Sir William Mount, 1st Baronet

Sir William Arthur Mount, 1st Baronet CBE (Hartley, Hampshire, 3 August 1866 – 8 December 1930) was a British Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament for the Newbury constituency. He is the great-grandfather of Conservative politician David Cameron, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016.

The eldest son of William George Mount of Wasing Place, Berkshire and wife Marianne Emily Clutterbuck, he was educated at Eton College and New College, Oxford where he achieved honours in classics and modern history.

Law and politics

He was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple in 1893. Between 1896 and 1903 he served as assistant private secretary to two Chancellors of Exchequer, Sir Michael Hicks Beach (later Viscount St. Aldwyn) and Charles Thomson Ritchie (later Baron Ritchie of Dundee).

After his father stepped down as member for the South, or Newbury division of Berkshire in 1900 he was elected and served for six years before being defeated at the 1906 general election by his Liberal opponent. In the January 1910 general election he stood again and succeeded in regaining his seat where he remained until resigning in 1922.

Berkshire appointments

He was deputy lieutenant and magistrate for Berkshire and was elected chairman of the Berkshire county council in 1926.

He was created a baronet in the 1921 Birthday Honours.

Mount married Hilda Lucy Adelaide Low on 9 November 1899 in Kensington, London, Middlesex. Hilda was born 23 May 1875 to (William) Malcolm Low (Lucknow), and wife (m. 30 July 1872), Lady Ida Matilda Alice Feilding. She died 3 April 1950.

Mount and his wife were parents to Sir William Mount, 2nd Baronet.

He died while crossing a meadow at Aldermaston while riding with the South Berkshire hounds from his residence at Wasing Place on 8 December 1930.