Douglas Clifton Brown, 1st Viscount Ruffside

The Right Honourable
The Viscount Ruffside
PC DL JP
Speaker of the House of Commons
In office
3 March 1943  31 October 1951
Monarch George VI
Preceded by Edward FitzRoy
Succeeded by William Morrison
Personal details
Born 16 August 1879
Died 5 May 1958 (1958-05-06) (aged 78)
Nationality British
Spouse(s) Violet Arbuthnot Wollaston(b. 4 Jul 1882\ d. 17 Nov 1969)
Alma mater Trinity College, Cambridge

Colonel Douglas Clifton Brown, 1st Viscount Ruffside PC, DL, JP (16 August 1879 – 5 May 1958) was a British politician. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1943 to 1951.

Background and education

Brown was the son of Colonel James Clifton Brown, grandson of Sir William Brown, 1st Baronet. His mother was Amelia (née Rowe) while Howard Clifton Brown was his elder brother.[1] He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.[2]

Military career

Brown was a lieutenant in the Lancashire Artillery when on 26 March 1902 he was commissioned a second-lieutenant in the 1st Dragoon Guards,[3] serving in South Africa during the end of the Second Boer War. He advanced to major in the regiment, and later became a lieutenant-colonel in the Volunteer force.

Political career

Brown was Member of Parliament (MP) for Hexham from 1918 to 1923 and from 1924 to 1951.[1][4] He was a Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons from 1938 to 1943 and Speaker of the House of Commons from 1943 to 1951.[1] He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1941[1][5] and raised to the peerage as Viscount Ruffside, of Hexham in the County of Northumberland, in 1951.[6]

Family

Lord Ruffside married Violet Cicely Kathleen Wollaston, daughter of Frederick Eustace Arbuthnot Wollaston,[7] in 1907. There were no surviving male issue from the marriage. However, their daughter Audrey Clifton Brown married Harry Hylton-Foster, Speaker of the House of Commons, and was created a life peeress as Baroness Hylton-Foster in honour of her husband in 1965. Lord Ruffside died in May 1958, aged 78, when the viscountcy became extinct. The Viscountess Ruffside died in November 1969, aged 87.[1]

References

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Richard Durning Holt
Member of Parliament for Hexham
19181923
Succeeded by
Victor Finney
Preceded by
Victor Finney
Member of Parliament for Hexham
19241951
Succeeded by
Rupert Speir
Political offices
Preceded by
Robert Croft Bourne
Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means
1938–1943
Succeeded by
James Milner
Preceded by
Sir Dennis Herbert
Chairman of Ways and Means
1943
Succeeded by
James Milner
Preceded by
Hon. Edward FitzRoy
Speaker of the House of Commons
1943–1951
Succeeded by
William Morrison
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Viscount Ruffside
1951–1958
Extinct
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