Henry Channon
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Henry Channon
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| In office 1935 – 1958 |
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| Preceded by | The Countess of Iveagh |
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| Succeeded by | Paul Channon |
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| Born | 7 March 1897 |
| Died | 7 October 1958 (aged 61) |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Children | Paul Channon |
Sir Henry "Chips" Channon (7 March 1897 – 7 October 1958) was an American-born British Conservative politican and diarist.
Born in Chicago to a wealthy family, Channon grew up with a transatlantic childhood, before travelling to France with the American Red Cross in October 1917. In France he became friends with Marcel Proust and Jean Cocteau.
From about 1918 to 1922, Channon was at Christ Church, Oxford where he began a lifelong friendship with Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, whom in his diaries he often spoke of loving.
In 1933, Channon married brewing heiress Lady Honor Guinness, eldest daughter of the 2nd Earl of Iveagh. They named their only child Paul. In later life his partner would be the landscape designer Peter Coats. He also had an affair[1] with the dramatist Terence Rattigan, whom he financially supported.
A naturalized UK citizen, he became a Conservative politician. At the 1935 general election, he was returned as Member of Parliament for Southend, the seat previously held by his mother-in-law Gwendolen Guinness, Countess of Iveagh. After boundary changes in 1950, he was re-elected for the new Southend West constituency, holding the seat until his death in 1958. His highest office was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office, Rab Butler.
After his death, his son, Paul Channon, won the consequent Southend West by-election.
After moving into his sumptuously redecorated house at No. 5 Belgrave Square[2] in February 1936 (where at his peak he had fifteen servants), Channon quickly established himself as London's preeminent host, in his legendary blue and silver dining room modeled on the Amalienburg.[3] Perhaps the climax of his career in that role came on Thursday, 19 November 1936, with a guest list headed by King Edward VIII, though without Mrs Wallis Simpson, of whom Channon was a friend and admirer. Regrettably, the menu is not found in Channon's published diaries. Twenty-two days later, on 11 December, Edward abdicated. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VIII_abdication_crisis
In 1937, Channon purchased Kelvedon Hall in Essex, where he is buried.
Channon was an admirer and supporter of Neville Chamberlain and the Munich Agreement, which he still defended in his diary after the war.
Channon, known as "Chips", is widely known for his Diaries, covering the years 1934-52. They were edited by Robert Rhodes James and published in 1967. Another political diarist, Alan Clark, greatly admired them.
Under the will of Paul Channon, the remainder of Henry Channon's diaries are to remain unpublished until 2018.[4] Four previously unknown volumes turned up at a Sussex car boot sale in 1991. Those already published were heavily expurgated. An Oxford contemporary, when told that no diaries from that period existed, said, "Thank God!"[5]
Robert Rhodes James, the editor of the diaries, quotes in his Introduction a self-portrait written by Channon on 19 July 1935:
- Sometimes I think I have an unusual character – able but trivial; I have flair, intuition, great good taste but only second rate ambition: I am far too susceptible to flattery; I hate and am uninterested in all the things most men like such as sports, business, statistics, debates, speeches, war, and the weather; but I am riveted by lust, furniture, glamour and society and jewels. I am an excellent organizer and have a will of iron; I can only be appealed to through my vanity. Occasionally I must have solitude: my soul craves fo it. All thought is done in solitude; only then am I partly happy.[6]
[edit] Sources
- Chips: The Diaries of Sir Henry Channon, ed. Robert Rhodes James (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1967)
[edit] References
- ^ The deep, dark spirit of Rattigan, Evening Standard, 1 February 2005
- ^ Daily Telegraph
- ^ Peak of Chic
- ^ Daily Telegraph, Lord Kelvedon obituary, 30 Jan 2007
- ^ Channon, Henry, Chips: The Diaries of Sir Henry Channon, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1967, p. 6
- ^ Op. cit. p. 11 et seq.
[edit] External links
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by The Countess of Iveagh |
Member of Parliament for Southend 1933–1950 |
Succeeded by Constituency abolished |
| Preceded by New Creation |
Member of Parliament for Southend West 1950–1959 |
Succeeded by Paul Channon |
