Hugh Michael Seely, 1st Baron Sherwood (2 October 1898 – 1 April 1970), known as Sir Hugh Seely, 3rd Baronet, of Sherwood Lodge,

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

, from 1926 to 1941, was a British Liberal politician.

Early life

Seely was born on 2 October 1898 into a family of politicians, industrialists and significant landowners. His great-grandfather Charles Seely, grandfather

Sir Charles Seely, 1st Baronet Colonel Sir Charles Seely, 1st Baronet Venerable Order of Saint John, KGStJ, Deputy Lieutenant, DL (11 August 1833 – 16 April 1915) was a British industrialist and politician. Seely was Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party Member of Parliament ( ...

, father Sir Charles Seely, 2nd Baronet, and uncle

J. E. B. Seely, 1st Baron Mottistone John Edward Bernard Seely, 1st Baron Mottistone, (31 May 1868 – 7 November 1947), also known as Jack Seely, was a British Army general and politician. He was a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) from 1900 to 1904 and a Liberal MP from 19 ...

, were all members of Parliament. His mother, Hilda Lucy Grant, was the daughter of Richard Tassell Anthony Grant and the granddaughter of inventor Sir Thomas Tassell Grant. His brother Victor's son was Sir Nigel Seely. Seely 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 ...

and became a lieutenant in the

Grenadier Guards The Grenadier Guards (GREN GDS) is the most senior infantry regiment of the British Army, being at the top of the Infantry Order of Precedence. It can trace its lineage back to 1656 when Lord Wentworth's Regiment was raised in Bruges to protect ...

Career

Seely served with the

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 rei ...

and was the Commanding Officer for No. 504 Squadron RAF from 1936 to 1938. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for East Norfolk from 1923 to 1924,

High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire This is a list of the High Sheriffs of the English county of Nottinghamshire. The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centu ...

for 1925 and MP for

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...

from 1935 to 1941. He was the Joint

Under-Secretary of State for Air The Under-Secretary of State for Air was a junior ministerial post in the United Kingdom Government, supporting the Secretary of State for Air in his role of managing the Royal Air Force. It was established on 10 January 1919, replacing the previou ...

during a large part of 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 ...

(1941–45). In 1946 he acquired and was Chairman of the famous gunmaker

James Purdey and Sons James Purdey & Sons, or simply Purdey, is a British gunmaker based in London, England specialising in high-end bespoke sporting shotguns and rifles.

. He was created Baron Sherwood, of Calverton in the

County of Nottingham A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) ''Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denotin ...

on 14 August 1941.

Personal life

On 23 March 1942, Seely married the Hon. Molly Patricia (née Berry) Chetwode, daughter of

William Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose William Ewart Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose, DL (23 June 1879 – 15 June 1954) was a British peer and newspaper publisher. Life and career Berry was born in Merthyr Tydfil in Wales, the second of three sons of Mary Ann (Rowe) and John Mathias Be ...

, who owned ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' newspaper. She was the widow of Roger Charles George Chetwode (a son of

Philip Chetwode, 1st Baron Chetwode Field Marshal Philip Walhouse Chetwode, 1st Baron Chetwode, (21 September 1869 – 6 July 1950), was a senior British Army officer. He saw action during the Second Boer War, during which he was present at the Siege of Ladysmith in December 189 ...

), with whom she had two sons. The marriage was short-lived, however, as the couple divorced in 1948. She later married Sir Richard Cotterell, 5th Baronet, in 1958.Peter W. Hammond, editor, ''The Complete Peerage or a History of the House of Lords and All its Members From the Earliest Times, Volume XIV: Addenda & Corrigenda'' (Stroud,

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, U.K.:

Sutton Publishing The History Press is a British publishing company specialising in the publication of titles devoted to local and specialist history. It claims to be the United Kingdom's largest independent publisher in this field, publishing approximately 300 ...

, 1998), p. 749. Lord Sherwood remarried to Catherine ( Thornton) Ranger (widow of John Osborne Ranger) on 16 March 1970, shortly before his death on 1 April 1970. As he had no children, the barony became extinct upon his death. His brother Victor inherited the baronetcy.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Seely, Hugh 1st Baron Sherwood 1898 births, Sherwood, Hugh Seely, 1st Baron Sherwood, Hugh Seely, 1st Baron Grenadier Guards officers High sheriffs of Nottinghamshire Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Ministers in the Churchill wartime government, 1940–1945 People educated at Eton College People from Calverton, Nottinghamshire 3

Hugh Hugh is the English-language variant of the masculine given name , itself the Old French variant of '' Hugo (name)">Hugo'', a short form of Continental Germanic Germanic name">given names beginning in the element "mind, spirit" (Old English ). ...

UK MPs 1923–1924 UK MPs 1935–1945 UK MPs who were granted peerages Barons created by George VI

Early life

Career

Personal life

See also

References

Further reading

External links