Douglas Clifton Brown, 1st Viscount Ruffside, (16 August 1879 – 5 May 1958) was a British politician who represented the

Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party and also known colloquially as the Tories, is one of the two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party. It is the current governing party, ...

. He served as

Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings. Systems that have such a position include: * Speaker of ...

from 1943 to 1951. Upon stepping down as Speaker he became the Viscount Ruffside; the peerage became extinct with his death.

Early life

Clifton Brown was born on 16 August 1879. He was the fifth of ten children born to Amelia ( née Rowe) Brown and Colonel

James Clifton Brown James Clifton Brown JP (13 February 1841 – 5 January 1917) was a British Liberal Party Member of Parliament (MP). Early life He was the second son of Alexander Brown and his wife Sarah Benedict Brown, daughter of James Brown. His elder bro ...

, a

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

. His maternal grandparents were Charles Rowe, one of the partners in the Liverpool firm Graham, Rowe & Co., and his

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...

-born wife Sarah. His elder brother was Howard Clifton Brown His paternal grandparents were Alexander Brown and his wife Sarah Benedict Brown. His great-grandfather was the banker and merchant Sir William Brown, 1st Baronet, and his uncle was Liberal politician Sir Alexander Brown, 1st Baronet. Clifton Brown was educated at Eton and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

Career

Clifton Brown was a lieutenant in the Lancashire Artillery when on 26 March 1902 he was commissioned a

second-lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until 19 ...

in the 1st Dragoon Guards, serving in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

during the end of the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

. He advanced to major in the regiment, and later became a lieutenant-colonel in the Volunteer force.

Political career

Clifton Brown was the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

Member of Parliament (MP) for Hexham from 1918 to 1923 and from 1924 to 1951. He was a Deputy

from 1938 to 1943 and

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. A

private act Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. This is unlike a private bill which is a proposal for a law affecting only a single p ...

of Parliament was passed to provide him with a pension as former Speaker.

Personal life

In 1907, Ruffside was married to Violet Cicely Kathleen Wollaston (1882–1969), daughter of Frederick Eustace Arbuthnot Wollaston. They were the parents of one child: * Audrey Clifton Brown (1908–2002), who married Harry Hylton-Foster, who became Speaker of the House of Commons. Audrey was created a life peeress as Baroness Hylton-Foster in honour of her husband in 1965. Ruffside died in May 1958, aged 78. As there were no surviving male issue from the marriage, the viscountcy became extinct. His widow, the Viscountess Ruffside, died in November 1969, aged 87.

Arms

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clifton Brown, Douglas 1879 births 1958 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Speakers of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Deputy Lieutenants of Durham UK MPs 1918–1922 UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs 1929–1931 UK MPs 1931–1935 UK MPs 1935–1945 UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs who were granted peerages Ruffside, Douglas Clifton Brown, 1st Viscount Viscounts created by George VI