Frederick Guest

Frederick Edward Guest CBE DSO PC (14 June 1875 – 28 April 1937), often known as Freddie Guest, was a British politician best known for being Chief Whip of Prime Minister David Lloyd George's Coalition Liberal Party between 1917 and 1921. He was also Secretary of State for Air, 1921–1922.

Frederick Guest was born in London, the third son of Ivor Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne and Lady Cornelia Spencer-Churchill (1847–1927), daughter of the 7th Duke of Marlborough. The Wimbornes were Conservatives who had been friends of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. Frederick was first cousin of Winston Churchill, son of Lady Cornelia's brother, the controversial Conservative politician Lord Randolph Churchill. In 1905, Guest married Amy Phipps (1873–1959), daughter of American industrialist Henry Phipps.

Guest's four brothers were also politically active, notably Ivor Churchill Guest, 2nd Baron and 1st Viscount Wimborne (1873–1939), a junior minister and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. In addition, Henry Guest (1874–1957) and Oscar Guest (1888–1958) were Members of Parliament, while Lionel Guest (1880–1935) was a member of the London County Council.

Educated at Winchester School, Frederick Guest chose the military profession. After apprenticeship in the militia, Guest became (1897) an officer in the 1st Life Guards. He was sent to Egypt in 1900, was decorated for bravery in the South African War (served 1901–02), and rose to captain before retiring from active duty (1906) to become private secretary to his cousin and close friend, Winston Churchill, a junior minister in Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's Liberal government.

In 1904, during the controversy within the Conservative Party over adopting protectionism, Guest and other members of his family followed Churchill into the Liberal Party in support of free trade — and perhaps also to accelerate their political careers. Guest attempted three times to enter the House of Commons before winning the East Dorset seat in the January 1910 general election. Although unseated because of election irregularities by his constituency agent, he was reelected in December 1910. Known in the political world as "Freddie Guest," he was a popular backbencher, became a Liberal Party whip in 1911, the same year was elected a charter member of the cross-bench Other Club of political insiders, and was appointed Treasurer of the Household (Deputy Chief Whip) in 1912.

When World War I began in August 1914, Guest returned to active service as aide-de-camp to Field Marshal Sir John French, commander of the British Expeditionary Force in France. Guest performed confidential missions for French, liaising with the War Office and with political leaders. Later (1916) Guest served in the East African theater and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. After being invalided out of the army following serious illness, Guest resumed his political career. In May 1917 he joined Lloyd George's Coalition government as joint patronage secretary of the treasury, or chief whip for the Coalition Liberals. Guest was appointed to the Privy Council in the 1920 New Year Honours, [LondonGazette |issue=31712 |date=30 December 1919 |startpage=1 |supp=yes] entitling him to the style "The Right Honourable", and in 1921 was promoted to Secretary of State for Air, a post he held until the Coalition fell from power in October 1922.

In the general election of November 1922 Guest lost his seat but in 1923 was returned for Stroud, then in 1924 for Bristol North. After losing as a Liberal in the 1929 election, he rejoined the Conservative Party, first sitting as a Conservative for Plymouth Drake in 1931, and remaining in this position until he died from cancer in 1937, at the age of 61.

Freddie Guest was an amateur motor racing driver and airplane pilot. In 1930 he became deputy master of the Guild of Air Pilots, and master in 1932. He also played polo, was a big-game hunter in East Africa, and was a celebrated man-about-town in London and New York City society. Guest's wife—who was prominent as a women's suffragist, philanthropist and aviation enthusiast—owned valuable property in Long Island. The couple were frequest visitors to the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. Their two sons, who became American citizens, were Winston F. Guest (1906–1982), a polo great, and Raymond R. Guest (1907–1991), United States ambassador to Ireland, 1965–1968.

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References

*Biography, "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography"