Hubert Duncombe

Colonel the Honourable Hubert Ernest Valentine Duncombe, DSO (14 February 1862 - 21 October 1918) was a British soldier and politician who served as the Conservative MP for Egremont from 1895 to 1900.

Duncombe was a younger son of William Duncombe, a Conservative politician later created Earl of Feversham, and his wife Mabel Violet (née Graham). He was educated at Harrow School, the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and Magdalene College, Cambridge.[1] Following Cambridge, he was admitted to bar at the Inner Temple.[2]

In 1893 he was selected as the prospective Conservative candidate for Egremont;[3] he had previously been suggested as a possible candidate for York.[4] He was elected in the 1895 general election, with a majority of 131.[5] He did not seek re-election at the 1900 general election.[6]

Duncombe was an officer of the Volunteer Force, originally as a captain with the 5th VB Devonshire Regiment from 1891,[7] and later with the 2nd VB Yorkshire Regiment. He volunteered for active service in the Second Boer War in February 1900,[8] and served with the Imperial Yeomanry, originally ranked as captain and serving as the adjutant of a battalion commanded by his fellow MP, Arthur Montagu Brookfield. He was later promoted to lieutenant-colonel and awarded the Distinguished Service Order.[2]

In 1904, he was declared bankrupt, with debts of around £4,400.[9] In 1913, he was implicated in a fraud by Edmund Eaton, who had promoted an oil company as though it were endorsed by a Royal Commission; Duncombe was a director of the company, but resigned his directorship immediately and the charges against him were dismissed.[10]