Legh, Thomas Wodehouse, 2nd Baron Newton (1857 -1942)

Thomas Wodehouse Newton was the son of William Legh, a Conservative Member of Parliament who was created Baron Newton in 1892, and Emily Jane Wodehouse, daughter of the Venerable Charles Nourse Wodehouse, Archdeacon of Norwich. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. In 1879 he entered the Diplomatic Service becoming Attaché at the British Embassy in Paris from 1881 to 1886. He married Evelyn Caroline Davenport, daughter of William Bromley-Davenport, in 1880. In 1886 he was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament for his home constituency of Newton in Lancashire, a seat he held until 1898, when he succeeded his father as 2nd Baron Newton and took his seat in the House of Lords. In 1915 Prime Minister Asquith appointed him Paymaster-General. The same year he was admitted to the Privy Council. In October 1916 he was appointed Controller of the newly-established Prisoner of War Department, and in this position he negotiated the release of thousands of British prisoners of war. In 1941 he published his memoirs, entitled Retrospection. His marriage produced five children, two sons and three daughters. His eldest son Richard Legh, succeeded him in the barony.