Stormont Mancroft, 2nd Baron Mancroft

Stormont Mancroft Samuel Mancroft, 2nd Baron Mancroft Template:Post-nominals (27 July 1914 – 14 September 1987), born Stormont Mancroft Samuel, was a British Conservative politician.

Early life

Mancroft was the son of Arthur Samuel, 1st Baron Mancroft, and Phoebe Fletcher. In 1925 he assumed by deed poll the surname "Mancroft". He was educated at Winchester College, Kingsgate House (K), Christ Church, Oxford, obtaining a law degree, and Bonn University, where he studied music. In 1938 he became a barrister at the Inner Temple. He served in the Second World War as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, was twice Mentioned in Despatches and awarded the Croix de Guerre.

Political career

After the war, he served in the Conservative administrations of Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden as a government whip from 1952 to 1954 and as Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department from 1954 to 1957. When Harold Macmillan became Prime Minister in January 1957, Mancroft was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Defence, Duncan Sandys, a post he held until June the same year, and was then Minister without Portfolio from 1957 to 1958.

Writing

He was a frequent contributor of humorous articles to Punch magazine and other publications. Three books of his articles have been published:

• "Booking the Cooks", 1969.
• "A Chinaman in My Bath, and Other Pieces", 1974.
• "Bees in some Bonnets", 1979.

Over half of the third book consists of material published in the previous two books.

Family

Lord Mancroft married Diana Lloyd, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Horace Lloyd, on 8 May 1951. They have three children:

• Hon. Victoria Lucinda Mancroft (7 March 1952), married Prince Frederick Nicholas of Prussia (son of Prince Frederick of Prussia) on 27 February 1980.
• Hon. Jessica Rosetta Mancroft (10 May 1954), married Simon Dickinson on 15 October 1983.
• Benjamin Mancroft, 3rd Baron Mancroft (16 May 1957), married Emma Louisa Peart on 20 September 1990.

Diana Lloyd was married before to Richard Bridges St. John Quarry. They have two daughters: Venetia, Mrs Frederick Barker, then Viscountess Wimborne (born 1942), and Miranda, Countess of Stockton (1947–2020).

Arab boycott

Lord Mancroft, the Jewish business leader who resigned from the Norwich Union Insurance Company’s board under Arab boycott pressure, rejected today an invitation from the insurance firm to return to the board. The offer of reinstatement was made in a formal statement by the big insurance company yesterday at the same time that British Government spokesmen condemned the Arab boycott and blacklisting of British firms in sharp debate in both Houses of Parliament. The British peer turned down the offer in a letter to the company’s president. Sir Robert Bignold, in which he wrote: “I am sure the implications of your invitation will be understood both at home and abroad. I feel, however, that after all that has happened, my re-association with the Norwich Union could not lead to a proper working relationship. I must therefore with regret decline your offer.” The peer told reporters later that he did not wish to add anything to his letter. The incident continued to have repercussions, including a conference last night of ambassadors in London of 12 Arab countries at which the envoys expressed “surprise” at the statement yesterday in the House of Lords by Lord Carrington, Deputy Foreign Secretary, strongly disapproving pressures exerted by Arab embassies in London against British firms suspected or known to be trading with Israel. The statement also was made in the House of Commons.

Resources

• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.