16 Facts About Walter Monckton

Walter Monckton was head boy of his preparatory school, The Knoll, at Woburn Sands in Buckinghamshire, and attended Harrow School from 1904 to 1910.

Walter Monckton played cricket for Harrow against Eton in the famous Fowler's match in 1910.

Walter Monckton chose to enter Balliol College, Oxford, as a commoner, despite in 1910 having won an Exhibition to Hertford College.

Walter Monckton was elected president of the Oxford Union in 1913.

Walter Monckton was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1919.

Walter Monckton served as advisor to King Edward VIII during the abdication crisis, having been Attorney General to the Duchy of Cornwall since 1932.

Walter Monckton was Recorder of Hythe from 1930 to 1937.

Walter Monckton worked in propaganda and information during the Second World War and became Solicitor General in Winston Churchill's 1945 caretaker government, although he refused to join the Conservative Party.

Walter Monckton continued to serve as advisor to the Nizam of Hyderabad.

Walter Monckton finally joined the Conservative Party after the war and became a Member of Parliament for Bristol West at a 1951 by-election.

Walter Monckton was Anthony Eden's Minister of Defence from 1955 to 1956, but was the only cabinet minister to oppose his Suez policy, and was moved in October to the post of Paymaster General, serving until the change of administration in early 1957.

Walter Monckton was created Viscount Walter Monckton of Brenchley, of Brenchley in the County of Kent on 11 February 1957.

Walter Monckton had wanted to become Lord Chief Justice of England and indeed had been promised the job by Churchill and the two subsequent prime ministers, but in 1957 he decided instead to join the board of Midland Bank.

Walter Monckton was chairman of Midland Bank, President of the Marylebone Cricket Club despite reportedly once describing the club's main committee as making the Tory Cabinet look like "a band of pinkos", President of Surrey County Cricket Club, Chairman of the Iraq Petroleum Company, and Chancellor of the University of Sussex.

Walter Monckton married Polly Colyer-Fergusson, daughter of Sir Thomas Colyer-Fergusson, the family who owned Ightham Mote, Sevenoaks.

Walter Monckton was succeeded in the viscountcy by his son Gilbert, born of his first marriage, on his death in 1965 at the age of 73.