Godfrey Baring

Who was Godfrey Baring?

Sir Godfrey Baring, 1st Baronet DL, JP was a Liberal Member of Parliament for the Isle of Wight and later Barnstaple.

A member of the influential Baring family, he was the son of Lieutenant-General Charles Baring, son of Henry Bingham Baring, son of Henry Baring, third son of Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet. His mother was Helen Graham, daughter of Sir James Graham, 2nd Baronet. He was a lifelong resident of the Isle of Wight. He became involved in politics and public affairs at an early age: he was elected president of the Isle of Wight Liberal Union aged 23, was made a Justice of the Peace a year later and was High Sheriff of Hampshire in 1897 at the age of 26. In 1898 he became chairman of the Isle of Wight County Council, a position he held for the rest of his life.

A keen yachtsman, he was elected to the Royal Yacht Squadron in 1892. He frequently entertained royalty during Cowes Week at his residence, Nubia House.

At the 1906 general election he was elected as Member of Parliament for the Isle of Wight, but lost the seat at the next election in January, 1910. He was created a baronet, of Nubia House in the parish of Northwood in the Isle of Wight, on 4 February 1911. He returned to parliament in the same year when he was elected MP for Barnstaple at a by-election. At the 1918 general election, he sought to return to the House as Member of Parliament again for the Isle of Wight, but finished second.