Preceded by John Henry Whitley Party Conservative Party Name Edward FitzRoy | Political party Conservative Nationality British Resigned 1943 | |
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Monarch George V
Edward VIII
George VI Preceded by Constituency established Role Former Speaker of the House of Commons Died March 3, 1943, City of Westminster, United Kingdom Spouse Muriel FitzRoy, 1st Viscountess Daventry Previous office Speaker of the House of Commons (1928–1943) Succeeded by Douglas Clifton Brown, 1st Viscount Ruffside | ||
The Right Honourable Edward Algernon FitzRoy, DL (24 July 1869 – 3 March 1943) was a British Conservative politician who served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1928 until his death.
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Early life
As a boy, he served as a Page of Honour to Queen Victoria.
Political career
A member of Northamptonshire County Council from 1896 to 1921, FitzRoy first entered Parliament in 1900 General election as Member of Parliament (MP) for Northamptonshire South. He was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Northamptonshire in 1901. He was re-elected during the January 1910 General Election for Northamptonshire South. He held the seat in the December 1910 General Election.
During World War I, whilst still an MP, he served in the military as a Captain of the 1st Regiment of Life Guards, was injured at the First Battle of Ypres and commanded the mounted troops of the Guards Division from 1915–16.
In the 1918 General Election, he was elected for the seat of Daventry. He held the seat in the 1922 General Election, the 1923 General Election, the 1924 General Election, the 1929 General Election, and the 1935 General Election.
He served as Deputy Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, briefly during 1923 and from 1924 to 1928. He was made a Privy Councillor in February 1924. He was elected Speaker of the House of Commons on 20 June 1928. In 1931, he was awarded a Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Cambridge and an honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree from the University of Oxford in 1934. In 1935, there was considerable controversy when the Labour Party decided to stand a candidate against him in the general election.
Fitzroy died aged 73 in Westminster in 1943.
Personal life
FitzRoy was the second son of the 3rd Baron Southampton. He was a descendant of Charles I.
Through ancestor Anne Warren, the daughter of Admiral Peter Warren (Royal Navy officer) he is a descendant of the Schuyler family, the Van Cortlandt family, and the Delancey family, all from British North America.
FitzRoy married Muriel on 19 November 1891. Upon his death she was given a Viscountcy, the customary retirement honour for Speakers, as Viscountess Daventry.