Sir Basil Edward Peto, 1st Baronet was a British businessman and Unionist politician.
15 Facts About Basil Peto
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2.
Basil Peto entered Harrow School, but was withdrawn at the age of seventeen when his father experienced financial difficulties.
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Basil Peto became an apprentice joiner with his family's business, Basil Peto Brothers, building contractors, of Pimlico.
4.
Basil Peto became a partner in the company in 1884 and married Mary Matilda Annie Baird in 1892.
5.
In 1890, Basil Peto attempted to bring in a form of profit-sharing to the company.
6.
Basil Peto was dissolved in 1893 and Peto was financially ruined.
7.
Basil Peto took up employment with Morgan Crucible in 1892, eventually becoming managing director by 1904, when he resigned.
8.
Basil Peto travelled widely for the company supervising the mining and purchase of plumbago in the United States, Canada, India and Ceylon.
9.
Basil Peto was chosen by the Conservative Party to contest the January 1910 general election, regaining the Devizes constituency in Wiltshire which had been lost to the Liberal party in 1906 United Kingdom general election.
10.
Basil Peto was made a Commander of the Order of Leopold by Albert I of Belgium.
11.
Basil Peto returned to the House of Commons, twice serving as Member of Parliament for the Barnstaple constituency, holding the seat from 1922 to 1923 and again from 1924 to 1935.
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Basil Peto was created a Baronet, of Barnstaple in the County of Devon, in January 1927.
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Basil Peto found himself at odds with many of the policies of Stanley Baldwin's Conservative government, and lost the party whip to sit as an independent in April 1928.
14.
Basil Peto died at his home Iford Manor, near Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire in January 1945 aged 82.
15.
Basil Peto was succeeded by his elder son, James Michael Peto.