Walter Bromley-Davenport

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Walter Henry Bromley-Davenport TD DL (15 September 1903 – 26 December 1989) was a British Conservative Party politician.

Early years

One of the four sons of Walter Arthur Bromley-Davenport (28 September 1863 – 5 November 1942) of Capesthorne Hall, Macclesfield, Cheshire, and Dame Alderman Lilian Emily Isabel Bromley-Davenport (née Lane; 9 December 1878 – 1972), daughter of Lt.-Col. John Henry Bagot Lane, he was educated at Malvern College.[1]

Soldiering

He joined the Grenadier Guards in 1922. In 1926 he was British Army welterweight boxing champion,[2] a fact usually mentioned on his election literature during his subsequent political career. At the outbreak of World War II he raised and commanded the 5th Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment.

Political career

He was Conservative Member of Parliament for Knutsford from 1945 until 1970, and was a Conservative junior Whip from 1948 to 1951. He lost his junior Whip position after kicking the Belgium ambassador down a flight of steps. He mistook the ambassador for a colleague who he thought had left the Commons before the 10 o'clock vote.[3] He was a member of the British Boxing Board of Control from 1953. He was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Cheshire in 1949 and knighted in 1961.

Bromley-Davenport would have made an excellent Whip if he hadn't been dismissed, as he was known to have an extraordinarily loud voice. He would startle new Labour MPs when they rose to make a speech by screaming 'Take your Hands out of your pockets!' On one occasion he shouted 'Sit down!' at Otho Prior-Palmer, MP for Worthing, which the minister immediately did, as he attempted to speak at the same time as Davenport.[4]

Davenport was known to use his voice outside of Parliament. When he entered an overcrowded train in Crewe, he walked up and down the corridor shouting 'All change!'. When everyone left he took a seat. He was also attacked by a man with an axe in his home. Davenport screamed 'Don't let the NHS get me!' and the assailant fled.[5]

Family

His son, William Arthur Bromley-Davenport, served as High Sheriff of Cheshire and Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire. The family seat is at Capesthorne, Macclesfield, Cheshire.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Sir Ernest Makins		 Member of Parliament for Knutsford
1945–1970		 Succeeded by
John Davies

References
  1. Walter Bromley-Davenport profile, cricketarchive.com; retrieved 30 April 2012.
  2. "Ex-champion boxer a Conservative Whip". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 18 December 1948. p. 1.
  3. Brewer's Rogues, Villains & Eccentrics, An A-Z of Roguish Britons Through the Ages, William Donaldson, 2002; ISBN 0-304-35728-6
  4. Brewer's Rogues, Villains & Eccentrics, An A-Z of Roguish Britons Through the Ages, William Donaldson, 2002, ISBN 0-304-35728-6
  5. Brewer's Rogues, Villains & Eccentrics, An A-Z of Roguish Britons Through the Ages, William Donaldson, 2002; ISBN 0-304-35728-6

Further reading
  • "Sir Walter Bromley-Davenport", The Times (London), 1 January 1990, p. 12.
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