Monarch George VI Died May 5, 1958 Name Douglas Brown, | Nationality British Preceded by Edward FitzRoy Spouse Violet Arbuthnot | |
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Alma mater Trinity College, Cambridge Role Former Speaker of the House of Commons Previous office Speaker of the House of Commons (1943–1951) Succeeded by William Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil Education Eton College, Trinity College, Cambridge Books Modern Business Arithmetic, How to teach arithmetic, Champion Arithmetics: Grade 6 | ||
Colonel Douglas Clifton Brown, 1st Viscount Ruffside (16 August 1879 – 5 May 1958) was a British politician. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1943 to 1951.
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Background and education
Brown was the son of Colonel James Clifton Brown, grandson of Sir William Brown, 1st Baronet. His mother was Amelia (née Rowe) while Howard Clifton Brown was his elder brother. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.
Military career
Brown was a lieutenant in the Lancashire Artillery when on 26 March 1902 he was commissioned a second-lieutenant in the 1st Dragoon Guards, serving in South Africa during the end of the Second Boer War. He advanced to major in the regiment, and later became a lieutenant-colonel in the Volunteer force.
Political career
Brown was Member of Parliament (MP) for Hexham from 1918 to 1923 and from 1924 to 1951. He was a Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons from 1938 to 1943 and Speaker of the House of Commons from 1943 to 1951. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1941 and raised to the peerage as Viscount Ruffside, of Hexham in the County of Northumberland, in 1951.
Family
Lord Ruffside married Violet Cicely Kathleen Wollaston, daughter of Frederick Eustace Arbuthnot Wollaston, in 1907. There were no surviving male issue from the marriage. However, their daughter Audrey Clifton Brown married Harry Hylton-Foster, Speaker of the House of Commons, and was created a life peeress as Baroness Hylton-Foster in honour of her husband in 1965. Lord Ruffside died in May 1958, aged 78, when the viscountcy became extinct. The Viscountess Ruffside died in November 1969, aged 87.