Thomas Ponsonby, 3rd Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede

Elizabeth Mary Bigham, daughter of the 2nd Viscount Mersey, he was educated at Bryanston School and Hertford College, Oxford.

[1] Ponsonby served in London local government for 20 years, firstly as a Councillor of the Metropolitan Borough of Kensington from 1956 to 1965 and then as an Alderman of the newly created Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council from 1964 to 1974.

Ponsonby succeeded to the peerage on the death of his father in 1976 and made his maiden speech in the House of Lords on the subject of local government devolution.

[2] Elected as Labour Chief Whip in the House of Lords in 1982, defeating Lord Strabolgi, he served as Opposition Chief Whip until his death in 1990.

[3] Lord Ponsonby married twice: He was succeeded in the barony by his only son Frederick.