George Richard Lane Fox, 1st Baron Bingley, PC (15 December 1870 – 11 December 1947) was a British Conservative politician. He served as Secretary for Mines between 1922 and 1924, and again between 1924 and 1928.

Early life

Lane Fox was born in London, the son of Captain James Thomas Richard Lane Fox, of Hope Hall and Bramham Park, Yorkshire, and Lucy Frances Jane, daughter of Humphrey St John-Mildmay, a banker and MP for Southampton. He was the grandson of High Sheriff George Lane-Fox, and the great-grandson of George Lane-Fox, MP for Beverley. He was educated at Eton and at New College, Oxford, and was called to the Bar, Inner Temple, in 1895.

Career

Lane Fox was a militia officer in the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment when in April 1902 he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Yeomanry regiment the Yorkshire Hussars. He served with the regiment in the First World War, was wounded and mentioned in despatches and rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel.

Political career

In the 1906 general election which produced a Liberal landslide, Barkston Ash was one of the few constituencies that went the other way. Lane Fox for the Conservatives defeated the Liberal incumbent Joseph Andrews who had defeated him in a by-election the previous year. He went on to represent the constituency until 1931. He served as Secretary for Mines from 1922 to 1924 and again from December 1924 (after the fall of the first Labour Government) until 1928. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1926 and was a member of the Indian Statutory Commission. On 24 July 1933 he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Bingley, of Bramham in the County of York.

Personal life

In 1903, Lane-Fox was married to Mary Agnes Emily Wood (1877–1962), a daughter of Charles Wood, 2nd Viscount Halifax and sister of E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax. They had four daughters: Lord Bingley died in December 1947, aged 76. As he had no sons the barony died with him. Lady Bingley died in March 1962, aged 85. On the death of Lord Bingley, his eldest daughter and son-in-law took over the running of the Bramham Park estate.

Family tree