Gwendolen Guinness, Countess of Iveagh

The Right Honourable The Countess of Iveagh
Member of Parliament for Southend
In office 19 November 1927 – 13 November 1935
Preceded by	Viscount Elveden
Succeeded by	Henry Channon
Personal details
Born	Gwendolen Florence Mary Onslow (1881-07-22)22 July 1881
Died	16 February 1966(1966-02-16) (aged 84)
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Rupert Guinness, 2nd Earl of Iveagh
Children	Hon. Richard Guinness Lady Honor Channon Arthur Guinness, Viscount Elveden Patricia Lennox-Boyd, Viscountess Boyd of Merton Brigid, Princess Frederick of Prussia
Parent(s)	William Onslow, 4th Earl of Onslow Florence Gardner

Gwendolen Florence Mary Guinness, Countess of Iveagh (née Onslow; 22 July 1881 – 16 February 1966) was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat and Conservative politician. She was, by marriage, a member of the Guinness brewing dynasty.

Early life

She was the daughter of William Hillier Onslow, 4th Earl of Onslow (1853–1911), and Florence Coulston Onslow, née Gardner (1853–1934).

Marriage and career

She was married to the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Southend, Rupert Guinness, 2nd Earl of Iveagh. In 1927, he ceased to be an MP when he succeeded to his father's earldom. The Countess of Iveagh, as Gwendolen Guinness was now known, won the Southend by-election on 19 November 1927 to replace her husband as MP.^[1] She received 54.6% of the vote at that election^[2] and increased it at the 1931 general election. She served until her retirement at the 1935 general election.

When she retired in 1935, she was succeeded as MP by Henry "Chips" Channon, the husband of her eldest daughter, Honor Guinness. Another son-in-law, Alan Lennox-Boyd, was an MP (for Mid Bedfordshire 1931–60, and thus became, with Gwendolen, the first mother- and son-in-law pair of MPs.^[2]

Clandon Park House

In 1956 she presented her Surrey childhood home, Clandon Park House, to the National Trust.

Titles

• 1881 – 1903: The Lady Gwendolen Florence Mary Onslow
• 1903 – 1919: The Lady Gwendolyn Guinness
• 1919 – 1927: Viscountess Elveden
• 1927 – 1966: The Right Honourable The Countess of Iveagh

References

1. Martin Pugh (13 January 1992). Women and Women's Movement in Britain, 1914-1959. Macmillan International Higher Education. p. 164. ISBN 978-1-349-21850-9.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
2. Iain Dale; Jacqui Smith (4 September 2018). The Honourable Ladies: Volume I: Profiles of Women MPs 1918–1996. Biteback Publishing. p. 62. ISBN 978-1-78590-449-3.

• Martin Pugh, "Guinness, Gwendolen Florence Mary, countess of Iveagh (1881–1966)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 27 May 2007

External links

• Media related to Gwendolen Guinness, Countess of Iveagh at Wikimedia Commons
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Countess of Iveagh

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Viscount Elveden	Member of Parliament for Southend 1927–1935	Succeeded by Henry Channon