page_title: Vere Ponsonby, 9th Earl of Bessborough
section_title: Early life, education, and career
hierarchical_section_title: Vere Ponsonby, 9th Earl of Bessborough / Early life, education, and career
caption_attribution_description: English: Ben Shade, Own Picture
context_page_description: Vere Brabazon Ponsonby, 9th Earl of Bessborough GCMG PC was an Anglo-Irish businessman and politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the fourteenth since Canadian Confederation.
  Born and educated in England into 'the Ascendancy', the Anglo-Irish aristocracy, he graduated with a law degree from Cambridge University. In 1910 he became a member of the London County Council as a member of the British House of Commons. Upon the death of his grandfather ten years later, Ponsonby succeeded as Earl of Bessborough and took his seat in the House of Lords. In 1931 he was appointed as Governor-General by King George V, on the recommendation of British prime minister Ramsay MacDonald, to replace The Earl of Willingdon as viceroy. He occupied the post until succeeded by The Lord Tweedsmuir in 1935. Lord Bessborough is remembered for promoting new communication technologies as well as giving support to Canadians during the Great Depression.
  After the end of his viceregal tenure, he returned to London, where he continued in business and worked with the Dominions Office and the Foreign Office before his death in March 1956.
context_section_description: Ponsonby was born in London, the first son and third child of Edward, 8th Earl of Bessborough, and his wife, Blanche. Her father, Sir Josiah Guest, was a great-uncle of Sir Winston Churchill. Ponsonby attended Harrow School before going up to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1898, graduating three years later with a Bachelor of Arts degree. In 1903, he began a career in law, being called to the Bar at the Inner Temple. After his father succeeded as Earl of Bessborough in 1906, Ponsonby used the courtesy title of Viscount Duncannon.
  In 1907, the young Viscount Duncannon (as he then was) entered politics, being elected to a seat on the London County Council. He remained at that post until running in the January 1910 general election and winning a seat in the British House of Commons as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Cheltenham. He lost that seat in the election of 19 December that same year, but re-entered the Commons in 1913 as the MP for Dover.
  Lord Duncannon married Roberte de Neuflize on 25 June 1912. Together they  had four children:
  Frederick (b. 29 March 1913)
  Desmond (4 August 1915 - 8 April 1925), did not live past the age of 10, dying on 8 April 1925 from a riding accident,
  Moyra (b. 2 March 1918)
  George (14 August 1931 – 16 May 1951), born in Canada and given the middle name St. Lawrence (after the river), would also predecease his father on 16 May 1951.
  When the First World War broke out and, while retaining his parliamentary seat, Lord Duncannon joined the army.  He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in Royal Buckinghamshire Yeomanry. On 11 November 1914, he transferred to the Suffolk Hussars (both units were part of the Territorial Force and were sent into action overseas), where he was later appointed captain and promoted to acting major. He served at Gallipoli in 1915 and, from 1916 to 1918, on the military staff in France. During his wartime service, he was mentioned in dispatches, awarded the Croix de chevalier of the French Legion of Honour, and appointed to the Italian Order of St Maurice and St Lazarus, the Belgian Order of Leopold II, Greece's Order of the Redeemer, as well as a Third Class Member of the Russian Order of St Anna. After the war, Lord Duncannon was appointed a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in the 1919 New Year Honours List.
  After the death of his father on 1 December 1920, he succeeded to the Irish earldom of Bessborough, requiring him to resign his seat in the House of Commons and enter the House of Lords. On 17 December, he applied to be Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern. The Earl had a successful business career, holding directorships in several large commercial firms, including acting as head of both the São Paulo Railway and the Margarine Union, as well as deputy chairman of De Beers Consolidated Mines.
caption: Stansted House, near Chichester, Sussex, was purchased by Lord Bessborough in 1924
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