Colonel

Colonel

Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 Cecil Alfred Grenfell (13 February 1864 - 11 August 1924) was a British Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 politician.

Biography

Grenfell was the son of Pascoe du Pré Grenfell, of Wilton Park, Beaconsfield

Beaconsfield

Beaconsfield is a market town and civil parish operating as a town council within the South Bucks district in Buckinghamshire, England. It lies northwest of Charing Cross in Central London, and south-east of the county town of Aylesbury...

, Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

, grandson of Pascoe Grenfell

Pascoe Grenfell

Pascoe St Leger Grenfell was a British business man and politician.-Biography:He was born at Marazion, in Cornwall. His father and uncle were merchants in the tin and copper business. Grenfell studied at Truro Grammar School before joining his father's business in London...

. His mother was Sophia (née Grenfell). One of fifteen children born to Pascoe and Sophia. Of his eight brothers; three died in battle. Lieutenant Robert Septimus Grenfell died in a cavalry charge at the Battle of Omdurman

Battle of Omdurman

At the Battle of Omdurman , an army commanded by the British Gen. Sir Herbert Kitchener defeated the army of Abdullah al-Taashi, the successor to the self-proclaimed Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad...

 in 1898 and his two youngest brothers (twins) were both killed in the First World War. One of the twins, Francis Octavius Grenfell received the Victoria Cross

Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....

 in 1914, but was killed in 1915.

Grenfell was MP for Bodmin

Bodmin (UK Parliament constituency)

Bodmin was the name of a parliamentary constituency in Cornwall from 1295 until 1983. Initially, it was a parliamentary borough, which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of England and later the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until the 1868 general...

 between the two general elections of 1910, but then stood down. Along with his eight brothers he was a successful polo

Polo

Polo is a team sport played on horseback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Sometimes called, "The Sport of Kings", it was highly popularized by the British. Players score by driving a small white plastic or wooden ball into the opposing team's goal using a...

 player.

Grenfell married Lady Lilian Maud, daughter of George Spencer-Churchill, 8th Duke of Marlborough

George Spencer-Churchill, 8th Duke of Marlborough

George Charles Spencer-Churchill, 8th Duke of Marlborough DL , styled Earl of Sunderland until 1857 and Marquess of Blandford between 1857 and 1883, was a British peer.-Background and education:...

, in 1898. They had two daughters. He died in August 1924, aged 60. His wife survived him by 27 years and died in January 1951, aged 77.

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