Victorian Vanity Fair Cartoon, ’Taplow Court’, by Spy, dated Dec 20th 1890

Mr. William Henry Grenfell, Baron Desborough (1855-1945) a politician and athlete; President of the Oxford University Boat Club, Amateur Fencing Association, Marylebone Cricket Club, Lawn Tennis Association and the Olympic games held in London in 1908. He won a silver medal for Fencing in the 1906 Intercalated Games and was punting champion of the Upper Thames. He became a Liberal MP for Salisbury in 1880 and later a Conservative MP for Wycombe in 1900. He also climbed the Matterhorn three times.