Sir Philip Colfox , 1st Baronet Lieutenant - Colonel Sir ( William ) Philip Colfox , 1st Baronet MC JP ( 25 February 1888 – 8 November 1966 ) was an English soldier , farmer and Conservative Party politician . Colfox was the son of Colonel Thomas Alfred Colfox of Coneygar Bridport and Constance daughter of Edward John Nettlefold of Hallfield , Birmingham . Born in Bridport , Dorset , he was educated at Eton College and at Woolwich . He served as a Major in the Royal Field Artillery during World War I , and was wounded twice in 1917 , receiving a Military Cross . He then taught classics and mathematics at Eton for the rest of World War I . In 1920 , he married Mary Frances Bullen ( 1892 – 1973 ) , the daughter of John Bullen Symes Bullen of Catherston , Charmouth Dorset . They had 2 sons and 2 daughters : Thomas Andrew ( 1922 – 1936 ) , ( William ) John ( 2nd Bart ) ( born 1924 ) , Susan Frances , and Bridget Alice . His father had started as a Liberal , but Colfox followed his mother ' s family — which included Joseph Chamberlain ( Founder of the National Liberal Federation , Liberal Unionist Association and National Radical Union ) , his sons Austen and Neville Chamberlain — first to become Liberal or Radical Unionists then Unionists and later Conservative Unionist s . At the 1918 general election , Colfox was elected as Member of Parliament ( MP ) for Dorset North as a Coalition Unionist becoming in 1920 Private Secretary ( unpaid ) to Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Pensions ( George Tryon ) and in 1921 Private Secretary ( unpaid ) to Parliamentary Under - Secretary of State for the Colonies ( Hon EFL Wood - Lord Halifax ) . At the 1922 general election , he was returned to the House of Commons as MP for Dorset West . Between 1922 - 3 he was Assistant Government Whip . In 1923 and 1924 he held the seat as a Unionist and outspoken backbencher and from 1925 as a Conservative Unionist . Refusing lesser honours Colfox accepted a baronetcy in 1939 and held the seat until his retirement in 1941 . He served as High Sheriff of Dorset for 1946 . He remained an Alderman of Dorset County Council until he died in 1966 . He ran his farm based on sound organic principles in conjunction with his son John . During World War II he ran the West Dorset Home Guard as Lt Col . An inspection by the War Office recorded that he ran it in a most independent fashion . Mary , Lady Colfox recalled that he was irritated by this inspection saying : " What do they know about running a war in London ? " He was a Unitarian worshipping in the Chapel in Bridport built by his ancestor Thomas Collins Colfox in 1797 . In Bridport he continued to teach children Mathematics and Classics and was Chairman of the Governors of the Colfox School , so - named in honour of his father who had given the land and refounded the previous Unitarian grammar school . Sir Philip and cars were a notorious combination - he parked his car in Bridport perpendicularly to the pavement and policemen were warned that everyone else but him were to be fined . A daughter was asked at a party in Kent - " Are you related to that bad driver from Dorset ? " Colfoxes had been on the Bridport Bench as magistrates continually since the 15th century . On one occasion Sir Philip , Lady Colfox ( and her brother , Jack Bullen ) heard a misdemeanour offence against the couple ' s son charged by the police for the road traffic offence of leaving mud on a public road - which he freely admitted . John was defended by his brother - in - law . His father , mother and uncle found him not guilty and awarded costs against the police . This made local press but only in inside pages in 1950 . Family history . Six hundred years after Sir Nicholas Colfox ( on the instructions of Richard II and his feudal lord , the Duke of Norfolk ) was involved in the murder of the King ' s uncle , Thomas of Woodstock , Duke of Gloucester ( 1397 ) , Sir Philip had returned Colfoxs to the national scene . Sir Nicholas was pardoned by King Henry IV in 1404 . Colfox ' s family had a long connection with Symondsbury , Bridport . The family is first mentioned in the town records in 1280 . In 1357 Peter Colfox was commissioned by Edward III to rebuild Marshwood Castle , sold by Colfox ' s brother - in - law in the early 20th Century . In 1394 , Sir William Colfox , Vicar of Chilthorne Dommer near Yeovil , witnessed an Inquisition relating to part of the Manor of Symondsbury which Sir William Philip Colfox inherited in 1924 .