' (), is a legal category in ''Halakha'' that denotes the blood descendants of Jews who, for one reason or another, are not legally Jewish according to religious criteria. This is usually due to a ...

, the Güterbocks originally hailed from

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

in former

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

, before moving to

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

to establish a

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

, ''Güterbock Moritz & Co''. His grandfather, Alfred Güterbock (1845–1929), emigrated to England marrying in 1880, Anna ''née'' Prüßmann (1858–1928), and had four sons, including Sir Paul Gueterbock (1886–1954) and

Brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

Ernest Gueterbock (1897–1984). His mother,

the Hon. ''The Honourable'' (Commonwealth English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of cert ...

Cynthia Ella Foley (1909–1991), married 4 August 1937

Ernest Gueterbock (late

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

), becoming styled "The Hon. Mrs Gueterbock". The younger of the two daughters of Eva, 16th Baroness Berkeley, her elder sister succeeded as Mary, 17th Baroness Berkeley, who died unmarried in 1992.

Life

Gueterbock was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

, before going up to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, where he graduated as a BA (proceeding MA). He then took a career in civil engineering with George Wimpey plc as an engineer until 1985. For the next ten years he worked as an engineer for

Eurotunnel Getlink, formerly Groupe Eurotunnel, is a European public company based in Paris that manages and operates the infrastructure of the Channel Tunnel between France and the United Kingdom, operates the LeShuttle railway service, and earns reven ...

1985–95. Gueterbock inherited his maternal ancestors' ancient title of Baron Berkeley in 1992, succeeding his aunt Mary Foley-Berkeley, 17th Baroness Berkeley. Lord Berkeley additionally became Baron Gueterbock, ''of Cranford in the

London Borough of Hillingdon The London Borough of Hillingdon () is a London borough in Greater London, England. It forms part of outer London and West London, being the westernmost London borough. It was formed in 1965 from the districts of Hayes and Harlington Urban Distr ...

'', in 2000, but remains known in

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

as Lord Berkeley. His

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

age enables him to continue sitting as a Labour peer in the House of Lords, following the ejection of the vast majority of hereditary peers in 1999; he was not elected a hereditary representative peer. Since his introduction to the

in 1992, Lord Berkeley has served as Opposition Spokesman for Transport 1996–97 and Opposition Whip 1996–97. He is the Secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Cycling Group and has tabled many questions in the

on Transport policy, including about bicycles on trains. Berkeley has also tabled questions about police conduct with regards to

civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties of ...

. Berkeley queried restrictions on peers bringing guests into the House of Lords during President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

's visit to London. Lord Berkeley served as Chairman of the Rail Freight Group, the industry representative body for the rail freight sector, and is elected as a board member of the European Rail Freight Association. He is also a Trustee of

Plymouth Marine Laboratory Plymouth Marine Laboratory (abbreviated as PML) is a marine research organization and registered charity based in the city of Plymouth, England. It is a partner of the UK Research & Innovation's Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). PML's ...

, President of the UK Maritime Pilots' Association. Appointed an

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

"for services to the construction industry", Lord and Lady Berkeley divide their time between homes in London and Cornwall. In 2019 Berkeley became Vice-Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Whistleblowing. He was named as Co-Chairman when the group reconstituted in 2020. All current and former members of the group have been subject to criticism from some campaigners on whistleblowing law reform, questioning their transparency and accountability, following Sir Norman Lamb's resignation from the group.

Arms

References

External links

''Debrett's People of Today''

Profile
at UK Parliament Website
www.berkeley-castle.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berkeley, Anthony Gueterbock, 18th Baron 1939 births Living people People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge People from Fowey Labour Party (UK) life peers 18 British businesspeople Officers of the Order of the British Empire

Anthony Anthony, also spelled Antony, is a masculine given name derived from the '' Antonii'', a '' gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descenda ...

Labour Party (UK) hereditary peers Life peers created by Elizabeth II

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer to ...

Background

Life

Arms

See also

References

External links