Sir Philip Sassoon as a staff officer during World War I

Sir Philip Albert Gustave David Sassoon, 3rd Baronet (4 December 1888 – 3 June 1939), was a British politician, art collector and social host, entertaining many celebrity guests at his home, Trent Park in North London, England.

Sassoon was a member of the prominent Sassoon and Rothschild families. His father was Sir Edward Albert Sassoon, 2nd Baronet, MP, son of Albert Abdullah David Sassoon; his mother was Aline Caroline, daughter of Baron Gustave de Rothschild. His sister was Sybil Sassoon, who married the Marquess of Cholmondeley.

He was Member of Parliament for Hythe from 1912, succeeding his father, initially as the "Baby of the House". A second lieutenant in the East Kent Yeomanry, Sassoon served as private secretary to Field Marshal Haig during the First World War. He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to David Lloyd George in 1920. Between 1924 and 1929 and again from 1931 until 1937 he served as Under-Secretary of State for Air, and gained much prominence in political circles. In 1937 he became First Commissioner of Works, a post which he held until his death two years later.

Sassoon was a cousin of the poet Siegfried Sassoon. He had a reputation for being one of the most eligible bachelors and greatest hosts in Britain. He built the Port Lympne estate in Kent. He largely re-built his other house and estate at Trent Park, Cockfosters, London.

[edit] References

• Sassoon: The Worlds of Philip and Sybil by Peter Stansky, (2003) Yale University Press ISBN 0-300-09547-3
• Leigh Rayment's Baronetage Page
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

[edit] See also

• Sassoon family

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