John Grimston, 6th Earl of Verulam (17 July 1912 – 15 April 1973), styled

the Honourable ''The Honourable'' (Commonwealth English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific Style ...

John Grimston until 1960, was an

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 ...

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Member of Parliament (MP) later becoming a

member of the House of Lords This is a list of current members of the House of Lords, the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Current sitting members Lords Spiritual Twenty-six bishops of the Church of England sit in the House of Lords: the Archbishops ...

Early life and education

Born in 1912 at

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

, the second son of

James Grimston, 4th Earl of Verulam James Walter Grimston, 4th Earl of Verulam (17 April 1880 – 29 November 1949) was a British peer, electrical engineer and businessman, sometimes identified with the fringes of the intelligence service. Early life and education Verulam was the so ...

and his wife Lady Violet Constance Maitland Brabazon, youngest daughter of

Reginald Brabazon, 12th Earl of Meath Reginald Brabazon, 12th Earl of Meath (31 July 1841 – 11 October 1929) was an Irish politician and philanthropist. Life Reginald Brabazon was born into an old Anglo-Irish family in London, the second son of William Brabazon, 11th Earl of M ...

, he was educated at

Oundle School Oundle School is a public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding school, boarding and day school) for pupils 11–18 situated in the market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire ...

and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

. Grimston was a tobacco farmer in

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...

for two years before becoming director and general manager of Enfield Rolling Mills in 1938.

Royal Air Force

Grimston joined the Royal Air Force Reserve of Officers in 1930 as a pilot being injured in an aircraft accident in 1933. In 1937 he was commissioned as a Flight Lieutenant in the

Royal Auxiliary Air Force The Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF), formerly the Auxiliary Air Force (AAF), together with the Air Force Reserve, is a component of His Majesty's Reserve Air Forces ( Reserve Forces Act 1996, Part 1, Para 1,(2),(c)). It provides a primary re ...

and served in

Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Political career

The Hon. John Grimston was elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

as MP for

at the by-election in 1943, but was defeated at the 1945 general election by the Labour candidate

Cyril Dumpleton Cyril Walter Dumpleton (25 June 1897 – 1 October 1966) was a British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the St Albans division of Hertfordshire from 1945 to 1950. Early life and family Dumpleton was bor ...

. However, he regained the

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation. Types of seat The ...

at the 1950 general election, which he held until he retired from the

at the 1959 general election. Succeeding to the

earldom Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ''countess'' is used. The titl ...

upon his

elder brother ''The Elder Brother'' is an early seventeenth-century English stage play, a comedy written by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger. Apparently dating from 1625, it may have been the last play Fletcher worked on before his August 1625 death. Da ...

's death in 1960, he sat 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 ...

until his death in 1973.

Marriage and children

He married in 1938 Marjorie Ray Duncan (died 1994), daughter of Walter Atholl Duncan (son of

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, ...

painter Walter Duncan) and wife Clara Ray Parks, maternal aunt of

Iona Campbell, Duchess of Argyll Iona Mary Campbell, Duchess of Argyll (née Colquhoun; 22 June 1945 – 22 February 2024) was a Scottish noblewoman. She was married to the 12th Duke of Argyll from 1964 until his death in 2001, after which she was known as the Dowager Duches ...

and sister-in-law of David Lockhart-Mure Renton, Baron Renton.
The Earl and Countess of Verulam had five children: * Lady Elizabeth Harriot Grimston (31 August 1939 - 1987), married (divorced 1972) John Savile, 8th Earl of Mexborough, having two children. * Lady Hermione Frances Grimston (born 27 September 1941) * Lady Romayne Bryony Grimston (born 18 August 1946) * John Duncan Grimston, 7th Earl of Verulam (born 21 April 1951) * Lady Iona Charlotte Grimston (born 25 October 1953), married Henry, 8th Marquess Conyngham, having one daughter.

Death

Lord Verulam died in 1973, at the age of 60, and was succeeded in the

and other family titles by his only son

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

as 7th Earl of Verulam.www.parliament.uk
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Notes

References

*Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990. * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Verulam, John Grimston, 6th Earl of 1912 births 1973 deaths 6

People educated at Oundle School Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Grimston, John Grimston, John Grimston, John Grimston, John Grimston, John UK MPs who inherited peerages Baronets in the Baronetage of England Royal Air Force officers Royal Air Force pilots of World War II English aviators Deputy lieutenants of Hertfordshire