Rodney Elton, 2nd Baron Elton

The Right Honourable
The Lord Elton
Official Portrait
Minister of State for Environment
In office
27 March 1985 – 10 September 1986
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by new appointment
Succeeded by Hon. William Waldegrave
Minister of State for Home Affairs
In office
11 September 1984 – 25 March 1985
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by David Waddington
Succeeded by David Mellor
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Home Affairs
In office
6 April 1982 – 11 September 1984
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by Lord Belstead
Succeeded by David Mellor
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health and Social Security
In office
15 September 1981 – 6 April 1982
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by Geoffrey Finsberg
Succeeded by Lord Trefgarne
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In office
7 May 1979 – 15 September 1981
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by Tom Pendry
Succeeded by David Mitchell
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
5 July 1973
Hereditary Peerage
Preceded by 1st Baron Elton
Personal details
Born 2 March 1930
Political party Conservative

Rodney Elton, 2nd Baron Elton (born 2 March 1930) is a British politician and Conservative member of the House of Lords.

Biography

Elton is the son of Godfrey Elton, 1st Baron Elton. He was educated at Eton College and New College, Oxford and succeeded to the peerage on his father's death in 1973.

On the formation of a Conservative government after the 1979 general election, Elton was made a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office. In 1981 he was moved to the Department of Health and Social Security and in 1982 to the Home Office. In 1984 he was promoted to Minister of State within the Home Office. In 1985, Elton joined the Department of Environment, again as a Minister of State, but left the government the following year.

With the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999, Elton along with almost all other hereditary peers lost his automatic right to sit in the House of Lords. He was however elected as one of the ninety elected hereditary peers to remain in the House of Lords pending completion of House of Lords reform.

Elton was a candidate to become Lord Speaker in the elections that took place at the end of June 2006, but he was defeated, with Baroness Hayman ultimately winning.

Marriages and children

Elton was married to Anne Frances Tilney, daughter of Robert Tilney, on 18 September 1958. They had four children (all of whom are entitled to the style The Honourable as children of a peer):[1]

  • Annabel Elton (born 24 October 1960)
  • Jane Elton (born 15 January 1962)
  • Lucy Elton (born 19 December 1963)
  • Edward Paget Elton (born 28 May 1966) heir apparent to the barony

Following a divorce in 1979, on 24 August 1979 Elton married Susan Richenda Gurney (born 1937), daughter of Hugh Gurney and a granddaughter of Lancelot Carnegie. There are no children of this marriage.

Richenda Elton is a current Lady of the Bedchamber to Elizabeth II.[2]

Styles

  • 2 March 1930 – 16 January 1934: Rodney Elton
  • 16 January 1934 – 18 April 1973: The Honourable Rodney Elton
  • 18 April 1973 – present: The Right Honourable The Lord Elton

Coat of arms

References

  1. ↑ The Peerage, entry for 2nd Lord Elton
  2. ↑ "Ladies in Waiting and Equerries". Official website of the Royal Family.
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Godfrey Elton, 1st Baron		 Baron Elton
1973–present		 Incumbent
Heir apparent:
Edward Elton
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