Rodney Elton, 2nd Baron Elton

Chapel of Eton College

Rodney Elton, 2nd Baron Elton (born 2 March 1930) is a British politician and Conservative member of the House of Lords.

Biography

Lord Elton is the son of Godfrey Elton, 1st Baron Elton. He was educated at Eton College and New College, Oxford and succeeded to the peerage on his father's death in 1973.

On the formation of a Conservative government after the 1979 general election, Lord Elton was made a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office. In 1981 he was moved to the Department of Health and Social Security and in 1982 to the Home Office. In 1984 he was promoted to Minister of State within the Home Office. In 1985, Lord Elton joined the Department of Environment, again as a Minister of State, but left the government the following year.

With the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999, Lord Elton along with almost all other hereditary peers lost his automatic right to sit in the House of Lords. He was however elected as one of the ninety elected hereditary peers to remain in the House of Lords pending completion of House of Lords reform.

Lord Elton was a candidate to become Lord Speaker in the elections that took place at the end of June 2006, but he was defeated, with Helene Hayman, Baroness Hayman ultimately winning.

Marriages & Children

Elton was married to Anne Frances Tilney, daughter of Brigadier Robert Adolphus George Tilney, CBE, DSO, TD, on 18 September 1958. They had four children:^[1]

• Hon Annabel Elton (born 24 October 1960)
• Hon Jane Elton (born 15 January 1962)
• Hon Lucy Elton (born 19 December 1963)
• Hon Edward Paget Elton (born 28 May 1966) heir apparent to the barony

Following a divorce in 1979, on 24 August 1979 Elton married Susan Richenda Gurney (born 1937), daughter of Sir Hugh Gurney, KCMG, MVO and a granddaughter of Sir Lancelot Douglas Carnegie. There are no children of this marriage.

Lady Elton is a current Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth II.^[2]

Titles and Styles

• 2 March 1930 - 16 January 1934 - Rodney Elton
• 16 January 1934 - 18 April 1973 - Hon Rodney Elton
• 18 April 1973 - Rt Hon the Lord Elton

Coat of arms

Arms of Rodney Elton, 2nd Baron Elton

Notes Coat of arms of the Elton family Coronet A coronet of a Baron Crest Between two pierced Mullets and out of a Wreath of Laurel fructed Or a Dexter Arm embowed in Mail proper tied about the elbow a Cord Or the Gauntlet grasping a Scimitar proper hilted and pommeled Or Escutcheon Paly Or and Gules a Bend and on a Chief Sable three pierced Mullets Or Supporters Dexter: a Knight in Mail and White Surcoat supporting with the exterior hand a Sword point downwards proper hilted and pommeled Or; Sinister: a Viking habited proper mantled Azure supporting with the exterior hand a Battleaxe head downwards and outwards proper Motto Fide Quam Fortuna (By faith rather than fortune)

References

1. The Peerage, entry for 2nd Lord Elton
2. "Ladies in Waiting and Equerries". Official website of the Royal Family.

• Ministerial posts
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages – Peerages beginning with "E" (part 1)