Brigadier-General Sir Richard Beale Colvin, (4 August 1856 – 17 January 1936) was a British officer and

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician.

Biography

Colvin was the elder son of Beale Blackwell Colvin, of

Pishiobury Pishiobury, sometimes spelled Pishobury, was a manor and estate in medieval Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire. Its denomination as "Pishiobury" only emerged in the mid to late 19th century. History This sub-manor of Pishiobury originated in a gran ...

, Hertfordshire. He was educated at Eton and at

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. ...

, from where he received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

(BA) in 1879. He served as

High Sheriff of Essex The High Sheriff of Essex was an ancient sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the invasion of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around a thousand years. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the ...

in 1890, and was a Major in the

Loyal Suffolk Hussars The Duke of York's Own Loyal Suffolk Hussars was a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army. Originally formed as a volunteer cavalry force in 1793, it fought in the Second Boer war as part of the Imperial Yeomanry. In the World War I the regim ...

, a

Yeomanry Yeomanry is a designation used by a number of units or sub-units of the British Army Reserve, descended from volunteer cavalry regiments. Today, Yeomanry units serve in a variety of different military roles. History Origins In the 1790s, ...

regiment based in Bury St Edmunds.. Following the outbreak 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 ...

in late 1899, Colvin was on 7 February 1900 appointed Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-General in the

Imperial Yeomanry The Imperial Yeomanry was a volunteer mounted force of the British Army that mainly saw action during the Second Boer War. Created on 2 January 1900, the force was initially recruited from the middle classes and traditional yeomanry sources, but su ...

, responsible for corps raised outside the headquarters of the existing yeomanry regiments. With the expansion of the number of Imperial Yeomanry regiments, he was a month later, on 14 March 1900, re-assigned and appointed in command of the 20th Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry, which set out for

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later that month. He was promoted to

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

on 8 November 1901, and transferred to the

Essex Yeomanry The Essex Yeomanry was a Reserve unit of the British Army that originated in 1797 as local Yeomanry Cavalry Troops in Essex. Reformed after the experience gained in the Second Boer War, it saw active service as cavalry in World War I and as ...

. For his services during the war, he was appointed a Companion (military) of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as ...

(CB) in November 1900. After the end of the war, he received the honorary rank of

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

. 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

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(MP) for

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at an unopposed by-election in 1917, after Epping's Conservative MP Amelius Lockwood was ennobled as

Baron Lambourne Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knigh ...

. He was re-elected in

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and

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éireann, the day after Éamon de Valera ...

, and retired from the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

at the 1923 general election. On 31 January 1929, he was appointed

Lord-Lieutenant of Essex This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Essex. Since 1688, all the Lord Lieutenants have also been Custos Rotulorum of Essex. *John Petre, 1st Baron Petre *John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford 1558–? *Robert Dudley, 1st Earl ...

, serving as such until 1936.

Family

Covin married, on 26 June 1895, Lady Gwendoline Audrey Adeline Brudenell Rous (1869–1952), daughter of

John Rous, 2nd Earl of Stradbroke John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Seco ...

and Augusta Bonham. They had two children: * Aubrey Mary Maud Colvin (b.1896) * Richard Beale Rous (b.15 March 1900) They lived at

Monkhams Monkhams is an area in Woodford in the London Borough of Redbridge. The Monkhams Estate is an affluent area consisting mainly of large, detached homes. History Monkhams was originally a country estate in northern Woodford in what was then rural E ...

Waltham Abbey Waltham Abbey is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, within the metropolitan and urban area of London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. It lies on the Greenwich Meridian, between the River Lea in the west and ...

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

References

External links

* * 1856 births 1936 deaths Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1910–1918 UK MPs 1918–1922 UK MPs 1922–1923 Lord-Lieutenants of Essex High Sheriffs of Essex British Army brigadiers Imperial Yeomanry officers City of London Yeomanry (Rough Riders) officers Essex Yeomanry officers {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1850s-stub