Robert Boscawen was the last member of the House of Commons to hold a Military Cross for action during the Second World War.
19 Facts About Robert Boscawen
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Robert Boscawen was the fourth son of Evelyn Hugh John Boscawen, eighth Viscount Falmouth, of Tregothnan, by his wife Mary A member of a very old Cornish family, his ancestors included Prime Minister Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, and Admiral Edward Boscawen, victor over the French at the Battle of Lagos.
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Too young for military service at the outbreak of the Second World War, Robert Boscawen went to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read mechanical science and took the special army engineering course.
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The battalion formed part of the 5th Guards Armoured Brigade, part of Major General Allan Adair's Guards Armoured Division, and Robert Boscawen was sent to the cavalry wing of Sandhurst to train as a tank commander.
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Robert Boscawen was evacuated to Archibald McIndoe's pioneering "Guinea Pig Club" plastic surgery unit at Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, Sussex, spending much of the next three years in hospital.
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Robert Boscawen served during 1947 and 1948 in Hamburg, West Germany, with the British Red Cross civilian relief teams organised by his mother, Lady Falmouth, a vice-chairman of the Conservative Party.
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Robert Boscawen contested Falmouth and Camborne in elections in both 1964 and 1966, achieving a swing to the Conservatives but not enough to win, and was deselected because of his support for the right-wing Monday Club: local party activists thought his membership of the club would harm his ability to appeal to a traditionally radical-leaning seat.
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Robert Boscawen supported the restoration of capital punishment and drastic cuts in the welfare state and student grants and opposed abortion.
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Robert Boscawen became a leading supporter of Ian Smith after Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence.
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Robert Boscawen voted against the imposition of sanctions in defiance of the Party Whip.
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Robert Boscawen was initially opposed to Britain's entry into the European Common Market but later tentatively supported it, warning opponents against using war memories to make decisions affecting future generations.
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Robert Boscawen was interested in the National Health Service and sat on its London Executive Council from 1954 to 1965.
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Robert Boscawen was scathing about attempts to raise MPs' pay in 1976 at a time of financial hardship for many, saying it "brought ignominy" on the whole House.
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Robert Boscawen became a member of the Privy Council in 1992, in the same year that he retired from the House of Commons.
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Robert Boscawen married Mary Codrington in 1949 and they had two daughters, Dozmary and Karenza, and one son, Hugh, who followed him into the Coldstream Guards.
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Robert Boscawen's wife predeceased him by seven months, dying in May 2013.
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Robert Boscawen stroked the Trinity boat and rowed in the university trial eights.
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Robert Boscawen was a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron and regularly sailed in international races, including the Fastnet.
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Robert Boscawen died on the Isle of Wight on 28 December 2013 at age 90.