Frederick Verney

His father had been born Harry Calvert, inheriting the baronetcy from his father General Sir Harry Calvert, 1st Baronet, and had changed his surname to Verney in 1827 when he inherited the Verney family's estate in Aylesbury Vale, Buckinghamshire, including the John Adam-designed Claydon House.

[2] In 1883 he took up the post of English Secretary and Counsellor to the legation in London of Siam,[1] which was at that time a buffer state between the parts of South of Asia controlled by France and those under British rule.

The Kingdom of Siam honoured him for his diplomatic services by appointing him as a Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant.

[1] He was appointed in November 1909 as a member of a Royal Commission on the selection of Justices of the Peace (magistrates),[11] which reported in July 1910.

[12] However, Verney signed the report with a note dissociating himself from the proposal that "the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Lieutenants should refuse to receive any unasked-for recommendations from members of parliament or candidates for such membership in their own constituencies, or from political agents or representatives of political associations";[12] he claimed that this was outside the scope of the commission.