1688 Godfrey Baring

Constituency  : Isle  of  Wight  1906-10, Barnstaple  1911-18

Godfrey  took  over  from  John  Seeley  on  the  Isle  of  Wight.

Godfrey  was  a  member  of  the  Baring  banking  family  and  grandson  of  the  Peelite  minister  Sir  James  Graham. In  1898  he  became  chairman  of  the  Isle  of  Wight  County  Council, a  position  he  held  for  the  next  59  years.

Godfrey  was  narrowly  defeated  in  January  1910. He  was  created  a  baronet  in  1911  then  returned  to  Parliament  at  a  by-election  at  Barnstaple  later  that  year.

In  1918  Godfrey  stood  for  the  Isle  of  Wight  again  but  was  easily  defeated  by  a  couponed  Conservative.

Godfrey  was  a  keen  yachtsman  who  joined  the  Royal  Yacht  Squadron  in  1892. He  frequently  entertained  royalty  during  Cowes  Week. He  was  on  the  management  committee  of  the  Royal  National  Lifeboat  Institution  for  33  years  and  eventually  became  its  president.

He  died  in  1957  aged  86.