George Richard Hodges Nugent, Baron Nugent of Guildford, Bt PC JP FRSA (6 June 1907 – 16 March 1994),[1] known as Sir Richard Nugent, 1st Baronet between 1960 and 1966, was a British Conservative politician.

Background

Nugent was the son of Colonel George Roubiliac Hodges Nugent and his wife Violet Stella, daughter of Henry Theopphilus Sheppard.[2] He was educated at the Imperial Service College and went then to the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.[1]

Career

In 1926, Nugent was commissioned into the Royal Artillery, leaving it after three years.[1] He joined the County Council for Surrey in 1944 and became an alderman in 1951, representing the county later as a Justice of the Peace.[3] Nugent entered the British House of Commons in 1950, sitting as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Guildford until 1966.[4] He became Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in 1951, an office he held until 1957.[1] Subsequently, he served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport until October 1959.[1] Nugent was created a Baronet, of Dunsfold in the County of Surrey, on 27 January 1960[5] and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1962.[3] He received a life peerage with the title Baron Nugent of Guildford, of Dunsfold in the County of Surrey on 31 May 1966.[6]

In 1944, Nugent became a member of the National Farmers Union's executive council and in 1948 a vice-chairman of the National Federation of Young Farmers' Clubs, occupying both posts until 1951.[3] He chaired the Thames Conservancy Board for fourteen years from 1960 and was nominated a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1962.[1] Two years later, he became chairman of the Animal Virus Research Institute until 1977.[3] Nugent became the first chairman of the National Water Council in 1973, resigning after five years.[3] He was president of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) and in 1981 he succeeded in introducing seat belt legislation through an amendment to the Transport Bill.[7]

Family

Grave in Dunsfold, Surrey

On 29 July 1937, Nugent married Ruth Stafford, daughter of Hugh Granville Stafford.[2] He and his wife were both awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Surrey in December 1968.[8] Nugent died at Dunsfold in 1994.[3]

Arms

Coat of arms of Richard Nugent, Baron Nugent of Guildford
Coronet
Coronet of a baron
Crest
A Cockatrice with wings expanded Vert charged with a Rose Argent barbed and seeded proper
Escutcheon
Ermine two Bars Gules a Canton of the last
Supporters
Dexter: a Cockatrice wings addorsed Vert beaked combed and wattled Gules; Sinister: a Swan wings addorsed Argent, each gorged with a Collar Or charged with thee Crescents Sable
Motto
Degrevi (I have resolved)[9]


References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 NUGENT OF GUILDFORD, Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2016 (online edition, Oxford University Press, 2014)
  2. 1 2 "ThePeerage – George Richard Hodges Nugent, Baron Nugent of Guildford". Retrieved 7 December 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Elliott, Robert William (28 March 1994). "Obituary – Lord Nugent of Guildford". The Independent. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
  4. ↑ "Leigh Rayment – British House of Commons, Guildford". Archived from the original on 1 May 2009. Retrieved 7 December 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ↑ "No. 41945". The London Gazette. 2 February 1960. p. 858.
  6. ↑ "No. 44001". The London Gazette. 2 June 1966. p. 6413.
  7. ↑ "The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, Official Website – History, RoSPA in the Eighties". Archived from the original on 16 February 2010. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
  8. ↑ "University of Surrey, Honorary doctorates". Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
  9. ↑ "Life Peerages - N". Cracroft's Peerage.
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