Henry Aubrey-Fletcher

Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, 4th Baronet, CB, PC (24 September 1835 – 19 May 1910), born Henry Fletcher, was a Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom.

"Mid Sussex"
Fletcher as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, October 1898

The eldest son and second child of Sir Henry Fletcher, 3rd Baronet (born 1807) and Emily Maria Browne, he succeeded to the baronetcy on 6 September 1851 upon the death of his father. In 1903, he had his name changed under Royal Licence to Henry Aubrey-Fletcher to reflect his inheritance from the Aubrey estate.

Before his service in Parliament, he had been a lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards and then after retirement from the Regular Army he had been appointed a supernumerary lieutenant-colonel in the part-time 2nd Sussex Rifle Volunteers on 6 May 1874. He succeeded to the command of the battalion in 1882 and held it until 1897. Then as a colonel he commanded the Sussex & Kent Volunteer Infantry Brigade until 1904.[1] He was Chairman of the National Rifle Association and during the Boer War was a strong advocate that rifle clubs should be formed throughout the country with the aim that every able-bodied man be enabled to be an effective shot.[2]

Fletcher represented the Conservatives in the House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for Horsham from 1880 to 1885 and Lewes from 1885 until his death in 1910. He was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1900, and a Privy Counsellor in December 1901.[3]

Aubrey-Fletcher donated £10 in 1905 to the Holy Innocents Church in Southwater.[4] He was a significant land owner in the area.[5]

The town of Worthing conferred upon him the honorary freedom of the borough in October 1901, for services rendered to the town.[6]

He died without any children and was thus succeeded to the baronetcy by his younger brother, Lancelot Aubrey-Fletcher who also changed his name.

Sources
  1. Army List, various dates.
  2. "The National Rifle Association". The Times. 19 January 1900. p. 9.
  3. "No. 27385". The London Gazette. 10 December 1901. p. 8714.
  4. "Notes from the Past – October". Southwater News. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  5. "Keep Southwater Green 2020". keepsouthwatergreen2020.org.uk. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  6. "Court Circular". The Times. No. 36581. London. 9 October 1901. p. 7.


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