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Lieutenant Colonel Glyn Keith Murray MASON DSO and Bar
14th (King’s) Hussars attached to the 4th Hussars and to the 1/1st Dorset Yeomanry Date of birth: 29th May 1887 Date of death: 31st December 1972 Died aged 85 Buried at the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Compton Pauncefoot, Somerset
Glyn Keith Murray Mason was born Foxgrove Road, Beckenham in Kent on the 29th of May 1887 the only child of William James Peake Mason, First Baron Blackford, a barrister, and Edith (nee Affleck) Mason of 44 Eaton Place, Westminster. He was educated at Hazelwood School until April 1900 where he was a member of the Choir. He was a member of the Football XI in 1899 when the school magazine wrote the following on his season: - " Goal. Good in games, but got too excited in matches. Apt to leave his goal at the wrong time, and at other times too slow." On leaving the school the magazine wrote: - "Has been suddenly snapped up by Eton. He has been one of our best actors, and a useful all round sportsman." He went on to Eton College where he was in Mr. E. C. A. Leigh’s and Mr. J. M. Dyer’s Houses from April 1900 to July 1904. He went on to the Royal Military College Sandhurst and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 14th Hussars on the 29th of August 1906. He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 14th of December 1907 and to Captain on the 3rd of May 1912. He served with the regiment in India at Mhow where he was a member of the regimental B Team in the Bangalore Open Polo Tournament in 1909 and represented the regiment in 1913 at the Mhow Open Tournament, the Ajmere Tournament, where they were runners up and in the Bombay Tournament which they won. He also took part in the Poona Junior Tournament that year. In 1914, he played for the regiment in the Dhar Cup and in the Inter-Regimental Tournament at Meerut. He returned home in 1914. He disembarked for service in France with the 20th Hussars on the 14th of September 1914. He transferred to the 4th (Queen's Own) Hussars the following month, joining them in the field at Hollebeke near Ypres with two other officers from the 14th Hussars on the 21st of October 1914. He was wounded near Messines on the 4th of November and was evacuated back to England. He returned to France with the Signals Service from the 10th of May to the 15th of July 1915. He served in Serbia and Salonika from the 25th of October 1915 to the 10th of February 1916 as a General Staff Officer Grade 3 with 10th Division and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in the King's Birthday Honours List of the 3rd of June 1916: - “For distinguished service in the field” in Salonika. From the 11th of February 1916 to the 26th of December 1916 he served as a Brigade Major in Macedonia and from the 26th of December 1916 to the 8th of January 1918 he served as second in command of the Nottinghamshire Yeomanry (Sherwood Rangers) in Palestine. On the 6th of May 1917 he was appointed as a Temporary Lieutenant Colonel and was torpedoed while travelling to Egypt in June 1917. On the 8th of January 1918 he was appointed as the Commanding Officer of the 1/1st Dorset Yeomanry in Palestine; he was wounded during a skirmish on the 5th of June 1918 but did not leave his post. On the 8th of March 1919 he was awarded a Bar to his Distinguished Service Order; the citation read:- “For conspicuous gallantry at Er Remte on the 27th of September 1918. While his regiment was holding a position west of the village, it was strongly counter-attacked from the south west end of the village. His advanced firing line was gradually forced back by superior machine gun fire, but he at the right moment seized the opportunity to mount his retiring firing line and charge the counter-attacking enemy. The latter were entirely surprised and routed. This action was almost entirely responsible for the rapid capitulation of the enemy holding the village.” On October the 1st 1918 the Desert Mounted Corps entered Damascus and Colonel Mason was in the procession with representatives of the Dorsets. He finished the war at Baalbek and proceeded on special duty to Egypt on the 26th of December 1918. He relinquished command of the regiment on the 2nd of March 1919 leaving the following farewell order:- “On relinquishing the command of the Dorset Yeomanry, I wish to thank all ranks most sincerely for their unfailing hard work, loyalty and support during my tenure of command, and I wish everyone a prosperous and happy future.” He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in the Reserve of Officers on the 27th of November 1918. He was mentioned in despatches twice during the war and left the army on the 24th of September 1921. He later went into the City, joining the board of Guardian Assurance in 1929 and served with the company for 38 years. He was married to Grace Ellinor (nee Keen) on the 6th of November 1918 and they had three children; Irene Anne, born in 1919, William Murray born on the 31st of January 1921, and Keith Alexander Henry, born on the 23rd of February 1923, who succeeded his father as the third Baron Blackford. They lived at 4 Ennismore Gardens, Knightsbridge. They lived at 4 Ennismore Gardens, Knightsbridge. After the war he was elected unopposed as Conservative Member of Parliament for North Croydon in November 1922, successfully defending his seat in the 1923, 1924, 1929, 1931 and 1935 General Elections. He resigned his seat on the 1st of June 1940 by accepting the stewardship of the Manor of Northstead. During the Second World War he served as a sector commander in the City of London Home Guard and in 1946 he became a Justice of the Peace in Somerset. He succeeded to the title of Second Baron Blackford of Compton Pauncefoot on his father’s death on the 21st of July 1947 and became Deputy Speaker in the House of Lords in 1949, a position he held until 1966. He was a successful businessman, becoming a director and later Deputy Chairman of the Midland Bank from 1960 to 1967 and Chairman of Guardian Assurance from 1950 to 1967 and and on stepping down he became Honorary President of the company. He was awarded the CBE in 1962. His son, Flight Sergeant William Murray Mason No. 1 Air Gunnery School, Royal Air Force, was killed on active service on the 23rd of March 1942. He died early in the morning of the 31st of December 1972, his wife died later the same day.

Went on to Eton College