Peter Legh, 4th Baron Newton

Peter Richard Legh, 4th Baron Newton (6 April 1915 16 June 1992), was a British Conservative politician who held junior ministerial positions during the 1950s and 1960s.

The Lord Newton
Minister of State for Education and Science
In office
1 April 1964  16 October 1964
MonarchElizabeth II
Prime MinisterSir Alec Douglas-Home
Preceded bySir Edward Boyle
Succeeded byThe Lord Bowden
Ministerial offices 1957-64
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health
In office
6 September 1962  1 April 1964
MonarchElizabeth II
Prime MinisterHarold Macmillan
Sir Alec Douglas-Home
Preceded byEdith Pitt
Succeeded byThe Marquess of Lothian
Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Lords
Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard
In office
28 October 1960  6 September 1962
MonarchElizabeth II
Prime MinisterHarold Macmillan
Preceded byThe Earl of Onslow
Succeeded byThe Viscount Goschen
Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Commons
Treasurer of the Household
In office
16 January 1959  21 June 1960
MonarchElizabeth II
Prime MinisterHarold Macmillan
Preceded byHendrie Oakshott
Succeeded bySir Edward Wakefield, Bt.
Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
In office
17 September 1957  16 January 1959
MonarchElizabeth II
Prime MinisterHarold Macmillan
Preceded bySir Richard Thompson, Bt.
Succeeded bySir Edward Wakefield, Bt.
Lord Commissioner of the Treasury
In office
13 June 1955  17 September 1957
MonarchElizabeth II
Prime MinisterAnthony Eden
Preceded byHendrie Oakshott
Succeeded byRichard Brooman-White
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
12 June 1960  16 June 1992
Hereditary Peerage
Preceded byThe 3rd Lord Newton
Succeeded byThe 5th Lord Newton
Member of Parliament
for Petersfield
In office
25 October 1951  11 June 1960
Preceded bySir George Jeffreys
Succeeded byJoan Quennell
Personal details
Born
Peter Richard Legh

(1915-04-06)6 April 1915
London, England
Died16 June 1992(1992-06-16) (aged 77)
Droxford, England
Political partyConservative
Alma materChrist Church, Oxford

Newton was born in Chelsea, London, in 1915, the son of Richard Legh, 3rd Baron Newton and Helen Winifred Meysey-Thompson, daughter of Henry Meysey-Thompson, 1st Baron Knaresborough.[1] His grandfather Thomas Wodehouse Legh, 2nd Baron Newton was also a Conservative politician and served as Paymaster General during the First World War

Newton was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, and served in the Second World War as a Major in the Grenadier Guards.[2] After the war Newton was a member of the Hampshire County Council from 1949 to 1952 and from 1954 to 1955. In 1951 he was elected Member of Parliament for Petersfield, and served in the Conservative administrations of Churchill, Eden and Macmillan as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury John Boyd-Carpenter from 1952 to 1953, as an Assistant Government Whip from 1953 to 1955, as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury from 1955 to 1957, as Vice-Chamberlain of the Household from 1957 to 1959 and as Treasurer of the Household from 1959 to 1960. In 1960 Newton succeeded his father as 4th Baron Newton and took his seat in the House of Lords, causing a by-election in Petersfield which was won by the Conservative candidate, Joan Quennell.[2]

He continued to serve under Macmillan and later Home as Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard and Assistant Chief Whip in the House of Lords from 1960 to 1962, as Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health from 1962 to 1964 and as Minister of State for Education and Science in 1964.[2]

In 1948 Newton married Priscilla Warburton, daughter of Captain John Egerton Warburton and widow of Major William Matthew Palmer, Viscount Wolmer, son and heir of Roundell Palmer, 3rd Earl of Selborne. They had two sons. Lord Newton died in Droxford on 16 June 1992, aged 77.[2][3] He was succeeded in the Barony by his elder son Richard Thomas Legh.

Arms

Coat of arms of Peter Legh, 4th Baron Newton
Crest
Issuant out of a ducal coronet Or a ram's head Argent armed Or in the mouth a laurel slip Vert the whole debruised by a pallet wavy Azure.[4]
Escutcheon
Gules a cross engrailed Argent in the chief point on an inescutcheon Sable semee of estoiles an arm in armour embowed of the second the hand Proper holding a pennon Silver all within a bordure wavy Or.
Supporters
Two mastiffs Proper collared Sable.
Motto
En Dieu Est Ma Foi (In God Is My Faith)

References

  1. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  2. Cosgrave, Patrick (17 July 1992). "Obituary: Lord Newton". The Independent. London. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  3. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  4. Debrett's Peerage. 2019. p. 3807.
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