Herbert Spender-Clay

The Right Honourable
Herbert Spender-Clay
PC CMG DL JP
Spender-Clay, 1917
Member of Parliament for Tonbridge
In office
14 December 1918 – 15 February 1937
Preceded byNew constituency
Succeeded bySir Adrian Baillie
Member of Parliament for Tunbridge
In office
1910 – 25 November 1918
Preceded byAlfred Paget Hedges
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born
Herbert Henry Spender-Clay

(1875-06-04)4 June 1875
Died15 February 1937(1937-02-15) (aged 61)
Political partyConservative
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1904)​
RelationsSimon Bowes-Lyon (grandson)
Children3
EducationEton College
Alma materRoyal Military Academy Sandhurst

Herbert Henry Spender-Clay, PC, CMG, DL, JP (4 June 1875 – 15 February 1937[1]), was an English soldier and Conservative Party politician. He sat in the House of Commons from 1910 to 1937.

Early life

Herbert Henry Spender-Clay was born on 4 June 1875, the only son of the former Sydney Garrett and Joseph Spender-Clay, one of the largest shareholders in the Bass Brewing Company.[2] He was a godson of Rev. John Harden Clay, the son of Herbert's great-uncle Rev. John Clay.[3]

Spender-Clay was educated at Eton and Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.[4]

Career

On 10 June 1896 was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 2nd Life Guards. He was promoted to lieutenant on 20 April 1898, and served in the Second Boer War, during which he was further promoted to captain on 25 September 1901.[5] Following his return from South Africa, he resigned his commission in early September 1902 to take up farming on his father's estate in Surrey, which he inherited.[6] He was appointed a captain in the Reserve of Officers on 24 January 1903.[7]

He was elected at January 1910 general election as the Member of Parliament for the Tunbridge division of Kent. He was re-elected in December 1910, and when the division was abolished in boundary changes for the 1918 general election he was returned as a Coalition Conservative for the new Tonbridge division. He held that seat through a further six general elections until his death.[4]

In April–May 1917 he was a member of the Balfour Mission, intended to promote cooperation between the United States and the UK during World War I. Herbert was Deputy Lieutenant and J.P. for Surrey, and a Charity Commissioner. He was appointed to the Privy Council in 1929, and made CMG.[8]

Personal life

Portrait of his eventual wife, Pauline Astor, by John Singer Sargent, c. 1898

In 1897, when Spender-Clay was just 21 years old, he was tricked into signing promissory notes worth a lot of money by his friend Lord William Beauchamp Nevill. Following two court actions called the Hidden Signature Cases, Spender-Clay was absolved from having to pay for this, and Lord William was convicted of fraud and imprisoned.[9] On 29 October 1904, at the age of 29, Spender-Clay married Pauline Astor, who was then 24, at St Margaret's Church, Westminster with Claude de Crespigny as his best man. She was the elder daughter of William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor and Mary Dahlgren Paul.[2][10] They lived at Ford Manor, Lingfield, Surrey and also had a London house at 21 Hill Street. Herbert and Pauline had three daughters:[4]

He died on 15 February 1937 aged 61 at his London home at 2 Hyde Park Street, from pneumonia following influenza, and was buried at Dormansland, Surrey.[4][17]

Descendants

Through his eldest daughter, he was a grandfather of two grandsons and two granddaughters.[3]

Through his second daughter, he was a grandfather of two: Davina Katherine Bowes-Lyon (1930–2017), who married John Dalrymple, 13th Earl of Stair,[18] and Simon Alexander Bowes-Lyon (b. 1932), who married Caroline Mary Victoria Pike.[19]

References

  1. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "T" (part 2)
  2. ^ a b "MISS PAULINE ASTOR ENGAGED.; To Marry Capt. Spender Clay, One of the Richest Commoners in England". The New York Times. 15 July 1904. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  3. ^ a b c Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes. Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999, vol. 1, p. 131.
  4. ^ a b c d TIMES, Wireless to THE NEW YORK (16 February 1937). "H. H. SPENDER - CLAY, M. P. 26 YEARS, DEADD; Husband of Former Pauline Astor, Daughter of the First Viscount". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  5. ^ Hart′s Army list, 1903.
  6. ^ "No. 27470". The London Gazette. 2 September 1902. p. 5681.
  7. ^ "No. 27518". The London Gazette. 23 January 1903. p. 469.
  8. ^ "SPENDER RIDICULES WAR-SCARE TALK; British Journalist Tells the Pilgrims He Has Found No Hostility Here. PLEADS FOR FORBEARANCE Thompson's "Delightful Sayings," He Declares, Really Make for More Harmony". The New York Times. 26 January 1928. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  9. ^ "Titled man who was jailed figured in scandals of the nineties". The People. British Newspaper Archive. 14 May 1939. p. 3, cols. 6, 7. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  10. ^ "MISS PAULINE ASTOR WEDS.; William Waldorf Astor's Daughter the Bride of Capt. Spender Clay". The New York Times. 30 October 1904. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  11. ^ "W.W. ASTOR A GRANDFATHER.; A Daughter Born to Capt. and Mrs. Spender Clay". The New York Times. 8 October 1905. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  12. ^ Townend, Peter. Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 18th edition. 3 volumes. London, England: Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1965-1972, vol. 1, p. 530.
  13. ^ "Miss Anne Nichols Proxpective Bride". The New York Times. 19 July 1959. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  14. ^ "Sir Philip Nichols, Diplomat In Prague and The Hague". The New York Times. 8 December 1962. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  15. ^ "THE ENGAGEMENT ROSTER; Miss Spender-Clay's Announcement Heralds Notable Anglo-American Alliance". The New York Times. 14 October 1928. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  16. ^ "BOWES-LYON WEDS MISS SPENDER-CLAY; Duke and Duchess of York See Ceremony for Brother and Viscount Astor's Niece. LORD DAVIDSON OFFICIATES Bride Has Eight Bridesmaids and Two Pages--Wedding at St. Margaret's". The New York Times. 7 February 1929. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  17. ^ "AN ASTOR RETURNS TO REALTY BUYING; Mrs. Spender-Clay Invests in East Side Apartment in All-Cash Transaction E. 12TH ST. TENEMENT SOLD Buyer From Emigrant Bank Will Alter 5-Story House for Twenty Families". The New York Times. 11 April 1939. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  18. ^ "WEDDING DAVINA BOWES-LYON QUEEN MOTHERS NIECE Editorial Stock Photo - Stock Image". www.shutterstock.com. Shutterstock. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  19. ^ "Royal relative hits back at Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon storyline in The Crown". Tatler. 2 December 2020. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Tunbridge
January 1910 – 1918 		Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament for Tonbridge
1918–1937 		Succeeded by

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