Freddie Guest

Freddie Guest was the third son of Ivor Bertie Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne of Canford Magna. He was educated at Winchester and in 1894 obtained a commission in the Militia Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment before joining the 1st Life Guards in 1897 where he became a Captain and was mentioned in despatches following the Nile Expedition in 1899-1900. He served in the South African War 1901-02 and World War I. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O.) and the Legion of Honour, and was made a Commander, Order of the British Empire (C.B.E.) in 1919, becoming a Privy Counsellor the following year.

A cousin of Winston Churchill Guest was, between 1907-10 his private secretary, and this led Freddie to become interested in politics and in 1910 he was elected the Member of Parliament for East Dorset, a seat he would hold until 1922 when he was defeated. He was Chief Whip in David Lloyd George’s coalition Government and returned to Westminster the following year as the MP for Stroud in Gloucestershire and in 1924 became the member for Bristol North. He was finally the member for the Drake division of Plymouth after he switched allegiance from Liberal to Conservative in 1930. Guest held several ministerial posts including Lord of the Treasury and between April 1921 and October 1922 was the Secretary of State for Air, a post he enjoyed with a passion as he was a keen pilot and owned several light aircraft.

Freddie Guest was a keen polo player and played the game long after many of his team-mates had retired. He still had a 5-goal handicap at the age of 49. He won a bronze medal as part of the Great Britain team at the 1924 Olympics and, although he never played in the Westchester Cup, his son Winston did, albeit for the Americans who beat England in 1939 – the last time the competition was held until 1992. His other son Raymond was a famous thoroughbred racehorse owner in England and America, and is one of a handful of men to have owned the winner of the Epsom Derby, courtesy of Larkspur, and the Aintree Grand National thanks to L’Escargot, who also twice won the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Freddie had been chairman of the Hurlingham Polo Committee and at the time of his death was the chairman of the Ranelagh Club and was succeeded by Lord Louis Mountbatten.