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Thomas Ponsonby, 3rd Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede

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The Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
14 June 1976 – 13 June 1990
Preceded byThe 2nd Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede
Succeeded byThe 4th Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede
Personal details
Born
Thomas Arthur Ponsonby

23 October 1930
Died13 June 1990(1990-06-13) (aged 59)
Political partyLabour

Thomas Arthur Ponsonby, 3rd Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede (23 October 1930 – 13 June 1990), was a British hereditary peer and Labour Party politician.

He was the eldest son of Matthew Ponsonby, 2nd Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede, and his wife, the Hon. Elizabeth Mary Bigham, daughter of the 2nd Viscount Mersey. He was educated at Bryanston School and Hertford College, Oxford.

Political career

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He served in London local government for 20 years, firstly as a council member of the Metropolitan Borough of Kensington from 1956 to 1965 and then as an Alderman of the newly created Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council from 1964 to 1974. He was also an Alderman of the Greater London Council from 1970 to 1977 and served as the Chairman of the Council from 1976 to 1977.

Ponsonby succeeded to the peerage on the death of his father in 1976 and made his maiden speech in the House of Lords on the subject of local government devolution.[1] He was elected as Labour Chief Whip in the House of Lords in 1982, defeating Lord Strabolgi. He served as Opposition Chief Whip until his death in 1990.

Ponsonby was an active member of the Fabian Society, serving as its general secretary from 1964 to 1976, and was a Governor of the London School of Economics from 1970 to 1990.[2]

Marriage and family

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He had married twice:

  • firstly Ursula Mary Fox-Pitt, the daughter of Cdr Thomas Stanley Lane Fox-Pitt of Devon, with whom he had a son and three daughters, and
  • secondly Maureen Estelle Campbell-Teich, the widow of Dr Paul Campbell-Teich of Geneva, Switzerland.

He was succeeded by his son Frederick, who became the 4th Baron.[3]

Coat of arms of Thomas Ponsonby, 3rd Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede
Crest
Out of a ducal coronet Azure three arrows, point downwards, one in pale and two in saltire, entwined at the intersection by a snake proper.
Escutcheon
Gules a chevron between three combs Argent
Motto
Pro Rege Lege Grege (For The King, The Law, And The People)[4]

References

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  1. ^ "ADDRESS IN REPLY TO HER MAJESTY'S MOST GRACIOUS SPEECH HL Deb vol 378 cc137-270". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 30 November 1976.
  2. ^ House of Lords Debates 14 June 1990 c 401–404
  3. ^ "Ponsonby of Shulbrede, Baron (UK, 1930)". Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
  4. ^ Debrett's Peerage & Baronetage. 2000.
Party political offices
Preceded by General Secretary of the Fabian Society
1964–1976
Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede
1976–1990
Succeeded by
Civic offices
Preceded by Chair of the Greater London Council
1976–1977
Succeeded by
Lawrence Bains