Douglas Clifton Brown, 1st Viscount Ruffside

Colonel The Right Honourable The Viscount Ruffside PC JP DL
Clifton Brown in 1925
Speaker of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom
In office 3 March 1943 – 31 October 1951
Monarch	George VI
Prime Minister	Winston Churchill Clement Attlee
Preceded by	Edward FitzRoy
Succeeded by	William Morrison
Member of Parliament for Hexham
In office 14 December 1918 – 16 November 1923
Preceded by	Richard Durning Holt
Succeeded by	Victor Finney
In office 29 October 1924 – 4 October 1951
Preceded by	Victor Finney
Succeeded by	Rupert Speir
Personal details
Born	16 August 1879 (1879-08-16)
Died	5 May 1958 (1958-05-06) (aged 78)
Nationality	British
Spouse	Violet Arbuthnot Wollaston ​ ​ (m. 1907)​
Relations	Howard Clifton Brown (brother)
Children	Audrey Clifton Brown
Parent(s)	James Clifton Brown Amelia Rowe Brown
Education	Eton College
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

Douglas Clifton Brown, 1st Viscount Ruffside, PC, JP, DL (16 August 1879 – 5 May 1958) was a British politician who represented the Conservative Party (UK). He served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1943 to 1951. Upon stepping down as Speaker he became the Viscount Ruffside; the peerage became extinct with his death.

Clifton Brown was born on 16 August 1879. He was the fifth of ten children born to Amelia (née Rowe) Brown and Colonel James Clifton Brown, a Liberal Party Member of Parliament.^[1] His maternal grandparents were Charles Rowe, who was mixed race, due to being of African descent, and his Lima-born wife Sarah.^[2][3] His elder brother was Howard Clifton Brown^{[citation needed]}

His paternal grandparents were Alexander Brown and his wife Sarah Benedict Brown. His great-grandfather was the banker and merchant Sir William Brown, 1st Baronet, and his uncle was Liberal politician Sir Alexander Brown, 1st Baronet.^{[citation needed]}

Clifton Brown was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.^[4]

Clifton Brown was a lieutenant in the Lancashire Artillery when on 26 March 1902 he was commissioned a second-lieutenant in the 1st Dragoon Guards,^[5] serving in South Africa during the end of the Second Boer War. He advanced to major in the regiment, and later became a lieutenant-colonel in the Volunteer force.

Mr. Speaker Clifton Brown's Retirement Act 1951
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to settle and secure an annuity upon the Right Honourable Douglas Clifton Brown in consideration of his eminent services.
Citation	15 & 16 Geo. 6 & 1 Eliz. 2. c. 2
Dates
Royal assent	7 December 1951
Other legislation
Repealed by	Statute Law Revision Act 1963
Status: Repealed

Clifton Brown was the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Hexham from 1918 to 1923 and from 1924 to 1951.^[6] He was a Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons from 1938 to 1943 and Speaker of the House of Commons from 1943 to 1951.^{[citation needed]} He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1941^[7] and raised to the peerage as Viscount Ruffside, of Hexham in the County of Northumberland, in 1951.^[8] An act of Parliament, Mr. Speaker Clifton Brown's Retirement Act 1951 (15 & 16 Geo. 6 & 1 Eliz. 2. c. 2), was passed to provide him with a pension as former Speaker.^[9]

In 1907, Ruffside was married to Violet Cicely Kathleen Wollaston (1882–1969), daughter of Frederick Eustace Arbuthnot Wollaston.^[10] They were the parents of one child:^[11]

• Audrey Clifton Brown (1908–2002), who married Harry Hylton-Foster, who became Speaker of the House of Commons. Audrey was created a life peeress as Baroness Hylton-Foster in honour of her husband in 1965.^[11]

Ruffside died in May 1958, aged 78. As there were no surviving male issue from the marriage, the viscountcy became extinct. His widow, the Viscountess Ruffside, died in November 1969, aged 87.^{[citation needed]}

Coat of arms of Douglas Clifton Brown, 1st Viscount Ruffside

Notes Lord Ruffside was an agnate of the Brown baronets of Richmond hill. His arms, as displayed in the speaker's chamber, are the same as those in the baronets' arms.[citation needed] Escutcheon Gules a Chevron Or between two Bear's Paws erased in chief and four hands conjoined in saltire of the second in base on a Chief engrailed Or an Eagle displayed Sable

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Douglas Clifton Brown
• Portraits of Douglas Clifton Brown at the National Portrait Gallery, London