Richard Colvin (British Army officer)

Brigadier-General Sir Richard Beale Colvin, KCB, TD (4 August 1856 – 17 January 1936)[1] was a British officer and Conservative Party politician.

Biography

[edit]

Colvin was the elder son of Beale Blackwell Colvin, of Pishiobury, Hertfordshire. He was educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge, from where he received a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1879.[2]

He served as High Sheriff of Essex in 1890, and was a Major in the Loyal Suffolk Hussars, a Yeomanry regiment based in Bury St Edmunds..

Following the outbreak of the Second Boer War in late 1899, Colvin was on 7 February 1900 appointed Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-General in the Imperial Yeomanry, responsible for corps raised outside the headquarters of the existing yeomanry regiments.[3] With the expansion of the number of Imperial Yeomanry regiments, he was a month later, on 14 March 1900, reassigned and appointed in command of the 20th Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry,[4] which set out for South Africa later that month. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel on 8 November 1901, and transferred to the Essex Yeomanry. For his services during the war, he was appointed a Companion (military) of the Order of the Bath (CB) in November 1900.[5] After the end of the war, he received the honorary rank of colonel.[6]

He was later awarded the Companion (civil) of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1911, and was promoted to a Knight Commander of the Order (KCB).

Colvin was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Epping at an unopposed by-election in 1917, after Epping's Conservative MP Amelius Lockwood was ennobled as Baron Lambourne.[7] He was re-elected in 1918 and 1922, and retired from the House of Commons at the 1923 general election.[8] On 31 January 1929, he was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Essex, serving as such until 1936.

Family

[edit]

Covin married, on 26 June 1895, Lady Gwendoline Audrey Adeline Brudenell Rous (1869–1952), daughter of John Rous, 2nd Earl of Stradbroke and Augusta Bonham. They had two children:

  • Aubrey Mary Maud Colvin (b.1896)
  • Richard Beale Rous (b.15 March 1900)[9]

They lived at Monkhams, Waltham Abbey.

His portrait, describing him as a brigadier general, is held at the National Portrait Gallery.[10]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "House of Commons constituencies beginning with "E" (part 2)". Leigh Rayment's House of Commons pages. Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 21 April 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ^ Debrett′s Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage, 1914
  3. ^ "No. 27162". The London Gazette. 6 February 1900. p. 808.
  4. ^ "No. 27173". The London Gazette. 13 March 1900. p. 1711.
  5. ^ "No. 27359". The London Gazette. 27 September 1901. p. 6307.
  6. ^ "No. 27505". The London Gazette. 19 December 1902. p. 8761.
  7. ^ Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 276. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.
  8. ^ Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 351. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
  9. ^ "Births". The Times. No. 36092. London. 17 March 1900. p. 1.
  10. ^ "Sir Richard Beale Colvin". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
[edit]
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Epping
19171923
Succeeded by
Honorary titles
Preceded by Lord Lieutenant of Essex
1929–1936
Succeeded by