Hamar Greenwood, 1st Viscount Greenwood

Last updated

Margery Spencer (1886–1968)
(m. 1911)
The Viscount Greenwood
KC PC
Hamar Greenwood (Bain Collection).jpg
Chief Secretary for Ireland
In office
2 April 1920 19 October 1922
Children4; including Angela
Education University of Toronto
Lady Greenwood in 1918 Lady Hamar Greenwood in 1918.jpg
Lady Greenwood in 1918

Thomas Hamar Greenwood, 1st Viscount Greenwood, PC, KC (7 February 1870 – 10 September 1948), known as Sir Hamar Greenwood, 1st Baronet between 1915 and 1929, was a Canadian-born British lawyer and politician. He served as the last Chief Secretary for Ireland between 1920 and 1922 and is associated with the activities of the Black and Tans in Ireland. Both his sons died unmarried meaning that the title of Viscount Greenwood became extinct in 2003.

Contents

Background and education

Greenwood was born in Whitby, Ontario, Canada, to John Hamar Greenwood (1829-1903), a lawyer who emigrated from Llanbister, Radnorshire, Wales, as a youth, and wife Charlotte Churchill Hubbard, who was from a United Empire Loyalist family that had an ancestor who immigrated to Canada after the American Revolutionary War. [1] He was educated at the University of Toronto before emigrating to England as a young man.

Political career

Greenwood first stood for election as a Liberal and sat as a Member of Parliament for York from 1906 to 1910 [2] and for Sunderland from 1910 to 1922. [3]

He served under David Lloyd George as Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department in 1919, as Additional Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Additional Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, as Secretary for Overseas Trade from 1919 to 1920, and as the last Chief Secretary for Ireland, with a seat in the Cabinet, from 1920 to 1922. He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1920.

As Chief Secretary, Greenwood was closely identified with the aggressive use of two specially formed paramilitary forces – the Black and Tans and the Auxiliaries – during the Irish War of Independence. Lord Riddell, a close friend of Prime Minister Lloyd George stated that although Greenwoods life was in constant danger he "seems to be tackling his job with great fearlessness and to be giving the Sinn Feiners some of their own medicine." [4] After the Burning of Cork by British auxiliary forces in December 1920, Greenwood blamed the "Sinn Féin rebels" and the people of Cork for burning their own city. [5] "A Lloyd George loyalist who believed in restoring British rule in Ireland by defeating the IRA, Greenwood’s denials and evasions became so frequent that he was lampooned with the phrase 'to tell a Greenwood'." [6]

Greenwood lost his seat in the 1922 general election. At the 1924 general election, he was one of a small number of Liberals, including Winston Churchill, to stand as Constitutionalist candidates.[ citation needed ] These were Liberals who advocated closer ties between Liberals and Conservatives. Greenwood's candidature in Walthamstow East was supported by the local Conservative association, but not by the local Liberals, who had their own candidate, and he won the seat. After the election, when it appeared that there was no prospect of closer formal ties between the two parties, Greenwood took the Conservative whip. He continued to represent Walthamstow East until 1929, [7] although he never held government office again.

Post-politics

Greenwood had been created a baronet, of Onslow Gardens in the Royal Borough of Kensington, in 1915, [8] and in the 1929 Dissolution Honours he was raised to the peerage as Baron Greenwood, of Llanbister in the County of Radnor. [9]

In 1937 he was further honoured when he was created Viscount Greenwood, of Holbourne in the County of London. [10] He was president of the British Iron and Steel Federation from 1938 to 1939 and chairman of the Pilgrims Society from 1945 to 1948, and president of the Pilgrims Society in 1948.

He died on 10 September 1948 in London, England. [11]

Family

His wife, Margery Spencer, daughter of The Rev. Walter Spencer of Fownhope Court, Herefordshire, and wife Anne "Annie" Elizabeth Hudson, became Viscountess Greenwood. She was made a Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1922. She was the sister of Muriel Forbes-Sempill, second wife of Wilfrid Ashley, 1st Baron Mount Temple, known as Molly Mountemple.

They had two sons and two daughters. Their elder son, David Henry Hamar Greenwood, succeeded his father as second Viscount. [12] [13] He died unmarried and was succeeded as third Viscount by his younger brother, Michael George Hamar Greenwood, who died unmarried as well, in 2003 rendering the title extinct. [14] [15]

Their elder daughter, Angela Margo Hamar Greenwood, married Edward Dudley Delevingne and is the paternal grandmother of model sisters Poppy and Cara Delevingne. Their younger daughter, Deborah Hamar Greenwood, married Patrick David de László, son of painter Philip de László. [16] [17] [18]

Arms

Coat of arms of Hamar Greenwood, 1st Viscount Greenwood
Coronet of a British Viscount.svg
Greenwood Escutcheon.png
Crest
A Demi Lion per fess Gules and Sable resting the sinister paw on a Portcullis Or
Escutcheon
Gules on a Chevron Ermine between three Saltires as many Portcullises Or
Supporters
On either side a Lion rampant per fess Gules and Sable supporting a Staff Or flowing therefrom a Banner Argent that on the dexter charged with a Rose Gules barbed and seeded proper and that on the sinister charged with a Maple Leaf also proper
Motto
Law and Loyalty [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marquess of Normanby</span>

Marquess of Normanby is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first creation came in 1694 in the Peerage of England in favour of John Sheffield, 3rd Earl of Mulgrave. He was a notable Tory politician of the late Stuart period, who served under Queen Anne as Lord Privy Seal and Lord President of the Council. In 1703 this first Marquess of Normanby was further honoured when he was made Duke of Buckingham and Normanby. These titles became extinct on the death of the 2nd Duke in 1735.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duke of Leinster</span> Highest-ranking noble title in the Peerage of Ireland

Duke of Leinster is a title in the Peerage of Ireland and the premier dukedom in that peerage. The subsidiary titles of the Duke of Leinster are: Marquess of Kildare (1761), Earl of Kildare (1316), Earl of Offaly (1761), Viscount Leinster, of Taplow in the County of Buckingham (1747), Baron of Offaly, Baron Offaly (1620) and Baron Kildare, of Kildare in the County of Kildare (1870). The viscounty of Leinster is in the Peerage of Great Britain, the barony of Kildare in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, and all other titles in the Peerage of Ireland. The courtesy title of the eldest son and heir of the Duke of Leinster is Marquess of Kildare. The Duke of Leinster is the head of the House of Kildare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earl of Clarendon</span> Earldom in the Peerage of Great Britain

Earl of Clarendon is a title that has been created twice in British history, in 1661 and 1776.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earl of Carlisle</span> Title in the Peerage of England

Earl of Carlisle is a title that has been created three times in the Peerage of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earl of Kingston</span> Title in the Peerage of Ireland

Earl of Kingston is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1768 for Edward King, 1st Viscount Kingston. The Earl holds the subsidiary titles Baron Kingston, of Rockingham in the County of Roscommon, Viscount Kingston, of Kingsborough in the County of Sligo, Baron Erris, of Boyle in the County of Roscommon, and Viscount Lorton, of Boyle in the County of Roscommon, also in the Peerage of Ireland. He is also a baronet in the Baronetage of Ireland. Between 1821 and 1869 the earls also held the title Baron Kingston, of Mitchelstown in the County of Cork, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earl of Dudley</span> Title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

Earl of Dudley, of Dudley Castle in the County of Stafford, is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, both times for members of the Ward family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viscount Galway</span> Title created 4 times in the Peerage of Ireland

Viscount Galway is a title that has been created four times in the Peerage of Ireland. The first creation came in 1628 in favour of Richard Burke, 4th Earl of Clanricarde. He was made Earl of St Albans in the Peerage of England at the same time. The second creation came in the Peerage of Ireland in 1687 in favour of Ulick Bourke. He was made Baron Tyaquin at the same time, also in the Peerage of Ireland. However, both titles became extinct on his early death in 1691. The third creation came in the Peerage of Ireland in 1692 in favour of the French soldier and diplomat Henry de Massue, Marquis de Ruvigny, who was created Baron Portarlington, also in the Peerage of Ireland, at the same time. He was made Earl of Galway in 1697. However, both titles became extinct on his death in 1720.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baron Carrington</span> Barony in the Peerage of Great Britain

Baron Carrington is a title that has been created three times, once in the Peerage of England, once in the Peerage of Ireland and once in the Peerage of Great Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viscount Midleton</span> Title in the peerage of Ireland

Viscount Midleton, of Midleton in the County of Cork, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1717 for Alan Brodrick, 1st Baron Brodrick, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland and former Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. He was created Baron Brodrick, of Midleton in the County of Cork, in 1715 in the same peerage. His grandson, the third Viscount, co-represented Ashburton then New Shoreham in the British House of Commons. His son, the fourth Viscount, sat similarly for Whitchurch for 22 years. In 1796 he was created Baron Brodrick, of Peper Harrow in the County of Surrey, in the Peerage of Great Britain, with a special remainder to the heirs male of his father, the third Viscount. On the death of his son, the fifth Viscount, this line of the family failed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viscount Clifden</span> British peer

Viscount Clifden, of Gowran in the County of Kilkenny, Ireland, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created on 12 January 1781 for James Agar, 1st Baron Clifden. He had already been created Baron Clifden, of Gowran in the County of Kilkenny, in 1776, also in the Peerage of Ireland. The Viscounts also held the titles of Baron Mendip in the Peerage of Great Britain from 1802 to 1974 and Baron Dover from 1836 to 1899, when this title became extinct, and Baron Robartes from 1899 to 1974, when this title became extinct, the two latter titles which were in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The interrelated histories of the peerages follow below.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edgar Vincent, 1st Viscount D'Abernon</span> British politician

Edgar Vincent, 1st Viscount D'Abernon, was a British politician, diplomat, art collector and author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baron Mount Temple</span> Extinct barony in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

Baron Mount Temple was a title that was created twice in British history, both times in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first creation came on 25 May 1880 when the Liberal politician the Honourable William Cowper-Temple was made Baron Mount Temple, of Mount Temple in the County of Sligo. He was born William Cowper, the second son of Peter Clavering-Cowper, 5th Earl Cowper by his wife the Honourable Emily, sister of the 2nd Viscount Melbourne. Emily married as her second husband the 3rd Viscount Palmerston, a man who would serve as British prime minister. Lord Palmerston, an Anglo-Irish peer, died in 1865 when the viscountcy and his junior title of Baron Temple, of Mount Temple, became extinct. Emily died 11 September 1869, leaving her second husband's estates, including Broadlands in Hampshire, to her second son, William, who thereupon adopted by royal licence the surname Cowper-Temple, in whose favour the Mount Temple title was revived in 1880. William was married to Georgina Tollemache.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St John Brodrick, 1st Earl of Midleton</span> British politician

William St John Fremantle Brodrick, 1st Earl of Midleton, KP, PC, DL, styled as St John Brodrick until 1907 and as Viscount Midleton between 1907 and 1920, was a British Conservative and Irish Unionist Alliance politician. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1880 to 1906, as a government minister from 1886 to 1892 and from 1895 to 1900, and as a Cabinet minister from 1900 to 1905.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Trefgarne, 1st Baron Trefgarne</span>

George Morgan Trefgarne, 1st Baron Trefgarne, was a Welsh Liberal and later Labour politician, barrister, businessman and editor of the Daily Dispatch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viscount Greenwood</span> Title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

Viscount Greenwood, of Holbourne in the County of London, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1937 for the politician Thomas Hamar Greenwood, 1st Baron Greenwood. He served as the last Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1920 to 1922. Greenwood had already been created a Baronet, of Onslow Gardens in the Royal Borough of Kensington, in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom on 8 February 1915, and Baron Greenwood, of Llanbister in the County of Radnor, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, in 1929. His younger son, the 3rd Viscount, who succeeded his elder brother in 1998, was an actor. The titles became extinct on his death in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margery Greenwood, Viscountess Greenwood</span> British aristocrat

Margery Greenwood, Viscountess Greenwood, known as Margo Greenwood, was a British aristocrat and the wife of Hamar Greenwood, 1st Viscount Greenwood. Very politically active, she was known to frequent meetings of parliament in the House of Commons and took an active role in her husband's constituencies while he sat in Parliament for York. She also notably had an affair with Lloyd George.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poppy Delevingne</span> English model (born 1986)

Poppy Angela Delevingne is an English socialite, actress and model.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian peers and baronets</span> Canadian nobility

Canadian peers and baronets exist in both the peerage of France recognized by the Monarch of Canada and the peerage of the United Kingdom.

Angela Margo Hamar Delevingne was an English aristocrat and socialite. The daughter of Hamar Greenwood, 1st Viscount Greenwood, she was a prominent debutante in the late 1920s and was presented at court in 1930. Somewhat rebellious in nature, she was pulled out from Slade School of Fine Art, where she had been studying to be a painter, by her mother due to her making "unconventional" life choices. As a teenager, she took a job at Foyles to prove her independence, to which the Evening Standard reported a story with the headline Peer's Daughter Works For A Living. As a member of the London social scene, she was courted by Francis Yeats-Brown before marrying Edward Dudley Delevingne, a divorcé and friend of Edward, Prince of Wales, much to the dismay of Lady Greenwood.

References

  1. Profile Archived 24 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine , nationalarchives.ie; accessed 21 March 2016.
  2. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "Y"
  3. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 6)
  4. Riddell, George (1934), Lord Riddell's Intimate Diary of the Peace Conference and After, Reynal & Hitchcock, New York, pg 239.
  5. "BLAME CORK FIRES ON MILITARY ALONE; Irish Labor Party and Trades Union Congress Issue Results of Their Inquiry.WITNESSES' NAMES SECRETBut Report Says 70 Were Examined, Including Men froman American Ship. CONTRADICTS GREENWOOD Challenges Government to IssueStrickland Report--Now Official Inquiry Likely". New York Times . 20 January 1921. Archived from the original on 26 October 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2008.
  6. Ó Corráin, Daithí (13 November 2020). "The strange, gruesome murder of a Galway priest 100 years ago". RTÉ. Archived from the original on 7 October 2021. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  7. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 1)
  8. "No. 29070". The London Gazette . 16 February 1915. p. 1553.
  9. "No. 33532". The London Gazette . 6 September 1929. p. 5772.
  10. "No. 34375". The London Gazette . 26 February 1937. p. 1324.
  11. "Hamar Greenwood, Treasurer Conservative Party, Dies". New York Times . 11 September 1948. Archived from the original on 3 January 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  12. "Sous-Fonds: Hamar Greenwood, 1st Viscount Greenwood (WA2012-01D), Whitby Archives – Greenwood Family Collection" (PDF). Whitby Public Library. February 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 March 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  13. Seedorf, Martin F. (2004). "Greenwood, Hamar, first Viscount Greenwood (1870–1948), politician and businessman" (PDF). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33545 . Retrieved 1 March 2014.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  14. "Colleges". Oxford University Gazette. 133. 31 July 2003. Archived from the original on 29 July 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2014. THE HON. MICHAEL GEORGE HAMAR GREENWOOD, 7 July 2003; commoner 1942. Aged 80.
  15. "Viscount". Debretts. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2014. Since 1989 eight viscountcies have become extinct: Muirsheil, Furness, Watkinson, Lambert, Leverhulme, Greenwood, Cross and Ingleby, and Barrington is dormant or extinct.
  16. "Hon. Angela Margo Hamar Delevingne (née Greenwood) (1912-), Daughter of 1st Baron Greenwood; wife of (Edward) Dudley Delevingne". National Portrait Gallery. Archived from the original on 9 August 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  17. Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's peerage, baronetage & knightage, clan chiefs, Scottish feudal barons (107th ed.). Wilmington: Burke's Peerage & Gentry. ISBN   9780971196629. Archived from the original on 15 July 2007. Retrieved 18 December 2021. Search website for "Delevingne" for snippet view.
  18. Fox, Imogen (7 September 2013). "Six degrees of Cara Delevingne". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 March 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  19. "Greenwood, Viscount (UK, 1937-2003)". Cracroft's Peerage. Archived from the original on 1 April 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for York
1906Jan. 1910
With: Denison Faber
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Sunderland
Dec. 19101922
With: Frank Goldstone, 1910–1918;
Ralph Milbanke Hudson, 1918–1922
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Walthamstow East
19241929
Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department
January–April 1919
Succeeded by
Preceded by Secretary for Overseas Trade
1919–1920
Succeeded by
Preceded by Chief Secretary for Ireland
1920 – 1922
Office abolished
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baronet
(of Onslow Gardens)
1915 – 1948
Succeeded by
David Greenwood
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Viscount Greenwood
1937 – 1948
Succeeded by
David Greenwood
Baron Greenwood
1929 – 1948