Courtenay Mansel

Sir Courtenay Cecil Mansel, 13th Baronet (25 February 1880 – 4 January 1933) was a Welsh landowner and farmer, barrister and Liberal Party politician who later joined the Conservatives.

Courtenay Cecil Mansel was the son of Sir Richard Mansel, 12th Baronet Mansel of Muddlescombe in Carmarthenshire. The Mansel Baronets date back to the early 17th century. When his father died in 1892, Courtenay was considered to have succeeded as the 13th Baronet and held the title for eleven years. However it was discovered that the first marriage of his grandparents in Scotland (there was a later one in England) was not invalid as had been thought and that his uncle Colonel Edward Berkely Mansel, not his father Richard Mansel, should have succeeded to the title in 1883. He therefore stood aside and allowed his uncle to bear the title. Edward Mansel died in 1908 without children and Courtenay Mansel once again succeeded to the baronetcy.

The branch of the family which inherited the Mansel baronetcy had the surname Philipps. Courtenay reverted to this name after he relinquished the title and married Mary Philippa Agnes Germaine Littlewood under this name in 1906. They had three sons and eight daughters. Lady Mansel died in 1958.

Mansel was educated at Harrow School.

Mansel went in for the law and was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1918. During the First World War, Mansel served in the Royal Flying Corps and later transferred to the newly formed Royal Air Force leaving with the rank of Captain. He later served as a Justice of the Peace for the counties of Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire.

Mansel was considered as prospective Liberal candidate for two Welsh seats before he eventually stood for Parliament in 1918. In 1908, the sitting Liberal MP for Swansea, George Newnes, announced his intention to stand down at the next election and Mansel was publicly mentioned as a possible successor. In the end the Liberal Association chose Alfred Mond to fight the seat. In 1910 he was considered one of the front runners for the Liberal nomination in West Carmarthenshire but he lost out to John Hinds. In 1912, a vacancy arose in East Carmarthenshire and Mansel was among those contesting the Liberal nomination. His and landowning background told against him however in a strongly non-conformist constituency, which at that time included the industrial town of Llanelli.

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