Freddie Guest

Olympic medal record
Men's Polo

Leslie Wilson
Charles McCurdy
Leslie Wilson; Charles McCurdy
Personal details
Born	Frederick Edward Guest; 14 June 1875; London, England
Died	28 April 1937 (aged 61)
Political party	Liberal; Conservative
Spouse	Amy Phipps (m. 1905)
Children	Mentioned in Despatches; Legion of Honour (France)

Frederick Edward Guest,

CBE, DSO (14 June 1875 – 28 April 1937) was a British politician best known for being Chief Whip of Prime Minister David Lloyd George's Coalition Liberal Party, 1917–1921. He was also Secretary of State for Air between 1921 and 1922. He won the bronze medal with the British polo team at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris.^[1]

Early life

Frederick Edward Guest was born in London, the third son of Ivor Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne (1835–1914) and Lady Cornelia Spencer-Churchill (1847–1927). The Guest family had made its fortune in the iron and steel industry during the 18th and 19th centuries and had married into the aristocracy. The Wimbornes were Conservatives who had been friends of Benjamin Disraeli. His mother was the eldest daughter of John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough.^[2]

Guest's four brothers were also politically active, with

Viceroy of India

.

Guest was a first cousin of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough, and Henry Innes-Ker, 8th Duke of Roxburghe, as well as a nephew of Conservative politician Lord Randolph Churchill, George Spencer-Churchill, 8th Duke of Marlborough, and Lady Anne Emily Spencer Churchill, who was married to the 7th Duke of Roxburghe. His cousin, the 8th Duke of Roxburghe, was married to American heiress Mary Goelet, the only daughter of Ogden Goelet.^[2]

Career

Education and military career

Educated at

captain

before retiring from active duty in 1906.

Political career

In 1904, during the controversy within the Conservative Party over adopting

Other Club of political insiders, and was appointed Treasurer of the Household

(Deputy Chief Whip) in 1912.

When the

Patronage Secretary of the Treasury – effectively chief whip for the Coalition Liberals. On 3 December 1917 Guest sent Lloyd George a 14-page memo stating that although only around a third of Liberal MPs were staunch supporters of his predecessor H. H. Asquith, the time was not yet right to oust him from the Liberal leadership.^[7]

Guest was appointed to the

Privy Council in the 1920 New Year Honours,^[8] entitling him to the style "The Right Honourable", and in 1921 was promoted to Secretary of State for Air, a post he held until the Coalition fell from power in October 1922. In the general election of November 1922 Guest lost his seat but in 1923 was returned for Stroud, then in 1924 for Bristol North. After losing as an unofficial Liberal in the 1929 election, he rejoined the Conservative Party, winning as a Conservative for Plymouth Drake

in 1931 and remaining in this position until his death.

Polo

Guest competed for Great Britain in

Kinnear Wise

.

Guest can be found among the winners of the Roehampton Trophy. He would also lend horses to the English polo team for the International Polo Cup matches.

Family and private life

On 28 June 1905, Guest married Amy Phipps (1873–1959), daughter of American industrialist

suffragist, philanthropist and aviation enthusiast and owned valuable property on Long Island. The couple were frequent visitors to the United States

in the 1920s and 1930s. They had a daughter and two sons who became American citizens:

Winston Frederick Churchill Guest (1906–1982), a polo player who married Helena Woolworth McCann and later Lucy Douglas Cochrane (1920–2003)^[10]
United States Ambassador to Ireland from 1965 to 1968,^[11] who married three times to Elizabeth Polk,^[12] Ellen Tuck French Astor,^[13] and Princess Caroline Murat (1923–2012).^[14]

Diana Guest Manning (1909–1994)

Apart from his political career he was an amateur

King Edward VIII.^[2]

Guest died from cancer in 1937, at the age of 61.[2]

Footnotes

^ "Freddie Guest". Olympedia. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "CAPTAIN F. E. GUEST DIES IN ENGLAND, 61; | Former British Air Secretary Also Known as a Soldier and Polo Player". The New York Times. 29 April 1937. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
^ "No. 26501". The London Gazette. 6 April 1894. p. 1954.
^ "No. 27159". The London Gazette. 30 January 1900. pp. 597–600.
^ "The Army in South Africa – Troops returning home". The Times. No. 36811. London. 4 July 1902. p. 9.
^ "No. 27482". The London Gazette. 14 October 1902. p. 6494.
^ Koss 1985, p232
^ "No. 31712". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1919. p. 1.
^ "Frederick Guest Biography and Olympic Results | Olympics at Sports-Reference.com". Archived from the original on 29 August 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2010.
^ "Polo, Society Figure Guest Dies in New York Hospital". Palm Beach Daily News. 27 October 1982. Retrieved 30 March 2011. Guest Jr. of Palm Beach, Frederick Guest of New York and Alexander MD Guest of New York; a daughter, Cornelia Cochrane Churchill Guest of New York; ...^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "Raymond Guest, 84, Ambassador, Polo Player and Breeder of Horses". The New York Times. 1 January 1992. Retrieved 13 April 2011. Raymond R. Guest, a former Ambassador to Ireland who was a champion polo player and horse breeder, died yesterday in Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, Va. He was 84 years old and lived in King George, Va. He died of pneumonia after a long illness, his family said. ...
^ "Elizabeth S. Polk and Raymond Guest, Poloist, Wed in Heavenly Rest Church". The New York Times. 26 June 1935. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
^ "R. R. GUEST MARRIES MRS. ELLEN T. ASTOR". The New York Times. 2 May 1953. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
^ Paulick Report Staff (14 June 2012). "Princess Murat, widow of Thoroughbred owner Raymond Guest, dies at 88". Horse Racing News Paulick Report. Retrieved 5 August 2016.

References

Biography, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
ISBN 978-0-231-06155-1
.

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Frederick Guest

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Charles Lyell	Member of Parliament for East Dorset 1910–1910	Succeeded by Henry Guest
Preceded by Henry Guest	Member of Parliament for East Dorset 1910–1922	Succeeded by Gordon Hall Caine
Preceded by Stanley Tubbs	Member of Parliament for Stroud 1923–1924	Succeeded by Frank Nelson
Preceded by Walter Ayles	Member of Parliament for Bristol North 1924–1929	Succeeded by Walter Ayles
Preceded by James Moses	Member of Parliament for Plymouth Drake 1931–1937	Succeeded by Henry Guest
Political offices
Preceded by William Dudley Ward	Treasurer of the Household 1912–1915	Succeeded by James Hope
Preceded by Lord Edmund Talbot Neil Primrose	Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury 1917–1921 With: Lord Edmund Talbot	Succeeded by Leslie Wilson Charles McCurdy
Preceded by Winston Churchill	Secretary of State for Air 1921–1922	Succeeded by Sir Samuel Hoare, Bt

[1] "Freddie Guest". Olympedia. Retrieved 28 October 2021.

[NYTObit1937-2] "CAPTAIN F. E. GUEST DIES IN ENGLAND, 61; | Former British Air Secretary Also Known as a Soldier and Polo Player". The New York Times. 29 April 1937. Retrieved 5 January 2017.

[3] "No. 26501". The London Gazette. 6 April 1894. p. 1954.

[4] "No. 27159". The London Gazette. 30 January 1900. pp. 597–600.

[5] "The Army in South Africa – Troops returning home". The Times. No. 36811. London. 4 July 1902. p. 9.

[6] "No. 27482". The London Gazette. 14 October 1902. p. 6494.

[7] Koss 1985, p232

[8] "No. 31712". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1919. p. 1.

[9] "Frederick Guest Biography and Olympic Results | Olympics at Sports-Reference.com". Archived from the original on 29 August 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2010.

[10] "Polo, Society Figure Guest Dies in New York Hospital". Palm Beach Daily News. 27 October 1982. Retrieved 30 March 2011. Guest Jr. of Palm Beach, Frederick Guest of New York and Alexander MD Guest of New York; a daughter, Cornelia Cochrane Churchill Guest of New York; ...^{[permanent dead link]}

[RRGobit-11] "Raymond Guest, 84, Ambassador, Polo Player and Breeder of Horses". The New York Times. 1 January 1992. Retrieved 13 April 2011. Raymond R. Guest, a former Ambassador to Ireland who was a champion polo player and horse breeder, died yesterday in Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, Va. He was 84 years old and lived in King George, Va. He died of pneumonia after a long illness, his family said. ...

[PolkGuestNYTWedding-12] "Elizabeth S. Polk and Raymond Guest, Poloist, Wed in Heavenly Rest Church". The New York Times. 26 June 1935. Retrieved 5 August 2016.

[13] "R. R. GUEST MARRIES MRS. ELLEN T. ASTOR". The New York Times. 2 May 1953. Retrieved 5 August 2016.

[14] Paulick Report Staff (14 June 2012). "Princess Murat, widow of Thoroughbred owner Raymond Guest, dies at 88". Horse Racing News Paulick Report. Retrieved 5 August 2016.

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