Robert Hermon-Hodge, 1st Baron Wyfold

"Accrington"
Hermon-Hodge as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, June 1892

Robert Trotter Hermon-Hodge, 1st Baron Wyfold (23 September 1851 – 3 June 1937) was a British Conservative politician.^[1]

Born as Robert Trotter Hodge, he was the son of G W Hodge of Newcastle upon Tyne. He was educated at Clifton College and Worcester College, Oxford. In 1877 he married Frances Caroline Hermon, only daughter of Edward Hermon, Member of Parliament (MP) for Preston. In 1903 he added her surname to his own to become "Hermon-Hodge".

Parliamentary career

He entered politics in 1884, when he was adopted as Conservative candidate for the Wallingford parliamentary constituency. The seat was abolished by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, however, and he instead contested the new seat of Accrington in Lancashire. Although he failed to be elected on that occasion, another general election was called in 1886, and he was elected to the Commons as Accrington's MP. He served one term as the town's member, losing the seat at the next election in 1892,^[1] and narrowly failing to be re-elected in an 1893 by-election.^[2]

Hodge returned to Parliament at the 1895 general election as MP for the Southern or Henley Division of Oxfordshire.^[3] He held the seat in 1900 but was defeated in the Liberal landslide of 1906.^[4][5] In 1902 he was made a baronet "of Wyfold Court in the Parish of Chickendon in the county of Oxford".^[6]

He returned to the Commons for a third time when he won a by-election in March 1909 at Croydon.^[7] Re-elected at the ensuing poll in January 1910, he stood down in December of the same year.^[8][9]

In May 1917 Valentine Fleming, the sitting MP for Henley, was killed fighting on the Western Front. Hermon-Hodge was elected unopposed to fill the vacancy at a by-election in June.^[10] He finally retired from parliament at the post war general election in 1918. In May 1919 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Wyfold, of Accrington in the County Palatine of Lancaster.^[11][12]

Life outside parliament

He enjoyed the life of a country gentleman at the family estate of Wyfold Court, near Reading, Berkshire. He was an enthusiastic sportsman, being a member of various hunts in Berkshire and South Oxfordshire. He also participated in deer-stalking, shooting and fishing. He attended the Henley Regatta each year, and is remembered in the name of the Wyfold Challenge Cup. He was also a leading freemason and was for thirty years a member of the Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars. He was honorary colonel of the regiment at the time of his death.^[1]

He had seven sons, three of whom died in the First World War, and one daughter. His wife died in 1929, and Lord Wyfold died in June 1937, aged 85.^[1]

References

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

1. "Obituary: Lord Wyfold". The Times. 5 June 1937. p. 16.
2. The Constitiutional Year Book, 1904, published by Conservative Central Office, page 147 (171 in web page), Lancashire North East
3. "New Members of Parliament". The Times. 29 July 1895. p. 13.
4. "The New Parliament". The Times. 15 October 1900. p. 12.
5. "The General Election". The Times. 22 January 1906. p. 10.
6. The London Gazette: no. 27457. p. 4738. 25 July 1902.
7. "The Polling". The Times. 30 March 1909. p. 10.
8. "The New Parliament". The Times. 20 January 1910. p. 7.
9. "The Constituencies". The Times. 19 November 1910. p. 11.
10. "By-Election Candidates". The Times. 18 June 1917. p. 10.
11. "Lord Wyfold of Accrington". The Times. 10 May 1919. p. 9.
12. The London Gazette: no. 31348. p. 6247. 20 May 1919.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Robert Hermon-Hodge