Captain The Right Honourable
Euan Wallace
MC
Minister of Transport
In office
1939–1940
Preceded byLeslie Burgin
Succeeded bySir John Reith
Financial Secretary to the Treasury
In office
1938–1939
Preceded byJohn Colville
Succeeded byHarry Crookshank
Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade
In office
1937–1938
Preceded byLeslie Burgin
Succeeded byRonald Cross
Secretary for Overseas Trade
In office
1935–1937
Preceded byJohn Colville
Succeeded byRobert Hudson
Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department
In office
1935–1936
Preceded byHarry Crookshank
Succeeded byGeoffrey Lloyd
Civil Lord of the Admiralty
In office
1931–1935
Preceded byGeorge Hall
Succeeded byKenneth Lindsay
Personal details
Born
David Euan Wallace

(1892-04-20)20 April 1892
Died9 February 1941(1941-02-09) (aged 48)
Political partyConservative
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1913; div. 1919)​
Barbara Lutyens
​
(m. 1920)​
Children5
ParentJohn Wallace
EducationHarrow School
Alma materRoyal Military College, Sandhurst

David Euan Wallace, MC PC (20 April 1892 – 9 February 1941) was a British Conservative politician who was an ally of Neville Chamberlain and briefly served as Minister of Transport during World War II.

Early life

Wallace was born on 20 April 1892.[1] He was the son of John Wallace, of Glassingall, Dunblane, Perthshire. His paternal grandparents were David Wallace, an ironmaster, and Janet (née Weir) Wallace. His aunt, Edith Wallace, was the wife of Maj. Robert Dunbar Sinclair-Wemyss.[2]

He was educated at Harrow before attending the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.[3]

Career

In 1911, Wallace joined the 2nd Regiment of Life Guards Reserve, gaining the rank of Captain, serving as adjutant from 1915 to 1918.[3] He was decorated with the award of the Military Cross (MC) after being wounded four times during the Great War.[3]

After the War, he became assistant Military Attaché at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. He acted as a special Commissioner for the North-East coast and acted as aide-de-camp to the Governor General of Canada in 1920.[3]

Political career

He was first elected to the House of Commons at Member of Parliament (MP) for Rugby from 1922 to 1923, then represented Hornsey from 1924 until his death in 1941 (when he was considered one of the richest members of the House of Commons).[3] He served as Assistant Government Whip from 1928 to 1929; Junior Lord of the Treasury in 1929 and 1931; Civil Lord of the Admiralty from 1931 to 1934; Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department from 1935 to 1935; Secretary for Overseas Trade from 1935 to 1937; Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade from 1937 to 1938; Financial Secretary to the Treasury from 1938 to 1939.[4] On 21 April 1939, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain appointed Wallace the Minister of Transport.

Wallace was invested as a Privy Counsellor by King Edward VIII in June 1936, along with Lt.-Col. David John Colville (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland) and, his former brother-in-law, Herbrand Sackville, 9th Earl De La Warr (Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education).[5]

Personal life

Wallace was twice married and the father of five sons, four of whom died while serving in the military. On 26 November 1913 Wallace married Lady (Myra) Idina Sackville, daughter of The 8th Earl De La Warr and Lady Muriel Agnes Brassey.[6] Lady Idina designed Kildonan House in Barrhill, South Ayrshire with the architect James Miller in homage to her childhood home, but they separated before it was completed.[7] Before the marriage ended in divorce in 1919, they were the parents of two sons:

On 10 May 1920, he was married to Barbara Lutyens (1898–1981), the daughter of architect Sir Edwin Lutyens and Lady Emily Bulwer-Lytton (a daughter of Edith Villiers and The 1st Earl of Lytton, the Viceroy of India and British Ambassador to France).[13] Together, they were the parents of three sons:

He inherited a coal and iron fortune estimated at more than £2,000,000.[3]

After undergoing a serious operation before Christmas 1940, Wallace died on 9 February 1941.[3] His widow, who married Herbert Agar (the American journalist who was editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal) in 1945,[19][20] lived another forty years before her death in 1981.[21]

Descendants

Through his eldest son David, he was a grandfather of two: Laura Jacqueline Wallace (b. 1941), who married Dominic Paul Morland (a son of Sir Oscar Charles Morland GBE KCMG, of Pickering, Yorkshire and Alice Lindley) in 1963, they divorced and she married, secondly, Keith Fitchett, in 2003;[22] and Cary Davina Wallace (b. 1942), who married David Howell, Baron Howell of Guildford.[22]

References

  1. ^ "Wallace, (David) Euan (1892–1941)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ a b Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 1076.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "EUAN WALLACE, 48, BRITISH OFFICIAL Minister of Transport Under Chamberlain and World War Hero Dies in England HELD SEAT IN COMMONS Ex-Regional Commissioner for Civil Defense of London Served in Washington". The New York Times. 11 February 1941. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  4. ^ "Named to Parliament Post". The New York Times. 5 June 1938. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  5. ^ Associated Press (23 June 1936). "Three New Privy Councilors". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  6. ^ The Genealogy of the Wallace Family[usurped]
  7. ^ Historic Environment Scotland. "Kildonan House (LB1052)". Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  8. ^ "Major WALLACE, DAVID JOHN". cwgc.org. Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  9. ^ "Eton College Roll of Honors". wakefieldfhs.org. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  10. ^ "Wing Commander WALLACE, GERALD EVAN". cwgc.org. Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  11. ^ Wg Cdr Gerard Wallace was Officer Commanding, 209 (FB) Squadron, based in Kipevu, Mombasa, Kenya, 23 May-20 August 1943. He failed to return and was presumed dead when 209 Sqn Catalina IB, FP302, hit the sea during a night-time practice attack off Mombasa on 20 August 1943. Flt Lts E. R. B. Roberts (pilot) & J. M. Inglis, Fg Off V. B. Field, Flt Sgts D. W. O'Leary, E. Mallon and E. Hallas, Sgt S. Borrill, and LAC N. Edwards were also killed.
  12. ^ "The Times". The Times. 12 November 1940. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
  13. ^ Percy & Ridley 1988, p. 53.
  14. ^ "Lieutenant WALLACE, JOHN". cwgc.org. Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  15. ^ Landworth, Richard M. (14 April 2017). "Who was BW?". The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  16. ^ "Flying Officer (Pilot) WALLACE, EDWARD PETER". cwgc.org. Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  17. ^ a b "Elizabeth Hoyer Millar Wed in England to Billy Wallace". The New York Times. 23 October 1965. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  18. ^ Hallemann, Caroline (12 December 2017). "Who Was Princess Margaret's Fiancé Billy Wallace?". Town & Country. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  19. ^ "COMDR. HERBERT AGAR TO MARRY IN LONDON". The New York Times. 9 June 1945. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  20. ^ "HERBERT AGAR DIES; AUTHOR AND EDITOR; Wrote Prolifically on the American Democratic Heritage--Won Pulitzer Prize in History A Champion of Democratic Ideals Correspondent and Columnist". Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  21. ^ Lutyens, Edwin (1989). Clayre Percy; Jane Ridley (eds.). The Letters of Edwin Lutyens to his wife, Lady Emily. London: Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 9780241124765. OCLC 466283124.
  22. ^ a b "The Descendants of William The Conqueror". william1.co.uk. Retrieved 9 June 2020.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom Preceded bySir John Baird, Bt Member of Parliament for Rugby 1922–1923 Succeeded byErnest Brown Preceded byViscount Ednam Member of Parliament for Hornsey 1924–1941 Succeeded bySir David Gammans Political offices Preceded byGeorge Hall Civil Lord of the Admiralty 1931–1935 Succeeded byKenneth Lindsay Preceded byHarry Crookshank Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department 1935–1936 Succeeded byGeoffrey Lloyd Preceded byJohn Colville Secretary for Overseas Trade 1935–1937 Succeeded byRobert Hudson Preceded byLeslie Burgin Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade 1937–1938 Succeeded byRonald Cross Preceded byJohn Colville Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1938–1939 Succeeded byHarry Crookshank Preceded byLeslie Burgin Minister of Transport 1939–1940 Succeeded bySir John Reith
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