John Gretton, 1st Baron Gretton

John Gretton

File:John Gretton, 1st Baron Gretton.jpg
Personal information
Full name	John Gretton, 1st Baron Gretton
Nationality	British
Born	(1867-09-01)1 September 1867 Newton Solney
Died	Melton Mowbray
Sailing career
Class(es)	.5 to 1 ton
Medal record Sailing Representing United Kingdom Olympic Games 1900 Paris Open class 1900 Paris .5 to 1 ton 1st race 1900 Paris .5 to 1 ton 2nd race (4th)
Updated on 8 May 2015.

John Gretton, 1st Baron Gretton (1 September 1867–2 June 1947), CBE (1919), VD, TD, PC (1926), JP, DL Leics, Derbys, (1 September 1867 – 2 June 1947), was a British businessman and Conservative politician. Gretton won two gold medals in the 1900 Olympic Games.

Life and career

Gretton was the eldest son of John Gretton of Stapleforth Park and Marianne, daughter of Major John Molineux of Brook House, Compton in Surrey. John Gretton and was educated at Harrow School. He was appointed Chairman of Bass, Ratcliff and Gretton Ltd, the Burton-on-Trent brewers in 1908 and served until 1945.

Lord Gretton served as Lieutenant-colonel and Colonel of 6th batt North Staffordshire Regiment in the Territorial Army from 1907. At the outbreak of the First World War he was confirmed as temporary colonel in command of the battalion. In 1920 the War Office appointed Lord Gretton as Lieutenant-colonel Reserve Officer under demobilized in 1922.

In 1895 he was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament (MP) for Derbyshire South, a seat he held until 1906. He then represented Rutland from 1907 to 1918 and Burton from 1918 to 1943, when he was appointed an Officer of the Order of St John. Gretton was made a CBE in 1919 and admitted to the Privy Council in 1926. In 1944 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Gretton, of Stapleford in the County of Leicester. He was a Deputy Lieutenant of Derbyshire.

Lord Gretton married on 19 April 1900 the Hon. Maud Helen Eveleigh de Moleyns, youngest daughter of Dayrolles Blakeney Eveleigh-de-Moleyns, 4th Baron Ventry. He died in June 1947 in Melton Mowbray, aged 79, and was succeeded in the barony by his son John.

A noted yachtsman, Gretton won two gold medals in the 1900 Olympic Games. He is unique in winning an Olympic gold medal whilst serving as a member of the House of Commons. (John Wodehouse, MP for Mid Norfolk 1906-10, won a silver medal at the 1908 Olympic Games.)

• John Frederic, 2nd Baron
• Kathleen Fanny married on 9 April 1929 Brig Sir Henry Robert Kincaid Floyd, 5th bt
• Mary Catherine Hersey married on 19 July 1933 Capt Edward William Brook, 20th Hussars, only son of Lt-Col Charles Brook of Meltham Mills, Yorkshire and Kinmount House, Dumfries.

Arms

Arms of John Gretton, 1st Baron Gretton

Notes Coat of arms of the Gretton family

External links

• http://www.leighrayment.com
• http://www.leighrayment.com/commons.htm
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by John Gretton

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Harrington Evans Broad	Member of Parliament for Derbyshire South 1895–1906	Succeeded by Herbert Raphael
Preceded by George Finch	Member of Parliament for Rutland 1907–1918	Constituency abolished
Preceded by Robert Ratcliff	Member of Parliament for Burton 1918–1943	Succeeded by John Frederic Gretton
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baron Gretton 1944–1947	Succeeded by John Frederic Gretton