Geoffrey FitzClarence, 5th Earl of Munster

Geoffrey William Richard Hugh FitzClarence, 5th Earl of Munster, KBE, PC (17 February 1906 – 26 August 1975) was a British peer and Conservative politician.

The Right Honourable The Earl of Munster KBE PC
Lord Lieutenant of Surrey
In office 1957–1973
Preceded by	Sir Robert Haining
Succeeded by	The Lord Hamilton of Dalzell
Ministerial offices 1938-57 Minister without Portfolio In office 1954–1957 Prime Minister Anthony Eden Winston Churchill Preceded by Arthur Greenwood Succeeded by The Lord Bancroft Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies In office 1951–1954 Prime Minister Winston Churchill Preceded by Thomas Fotheringham-Cook Succeeded by The Lord Lloyd Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department In office 1944–1945 Prime Minister Winston Churchill Preceded by Osbert Peake Succeeded by George Oliver Parliamentary Secretary for India and Burma In office 1943–1944 Prime Minister Winston Churchill Preceded by The Duke of Devonshire Succeeded by The Earl of Listowel Under-Secretary of State for War In office January 1939 – September 1939 Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain Preceded by The Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal Succeeded by The Viscount Cobham Paymaster General In office 1938–1939 Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain Preceded by The Lord Hutchison of Montrose Succeeded by The Earl Winterton
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
In office 1928 – 1975 Hereditary Peerage
Preceded by	Aubrey FitzClarence, 4th Earl of Munster
Succeeded by	Edward FitzClarence, 6th Earl of Munster
Personal details
Born	Geoffrey William Richard Hugh FitzClarence (1906-02-17)17 February 1906
Died	26 August 1975(1975-08-26) (aged 69)
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Hilary Wilson ​ (m. 1928)​
Parent(s)	The Hon. Harold FitzClarence Frances Keppel
Education	Charterhouse School

Background

Munster was the son of Major the Honourable Harold Edward FitzClarence (seventh son of William FitzClarence, 2nd Earl of Munster and Wilhelmina FitzClarence, Countess of Munster) and his wife, Frances Isabel Eleanor (née Keppel) (1874–1951). Through the line of his paternal grandfather, he was a great-great-grandson of William IV, King of the United Kingdom and Hanover. His mother's paternal grandfather, Rev. William Arnold Walpole Keppel, was a male-line great-grandson of Willem van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle.

Geoffrey Munster was educated at Charterhouse School.

Political career

Munster succeeded his uncle as fifth Earl of Munster in 1928 and took his seat on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords. In 1934, he was appointed a Lord-in-waiting (government whip in the House of Lords) in the National Government of Ramsay MacDonald, a post he held until 1938, the last three years under the premiership firstly of Stanley Baldwin and secondly of Neville Chamberlain. In June 1938, Chamberlain appointed Munster Paymaster General, an office he held until February 1939, when he was made Under-Secretary of State for War. He remained in this position until September 1939.

Munster returned to the government in January 1943 when Winston Churchill appointed him Parliamentary Secretary for India and Burma, a post he held until October 1944, and then served as Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department until July 1945 when Labour came to power. When Churchill became Prime Minister for a second time in 1951, Munster was appointed Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, an office he retained until 1954, and was then Minister without Portfolio between 1954 and 1957. In 1954, he was admitted to the Privy Council.

Honours

Apart from his political career, Lord Munster was also Lord Lieutenant of Surrey from 1957 to 1973. In the 1957 Birthday Honours he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE)

Personal life

The family's estate in the Greensand Ridge in the parish of Bletchingley in Surrey

Lord Munster married Hilary Wilson in 1928. Lord Munster died in August 1975, aged 69, and was succeeded in his titles by his second cousin, Edward Charles FitzClarence, 6th Earl of Munster.

Hilary FitzClarence, Countess of Munster, was an accomplished musician who founded the Countess of Munster Musical Trust in 1958. She died in 1979 at Sandhills, Bletchingley. Her estate was sworn for probate as £799,392 (equivalent to £5,100,000 in 2023). The house which had at the time more than 10 acres was built in 1893 by Mervyn Macartney in free Tudor style and is protected under UK law with Grade II listing.

References

• Kidd, Charles; Williamson, David, eds. (2003). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage. London: Macmillan. p. 1167. ISBN 978-0-3336-6093-5.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Munster