Hudson Kearley, 1st Viscount Devonport

Devonport was the tenth and youngest child of George Ewbanke Kearley (1814–1876) and his wife, Mary Ann Hudson. He studied at Surrey County School (now Cranleigh School) and joined Tetley & Sons in 1872. In 1876, Devonport founded a tea importing company, known as Kearley and Tonge from 1887, and began retailing his own goods in 1878. In 1890, he had over 200 branches trading as International Stores and in 1895, both companies were combined to form International Tea Company's Stores and shares were offered to the public.

Hudson Kearley married Selina Chester in 1888. They had three children: daughter Beryl,[1] and sons Gerald, 2nd Viscount Devonport, and Mark.

Hudson Kearley c1895

Devonport was elected as a Liberal Member of Parliament for Devonport in the 1892 general election. He was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Buckinghamshire in 1901.[2] In 1903, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, assisting the President of the Board of Trade, David Lloyd George. He was created a baronet, of Wittington in the Parish of Medmenham in the County of Buckingham, on 22 July 1908[3] and became a member of the Privy Council in 1909.[4] He retired from the lower house after the January 1910 general election.

He played an important part in the passage of the Port of London Bill in 1908 and served as unpaid chairman of the Port of London Authority from 1909 until 1925.

He was elevated to the peerage as Baron Devonport, of Wittington in the County of Buckingham on 15 July 1910.[5] It was reported in The New York Times that he declined to contribute to party funds in return for the peerage, feeling that his party contribution and unpaid services in relation to the Port of London were great enough to warrant the distinction without payment. After proposing to submit the related correspondence to the press, no money was exchanged.[6]

This did not save him from being the subject of a savage epigram by Hilaire Belloc:

The grocer Hudson Kearley, he

When purchasing his barony

Considered first, we understand,

The title of Lord Sugarsand,

Or then again he might have been

Lord Underweight of Margarine:

But being of the nobler sort

He took the title Devonport.

He was appointed as Minister of Food Control in December 1916 by Lloyd George and he submitted a proposal for compulsory rationing in May 1917, seemingly delayed as to protect the interests of retailers. He came under attack, particularly from Noel Pemberton Billing, with insinuations of war profiteering. On 1 June 1917 he resigned due to "ill health".[7] Announced in the 1917 Birthday Honours he was created Viscount Devonport, of Wittington in the County of Buckingham on 22 June 1917.[8]

Wittington was his estate where Wittington House was constructed in 1897 based on Sir Reginald Blomfield's design. Bloomfield was asked to significantly enlarge the house in 1908. The gardens of Kearley's estate were maintained by hundreds of gardeners.[9]

• Davenport-Hines, Richard (January 2008). "Kearley, Hudson Ewbanke, first Viscount Devonport (1856–1934)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34252. Retrieved 9 August 2009. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• In the 1890s he built a shooting lodge called Gwylfa Hiraethog on the top of the Denbigh Moors. Although abandoned since the 1950s, its ruins are still a prominent landmark for miles around.

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Viscount Devonport