Bertram Bowyer, 2nd Baron Denham

Bertram Stanley Mitford Bowyer, 2nd Baron Denham, KBE, PC (born 3 October 1927), is a British Conservative politician and member of the House of Lords as one of the remaining hereditary peers. He is one of the few people to serve in the governments of five different Prime Ministers.

The Right Honourable The Lord Denham KBE PC
Chief Whip of the House of Lords Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms
In office 4 May 1979 – 22 May 1991
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher John Major
Preceded by	The Baroness Llewelyn-Davies of Hastoe
Succeeded by	The Lord Hesketh
Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Lords Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard
In office 20 November 1971 – 11 March 1974
Prime Minister	Edward Heath
Preceded by	The Viscount Goschen
Succeeded by	The Lord Strabolgi
Lord-in-waiting Government Whip
In office 24 June 1970 – 20 November 1971
Prime Minister	Edward Heath
Preceded by	The Lord Hilton of Upton
Succeeded by	The Lord Bethell
In office 27 June 1961 – 16 October 1964
Prime Minister	Harold Macmillan Sir Alec Douglas-Home
Preceded by	The Earl Jellicoe
Succeeded by	The Lord Hobson of Brent
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 December 1949 Hereditary peerage
Preceded by	The 1st Baron Denham
Personal details
Born	Bertram Stanley Mitford Bowyer 3 October 1927
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	King's College, Cambridge

Biography

Denham was educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge. He was the youngest child and second son of George Bowyer, 1st Baron Denham, and succeeded to become 2nd Baron Denham upon the death of his father in 1948, his elder brother having died in World War II. He also succeeded his kinsman Sir George Bowyer, Bt., as 10th Baronet (of Denham Court) in 1950.

Denham served as a House of Lords whip from 1961 until 1964 under both Harold Macmillan and Alec Douglas-Home. Upon the Conservatives return to power at the 1970 general election, he was once again made a whip under Edward Heath. In 1972, he was promoted to become Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard, the post associated with being the Government Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Lords. He served in this post until the Conservatives left power in 1974.

Upon the victory of Margaret Thatcher in the 1979 general election, Denham was made Captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms, the post associated with being Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords. He held the post for the entirety of the Thatcher years, leaving office six months into the John Major government in 1991.

With the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999, Denham 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 92 elected hereditary peers to remain in the House of Lords pending completion of House of Lords reform. He was made a Privy Counsellor in the 1981 New Year Honours.[1] In the 1991 New Year Honours he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) for his political service.[2]

Following the death of Lord Carrington in July 2018, Denham has been the longest-serving current member of the House of Lords.[3]

Literary career

As Bertie Denham, Bowyer has written four mysteries featuring detection by House of Lords Conservative Whip Derek Thyrde, second Viscount Thyrde. He is a member of the Detection Club, and contributed to their 2020 anthology Howdunit: A Masterclass in Crime Writing by Members of the Detection Club.[4]

Novels by Bertie Denham

• The Man Who Lost His Shadow (1979) OCLC 5652900 (complete list of all editions)
• Two Thyrdes (1983) OCLC 12462501 (complete list of all editions)
• Foxhunt (1988) OCLC 23870741 (complete list of all editions)
• Black Rod (1997) OCLC 39504349 (complete list of all editions)

References

1. "No. 48467". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1980. p. 1.
2. "No. 52382". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 December 1990. p. 7.
3. Brown, Thomas (6 February 2017). "House of Lords: Statistical Profile of Membership" (PDF). House of Lords. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
4. "Do You Write Under Your Own Name", Edwards, Martin. "Howdunit", 14 September 2020.

Sources

• "Denham, 2nd Baron". Who's Who. Oxford University Press. December 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages – Peerages beginning with "D" (part 2)