Frederick Ponsonby, 4th Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede

Frederick Matthew Thomas Ponsonby, 4th Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede, Baron Ponsonby of Roehampton (born 27 October 1958), is a British peer and politician. He was appointed Senior Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords on 13 May 2026 and previously served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice from 2024 to 2025.

The Right Honourable The Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede JP
Official portrait, 2019
Senior Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords
Incumbent
Assumed office 13 May 2026
Lord Speaker	The Lord Forsyth of Drumlean
Preceded by	The Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice
In office 9 July 2024 – 6 September 2025
Prime Minister	Keir Starmer
Preceded by	The Lord Bellamy
Succeeded by	The Baroness Levitt
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Hereditary peerage 13 June 1990 – 11 November 1999
Preceded by	The 3rd Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede
Succeeded by	Seat abolished
Incumbent
Life peerage 19 April 2000
Personal details
Born	Frederick Matthew Thomas Ponsonby (1958-10-27) 27 October 1958
Party	Non-affiliated
Other political affiliations	Labour (until 2026)
Relations	Ponsonby family
Parents	Thomas Ponsonby, 3rd Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede Ursula Fox-Pitt

Early life and education

The only son of Thomas Ponsonby, 3rd Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede, and Ursula née Fox-Pitt, he attended Holland Park School, before studying Physics at Cardiff University, graduating BSc 1980. He then pursued post-graduate studies in Engineering at Imperial College London, CEng 1997.

Lord Ponsonby was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (FIMMM) in 1996.

Political career

Succeeding as Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede upon his father's death in 1990, he took his seat in the House of Lords as a hereditary peer in 1991, sitting on the Labour benches.

Lord Ponsonby represented Roehampton Ward as a councillor on Wandsworth London Borough Council from 1990 to 1994.

Along with all but 92 of his fellow hereditary peers, Lord Ponsonby was ejected from the upper house following the enactment of the House of Lords Act 1999. Having sat on the Lords Opposition frontbench as a spokesman on Education from 1992–1997 as well as on various parliamentary sub-committees, in 2000 he was created a life peer, in addition to his hereditary title, as Baron Ponsonby of Roehampton, of Shulbrede in the County of West Sussex, which meant he could resume sitting in the House of Lords.

Having served as an Opposition spokesperson for Justice from April 2020 and Home Affairs from May 2021, on 9 July 2024, Ponsonby was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice and as a Lord-in-Waiting.

A justice of the peace (JP) for Westminster since 2006, Ponsonby was admitted as a Freeman of the City of London in 2024.

Family

On 5 July 1995, he married Sarah Catriona Pilkington Jackson OBE (born 1957), former chief executive of the charity Working Families, and daughter of Richard d'Orville Pilkington Jackson (1921–2008).

Lord and Lady Ponsonby live in London and have two children:

• The Hon. Eve Ponsonby (born 1991), an actress;
• The Hon. Cameron Ponsonby (born 1995), educated at University of Southampton (BSc) and City, University of London (MA), a sports journalist and heir apparent to the hereditary barony.

Arms

Coat of arms of Frederick Ponsonby, 4th Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede

Coronet That of a Baron Crest Out of a Ducal Coronet Azure three Arrows, point downwards, one in pale and two in saltire, entwined at the intersection by a Snake Proper Escutcheon Gules a Chevron between three Combs Argent Motto Pro Rege Lege Grege (For The King, The Law, And The People)

Sources

• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom