Matthew Henry Herbert Ponsonby, 2nd Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede (26 July 190429 April 1976) was a British peer.

Life

Ponsonby was the son of

Arthur Ponsonby Arthur Augustus William Harry Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede (16 February 1871 – 23 March 1946), was a British politician, writer, and social activist. He was the son of Sir Henry Ponsonby, Private Secretary to Queen Victoria, an ...

, by his marriage to Dorothea Parry. He was educated at

Leighton Park School Leighton Park School is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private school for both day and boarding pupils in Reading, Berkshire, Reading in South East England. The school's ethos is closely tied to the Quaker values, having ...

and

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

.''

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...

'', vol. 3 (2003), p. 3171 Ponsonby had some difficulty with the

Responsions Responsions was the first of the three examinations formerly required for acceptance for an academic degree at the University of Oxford. It was nicknamed Little Go or Smalls and was normally taken by students prior to or shortly after matriculatio ...

to get into Oxford and had to be tutored for them, not arriving at Balliol until 1923, when he was nineteen.Raymond A. Jones, ''Arthur Ponsonby: the politics of life'' (1989), p. 133 At the University, he became a friend of

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 ''Decli ...

, with whom in 1925 he was arrested by the police, while the two of them were on a pub crawl and Ponsonby was driving the wrong way along Oxford Street while drunk. Ponsonby later lost his driving licence and was fined £23 9s, then a large sum. Another university friend,

Anthony Powell Anthony Dymoke Powell ( ; 21 December 1905 – 28 March 2000) was an English novelist best known for his 12-volume work '' A Dance to the Music of Time'', published between 1951 and 1975. It is on the list of longest novels in English. Powell ...

, recalled of Ponsonby's sister

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Empress Elisabeth (disambiguation), lists various empresses named ''Elisabeth'' or ''Elizabeth'' * Princess Elizabeth ...

that she was "something of a gossip-column heroine of what came later to be looked on as the ''

Vile Bodies ''Vile Bodies'' is the second novel by Evelyn Waugh, published in 1930. It satirises the bright young things, the rich young people partying in London after World War I, and the press which fed on their doings. The original title ''Bright You ...

'' world." Unlike his sister, he remained fond of their parents' country house,

Shulbrede Priory Shulbrede Priory is a former medieval monastic house in West Sussex, England; it became the home of the Ponsonby family, including the first Lord Ponsonby. It is a Grade I listed building. Early history Shulbrede Priory was originally known as ...

, and enthusiastically took part in the archaeological digs there conducted by his father and Charles Strachey. At Oxford he was friend of Arden Hilliard, the son of the Bursar of

. Ponsonby married Elizabeth Mary Bigham (1905-1985), a daughter of Clive Bigham, 2nd Viscount Mersey, and they had five children: Thomas Arthur Ponsonby, later 3rd Baron (1930–1990); William Nicholas Ponsonby (1933–1942); Laura Mary Ponsonby (1935–2016); Rose Magdalen Ponsonby (born 1940) and Catherine Virginia Ponsonby (born 1944). In 1930, Ponsonby’s father was created

Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede, of Shulbrede in the County of Sussex, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1930 for the politician Arthur Ponsonby. Ponsonby was the third son of General Sir Henry Ponsonby and the grea ...

, a peerage to which he succeeded on the death of his father in March 1946, giving him a seat 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 ...

. In 1955 he became a Justice of the Peace for

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

and he also became a member of the council of the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

Arms

Ponsonby’s

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

is blazoned ''Gules a chevron between three combs argent''. The crest, out of a ducal coronet, is ''azure three arrows, point downwards, one in pale and two in saltire, entwined at the intersection by a snake proper''. The motto is “Pro Rege Lege Grege”, meaning For the King, the Law, and the People,''Debrett's Peerage & Baronetage'' (2000)

Life

Arms

Notes

See also