William Mason, 1st Baron Blackford
Encyclopedia
William James Peake Mason, 1st Baron Blackford JP
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

 (11 November 1862-21 July 1947), known as Sir William Mason, Bt, between 1918 and 1935, was a British politician and public servant.

Mason was the son of George Holt Mason, of Broadwater, Tunbridge Wells, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, and Laura Mary, daughter of Charles John Moakes. He was called to the Bar
Call to the bar
The Call to the Bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party, and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received a "call to the bar"...

, Middle Temple
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...

, in 1891. In 1910 he unsuccessfully contested Finsbury East
Finsbury East (UK Parliament constituency)
Finsbury East was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Finsbury district of North London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.- History :...

 as a Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 in both general elections of that year. During the First World War he was Chairman of Executive of the British Ambulance Committee and was created a Baronet in 1918 for "public and local services". Mason was also a Justice of the Peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

 for Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

 and served as High Sheriff of Somerset
High Sheriff of Somerset
The Office of High Sheriff of Somerset is an ancient High Sheriff title which has been in existence for over one thousand years. The position was once a powerful position responsible for collecting taxes and enforcing law and order in Somerset a county in South West England. In modern times the...

 in 1928. In 1935 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Blackford, of Compton Pauncefoot
Compton Pauncefoot
Compton Pauncefoot is a village in Somerset, England, situated beside the A303 road, south west of Wincanton in the South Somerset district. The village has a population of 130. The civil parish of Blackford and Compton Pauncefoot joins the village with Blackford and therefore population is...

 in the County of Somerset, for "political and public services in the County of Somerset". There is no record of him having ever spoken in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

.

Lord Blackford married Edith, daughter of Alexander Murray Affleck, in 1885. He died in July 1947, aged 84, and was succeeded in the baronetcy and barony by his son, Glyn
Glyn Mason, 2nd Baron Blackford
Lieutenant-Colonel Glyn Keith Murray Mason, 2nd Baron Blackford CBE, DSO was a British businessman, magistrate and Conservative politician.-Background:...

. Lady Blackford died in May 1958.
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