Philip Dunne (Stalybridge and Hyde MP)

He was the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Marten Dunne (1864–1944), Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Walsall (1906–1910), of Gatley Park, Leominster, Herefordshire, by his wife Hon. Grace Rendel (d.1952), J.P., third daughter and co-heiress of the only Lord Rendel of Hatchlands.

Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966) often refers to his friend, who for the purpose of differentiation (from another Philip Dunne) he called 'Scum' Dunne, in his letters to Nancy Mitford:

Captain Philip Russell Rendel Dunne, MC (28 February 1904 – 13 April 1965) was an English soldier and politician.

Lord of the Manor of Leinthall Earls.

Educated at Eton and RMC Sandhurst, Dunne joined the 11th Hussars in 1924, and served with the Royal Horse Guards from 1928 to 1932.

He married firstly 29 April 1930 (dissolved by divorce 1944), Margaret Ann Walker, daughter of Thomas Hood Walker of Crosbie Tower, Troon, Ayrshire.

They had two sons and a daughter:

A member of White's, the Turf and Jockey clubs, Dunne was Joint Master of the Warwickshire Hounds from 1932 to 1935, retiring when elected a Conservative and Unionist Member of Parliament for the Stalybridge and Hyde division of Cheshire at the 1935 general election, with a majority of 5,081 over Labour.

He resigned from the House of Commons in 1937 by becoming Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds.

In the Second World War Dunne was a British Commando in the No. 8 (Guards) Commando, serving in the White's Club group of the Layforce Commandos (Special Service Troop) in the Middle East, having sailed there in early 1941 with Evelyn Waugh, Randolph Churchill, George Jellicoe, David Stirling, and others.

His Military Cross was awarded in 1943.

He married a secondly 18 September 1945 Audrey Mary, daughter of Charles Ringham Simpson, of Ramsay St. Mary's, Huntingdonshire and widow of Bernard Rubin (d. 1936).

He died in 1965 at Brompton Hospital in London aged 61.

Of Captain Philip Dunne Lord Lovat wrote:

Major-General Sir Robert Laycock wrote:

'Bravery and gaiety are the first two words that spring to the minds of those of us who were Philip's friends and that must include all who knew him for his charm was inimitable.

Some of that charm lay in the fact that personal ambition was wholly lacking in his character and, though everything he undertook in a diversity of fields he tackled with spectacular ability, the limelight was anathema to him.

At Eton he won the Quarter Mile and was probably one of the best flies whoever played the Field because he thought it more worth while to play in the House side which, as Captain of Games, he led to victory in the House Cup.

Being a born leader and a superb horseman he could have commanded The Blues, but he realized that the days of the horsed cavalry were over and, not being mechanically minded, he left the Army.

In the Second World War he volunteered to join the Commandos on their inception and served with them with distinction.

Being the bravest of the brave it is not surprising that he was decorated with the Military Cross for gallantry in the field.

He was a superb leader and hero-worshipped by his subordinates but, because he admired the rank and file who served under him and wanted to get to grips with the enemy in the closest contact with them, he preferred to remain a Troop Leader rather than take a much higher command which was offered him.

In the days of peace which followed he loved racing and was a successful breeder and owner.

He was made a member of the Jockey Club and the racing world will miss him as sadly as do all of us to whom his loyalty, courage, optimism and friendship are irreplaceable' (from The Times, 21 April 1965).

The last paragraph of Waugh's last diary, written on Easter Day 1965, read: