Henry Betterton, 1st Baron Rushcliffe

The Right Honourable
The Lord Rushcliffe
GBE, PC
Minister of Labour
In office
25 August 1931  29 June 1934
Monarch George V
Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald
Preceded by Margaret Bondfield
Succeeded by Hon. Oliver Stanley
Personal details
Born 15 August 1872
Died 18 November 1949 (aged 77)
Nationality British
Political party Conservative
Spouse(s) (1) Violet Gilliat (d. 1947)
(2) Inez Lubbock (d. 1955)
Alma mater Christ Church, Oxford

Henry Bucknall Betterton, 1st Baron Rushcliffe, GBE, PC (15 August 1872 18 November 1949), known as Sir Henry Betterton, Bt, between 1929 and 1935, was a British barrister and Conservative politician. He served as Minister of Labour under Ramsay Macdonald between 1931 and 1934.

Background and education

Betterton was the son of Henry Inman Betterton, of Woodville, Leicestershire, and Agnes, daughter of Samuel Bucknall. He was educated at Rugby and Christ Church, Oxford, and was called to the Bar, Inner Temple, in 1896.[1] He practiced for some years at the Chancery Bar.

Political career

Betterton was elected Member of Parliament for Rushcliffe in Nottingham in 1918.[1][2] He served under Stanley Baldwin as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour between 1923 and 1924 and again between 1924 and 1929.[1] When the National Government was formed in 1931 he was sworn of the Privy Council[3] and made Minister of Labour under Ramsay Macdonald,[4] a post he held until 1934,[1] when he also retired from the House of Commons.[1]

Betterton was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1918[5] and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1920.[6] He was made a Baronet, of Blackfordby in the County of Leicester,[7] in 1929 and raised to the peerage as Baron Rushcliffe, of Blackfordby in the County of Leicester, in 1935.[8] In 1941 he was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire.[1]

Family

Lord Rushcliffe was twice married. He married firstly Violet, daughter of J. G. Gilliat, in 1912. They had two daughters. After her death in October 1947 he married secondly Inez Alfreda, daughter of Alfred Lubbock and widow of Sir Harold Edward Snagge, in 1948. Rushcliffe died in November 1949, aged 77, when the baronetcy and barony became extinct. His second wife died in May 1955.[1]

See also

References

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Leif Jones
Member of Parliament for Rushcliffe
1918 1934
Succeeded by
Ralph Assheton
Political offices
Preceded by
Archibald Boyd-Carpenter
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour
1923 1924
Succeeded by
Margaret Bondfield
Preceded by
Margaret Bondfield
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour
1924 1929
Succeeded by
Jack Lawson
Preceded by
Margaret Bondfield
Minister of Labour
1931 1934
Succeeded by
Hon. Oliver Stanley
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baronet
(of Blackfordby)
1929 1949
Extinct
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Rushcliffe
1935 1949
Extinct
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