thumb|Garter-encircled shield of arms of William Ormsby-Gore, 4th Baron Harlech, KG, GCMG, PC

William George Arthur Ormsby-Gore, 4th Baron Harlech (11 April 1885 – 14 February 1964), was a British Conservative politician and banker.

Background

Harlech, the son of George Ormsby-Gore, 3rd Baron Harlech, and Lady Margaret Gordon, daughter of Charles Gordon, 10th Marquess of Huntly, was born at Eaton Square, London. He was educated at Eton College and New College, Oxford. and promoted lieutenant in 1911.

He was mobilized at the outbreak of the First World War and accompanied his regiment to Egypt, where he was promoted captain in 1915 and went onto the general staff. In 1916 he joined the Arab Bureau as an intelligence officer, attached to the British High Commissioner Sir Henry A. McMahon.

He strongly opposed the secret Sykes-Picot Treaty, arguing "we make professions of defending and helping small & oppressed nations... [yet] we parcel out between our allies & ourselves vast tracts of countries which do not want us." He saw white prejudices as the fundamental problem, not the incapability of non-whites. As an MP, Ormsby-Gore pressured the British government to accept a League of Nations mandates system. In 1939 he was appointed an honorary colonel of the 10th Battalion of the Royal Welch Fusiliers.

Political career

Harlech was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Denbigh Boroughs by a majority of eight votes at the January 1910 general election, He played a catalyst role in expanding the powers of the Commission and making colonial powers accountable to the Commission. He was influential in establishing a process whereby subjects in the mandates could petition the League of Nations and have their grievances publicized.

He served as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1922 to 1929 (with a brief interruption during the short-lived Labour government of 1924). Harlech also held office in the National Government as Postmaster-General in 1931, as First Commissioner of Works from 1931 to 1936 and as Colonial Secretary between 1936 and 1938, After his resignation, he was appointed as Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in the 1938 Birthday Honours. He was also a firm protester against Nazi Germany at that time.

Cultural interests

He had an extensive library at his Shropshire home, Brogyntyn near Oswestry, which he downsized after moving out of the mansion in 1955.

Further work

After retiring from politics he served on the board of Midland Bank, owner of a banking house founded by his family, and was chairman of the Bank of West Africa. He also held the honorary post of Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire between 1938 and 1957. On 12 March 1948 he was appointed as Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter (KG).

Described as having "a deep interest in the arts",

Personal life

Lord Harlech married Lady Beatrice Edith Mildred Gascoyne-Cecil (born 10 August 1891, died 1980), daughter of James Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury, in 1913. They had six children:

  • Mary Hermione Ormsby-Gore (born 7 September 1914, died 26 September 2006), married firstly Captain Robin Francis Campbell in 1936 (divorced 1946) and secondly in 1947 Sir Alexander Lees Mayall, KCVO, CMG.
  • Owen Gerard Cecil Ormsby-Gore (born 30 July 1916, died 3 October 1935)
  • William David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech (born 20 May 1918, died 26 January 1985)
  • Katherine Margaret Alice Ormsby-Gore, DBE (born 4 January 1921, died 22 January 2017), married Maurice Macmillan, Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden, son of Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton and Lady Dorothy Cavendish.
  • Captain John Julian Stafford Ormsby-Gore (born 12 April 1925, died 18 April 2008), unmarried.
  • Elizabeth Jane Ormsby-Gore (born 14 November 1929, died 19 January 2004), married William Simon Pease, 3rd Baron Wardington.

Lord Harlech died in February 1964,