Sir Charles Edward Ponsonby, 1st Baronet (2 September 1879 - 28 January 1976), was a British 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...

 politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1935 to 1950.

A member of the prominent Ponsonby family, he was the son of Hon. Edwin Charles William Ponsonby, fifth son of Charles Frederick Ashley Cooper Ponsonby, 2nd Baron de Mauley and Emily Dora Cope. He played cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 for Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire County Cricket Club

Oxfordshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Oxfordshire and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy...

 in the Minor Counties Championship from 1900 to 1903.

Ponsonby was elected Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) for Sevenoaks

Sevenoaks (UK Parliament constituency)

Sevenoaks is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

 at the Sevenoaks by-election in 1935. He held the seat until the 1950 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1950

The 1950 United Kingdom general election was the first general election ever after a full term of a Labour government. Despite polling over one and a half million votes more than the Conservatives, the election, held on 23 February 1950 resulted in Labour receiving a slim majority of just five...

. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary

Parliamentary Private Secretary

A Parliamentary Private Secretary is a role given to a United Kingdom Member of Parliament by a senior minister in government or shadow minister to act as their contact for the House of Commons; this role is junior to that of Parliamentary Under-Secretary, which is a ministerial post, salaried by...

 to the Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden

Anthony Eden

Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC was a British Conservative politician, who was Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957...

 from 1941 to 1945.

He was honorary Colonel of the Kent Yeomanry from 1942 to 1949. He gained the title of 1st Baronet Ponsonby

Ponsonby Baronets

The Ponsonby Baronetcy, of Wootton in the County of Oxford, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 27 January 1956 for the Conservative politician Charles Ponsonby. He had earlier represented Sevenoaks in the House of Commons and served as Parliamentary Private...

 of Wootton in 1956.

Ponsonby married Hon. Winifred Marian Gibbs, daughter of Herbert Cokayne Gibbs, 1st Baron Hunsdon of Hunsdon

Baron Hunsdon

Baron Hunsdon is a title that has been created twice. It was first created in 1559 in the Peerage of England for the soldier and courtier Henry Carey. His grandson, the fourth Baron, was created Viscount Rochford in 1621 and Earl of Dover, in the County of Kent, in 1628. These titles were also in...

and Anna Maria Durant, on 23 July 1912. They had three daughters and a son who succeeded to the Baronetcy.