Robert Grant-Ferris, Baron Harvington
British politician (1907–1996)
Robert Grant Grant-Ferris, Baron Harvington, AE PC (30 December 1907 – 1 January 1997) was a British Conservative Party politician and RAF officer.
Early life and career
Born Robert Grant Ferris, he was the son of Mrs Ellen Ryan Ferris (1870–1955), who is known to have purchased and given Harvington Hall to the Archdiocese of Birmingham in 1923. Grant-Ferris was a staunch supporter of fellow devout Roman Catholic Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War.
He was educated at Douai School and served in the RAF during the War, receiving the Air Efficiency Award in 1942.
He changed his name from Ferris to Grant-Ferris by deed poll in August 1942.
Political career
He was member of parliament (MP) for St Pancras North from 1937 to 1945, and for Nantwich from 1955 until his retirement at the February 1974 general election. He served as Chairman of Ways and Means and Deputy Speaker from 1970 to 1974. Ferris's maiden speech to Parliament was in March 1937, in a debate on the Air Ministry estimates, in which he spoke as a member of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force.
Robert Grant-Ferris was knighted in 1969, and sworn to the Privy Council in 1971. On 24 June 1974 he was given a life peerage as Baron Harvington, of Nantwich in Cheshire.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Robert Grant-Ferris, Baron Harvington” is british politician (1907–1996). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Robert, Grant-Ferris and Baron, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “british politician (1907–1996)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7344909. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1907, 1997, 1870 and 1955.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Robert Grant-Ferris, Baron Harvington”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Robert Grant-Ferris, Baron Harvington primary sources, Robert Grant-Ferris, Baron Harvington archive and Robert research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Robert Grant-Ferris, Baron Harvington”?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Robert Grant-Ferris, Baron Harvington” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.