A fine George V Black Canvas clad Despatch Box C 1920 with rear handle, the bevelled top embossed with the cipher of King George V. This despatch Box was previously the property of The Rt. Hon. Patrick Buchan Hepburn M.P* Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury. The black canvas lined interior raised sides and with stability studs.
It appears that this box was not new when it came into Buchan Hepburn's possession. It may have had a previous owner, or been supplied from the makers existing stock.
Dimensions:
46 x 30 x 14 cm
Condition: Good, commensurate with age. The Bramah lock has been fully restored and the correct key supplied.
Patrick George Thomas Buchan-Hepburn, 1st Baron Hailes, GBE, CH, PC (2 April 1901 – 5 November 1974) was a British Conservative politician and the only Governor-General of the short-lived West Indies Federation from 1958 to 1962.
Returning to politics in 1945, Buchan-Hepburn became Deputy Whip and then, in 1948, Chief Whip. He was elected MP for the newly created Beckenham constituency in Kent after his East Toxteth constituency was abolished by boundary changes before the general election. From 1951 to 1955, he was Government Chief Whip and Parliamentary Sec 1950 1955 to the Treasury. In 1957, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Hailes of Preston kirk in the County of East Lothian. Lord Hailes was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in September 1957.
When, in 1958, the West Indies Federation was formed in response to complaints against British colonialism in the Caribbean, Lord Hailes was appointed the Federation's first Governor-General and relocated to Port of Spain on the island of Trinidad. Four years later, the new state was dissolved and he returned to the United Kingdom, where he served as Chairman of the Historic Buildings Council (a predecessor of English Heritage, formally known as the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England).
In the 1962 Birthday Honours Lord Hailes was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour.