Henry Channon

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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 1918-1922, 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 Honour 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 Coates. 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. 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 in February, 1936, Channon quickly established himself as London's preeminent host. Perhaps the climax of his career in that role came on Thursday, November 19, 1936, with a guest list headed by King Edward VIII, though without Mrs. Wallis Simpson, of whom Channon was a friend and admirer. Twenty-two days later, on December 11, Edward, of whom Channon was a heartfelt supporter, abdicated.

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Under the will of Paul Channon, the remainder of Henry Channon's diaries are to remain unpublished until 2018.^[2] Four previously unknown volumes turned up at a Sussex car boot sale in 1991. Those already published were heavily expurgated.

[edit] Sources

• Chips: The Diaries of Sir Henry Channon, ed. Robert Rhodes James (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1967)

[edit] References