William Davison, 1st Baron Broughshane

Who was William Davison, 1st Baron Broughshane?

William Henry Davison, 1st Baron Broughshane KBE FSA JP DL was a British peer and Conservative Member of Parliament for Kensington South for twenty-four years.

Davison was born in Broughshane, County Antrim, the son of Richard Davison and his wife Annie née Patrick. He was educated at Shrewsbury and graduated from Keble College, Oxford, in 1895 with a Bachelor of Arts. In 1895, he was admitted to the Inner Temple as a barrister and earned his Master of Arts from Keble three years later in 1898. That same year, he married Beatrice Mary Roberts, a daughter of Sir Owen Roberts and they later had four children.

In 1913, he became Mayor of Kensington, was knighted in 1918 and left the post a year later, becoming MP for Kensington South. In 1929, he divorced his wife and was re-married that year to Louisa Mary Constance Marriott. Davison retired in 1945 and was raised to the peerage as Baron Broughshane, of Kensington, co. London, that year. He died in 1953.