Sir Charles Edward Ponsonby, TD

Other Events and Attributes:

• Arrival: 1952, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Age: 73

Notes:

1st Baronet (created 1956). 1st son of Hon. Edwin Charles William Ponsonby (born 1851), for whom see 'The Ponsonby Family', by Sir John Ponsonby (1929), and de Mauley in 'Burke's Peerage', by his 1st wife Emily Dora (died 1897), daughter of Octavius E. Coope, MP. Born in Grosvenor Street, Westminster. Educated at Eton College 1893-8, matric: Oxford (Balliol College), 1898, BA 1901.

Admitted a solicitor 1904. Joined West Kent (Queen's Own) Yeomanry 1910 - subsequently The 97th (Kent Yeo.) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery Territorial Army - Lieut. April 1914; Capt. 1917; Major 1920; Lieut-Col. 1930. Served in the Great War in Gallipoli and Egypt with West Kent (Q.O.) Yeomanry which became, January 1917-June 1919, the 10th (Yeo.) Battalion of The Buffs, with whom he served in Palestine and France. Temporary Lieut-Col. 1919 (?Jan). Croix de Guerre (avec palme), May, 1918. British War Medal; Allies' (Victory) Medal. Territorial Decoration 1925. Managing Director of British Central Africa, Ld., 1922-32; Director of The Uganda Co., Ld.; On the Council of the Joint East African Board, the Africa Society, etc.; Dep. Chairman of the East African section of London Chamber of Commerce. Hon. Member of the House Committee of the London Hospital. In Masonry, Past Provincial Guard Swordbearer of Oxfordshire.

Lieut-Col. and Brevet Col. 97th (Kent Yeo.) Field Brig. R.A. 1930-36, and Hon. Col. 297th (Kent Yeo.) Light Anti-Aircraft Regt. RA 1942-9; Deputy Leiutenant for Oxon; appointed Parliamentary Private Sec. to Sec. of State for War 1940, and to Sec. of State for Foreign Affairs 1941. Chairman of Council of Royal Commonwealth Society 1954-57; President of Royal African Society 1963-70; MP for Sevenoaks Division of Kent (C) July 1935-February 1950. Author of West Kent (QO) 'Yeomanry 1914-19; Woodstock, the History of an Oxfordshire Parish, 1946; 'Wootton, The Anatomy of an Oxfordshire Village, 1968'; and 'Ponsonby Remembers'. Awarded medal of Royal Society of Arts for a paper on Nyasaland, 1914.

Charles married The Hon. Winifred Marian Gibbs, JP on 23 Jul 1912 in Hunsdon, Hertfordshire. Winifred (daughter of The Hon. Herbert Cokayne Gibbs, 1st Baron Hunsdon of Hunsdon and Anna Maria Durant, Lady Hunsdon) was born on 29 Mar 1886 in 34 York Terrace, St Marylebone, Middlesex; died on 11 Mar 1984 in Garrett's House, Woodstock; was buried in Wootton, Oxfordshire. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Priscilla Dora Ponsonby was born in 1913 in 9 Portman Square, St. Marylebone, London; died in 2000.
2. Diana Mary Ponsonby was born on 8 Apr 1916 in 9 Portman Square, St. Marylebone, London; died on 25 Mar 2006 in Framlingham, Suffolk.
3. Lavinia Rosalind Ponsonby was born on 28 Jul 1919 in 9 Portman Square, St. Marylebone, London; died on 21 Feb 2005 in Chichester, Sussex.
4. Sir Ashley Charles Gibbs Ponsonby, 2Bt. KCVO, MC, DL was born on 21 Feb 1921 in 2 Gloucester Place, St. Marylebone, London; died on 15 Jun 2010 in Grim's Dyke Farm, Woodleys, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1HJ; was buried in Wootton, Oxfordshire.
5. Juliet Barbara Anna Ponsonby was born in 1923 in 2 Gloucester Place, St. Marylebone, London; died on 21 Nov 2019.

Edwin married Emily Dora Coope. Emily died on 28 Jan 1976. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]