Major General John Fielden Brocklehurst, 1st Baron Ranksborough Central Bank Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, was a British soldier, courtier and Liberal politician.
Background
Brocklehurst was the son of Henry Brocklehurst, of Foden Bank, Macclesfield, and the grandson of John Brocklehurst, for many years Member of Parliament for Macclesfield. His mother was Anne, daughter of "Honest" John Fielden, Member of Parliament for Oldham.
Education
He was educated at Rugby and Trinity College, Cambridge.
Career
Brocklehurst was commissioned into the Royal Horse Guards in 1874. In South Africa he commanded the 2nd Cavalry Brigade of the Natal Field Force and was in Ladysmith throughout the siege, but completed his service on the Staff and was placed on half-pay in January 1901. He retired from the army in 1908.
Brocklehurst was also an Equerry to Queen Victoria from 1899 to 1901 and to Queen Alexandra from 1901 to 1910 and an Extra Equerry to Alexandra from 1910 to 1921 and served as Lord-Lieutenant of Rutland between 1906 and 1921.
In 1914 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Ranksborough, of Ranksborough in the County of Rutland. Ranksborough took his seat on the Liberal benches in the House of Lords and served under H. H. Asquith and later David Lloyd George as a Lord-in-Waiting (government whip in the House of Lords) from 1915 to 1921.
Membership
The title derived from his seat of Ranksborough Hall at Langham, Rutland, which he constructed in 1893 and which was often visited by members of the Royal family.