Viscount Stansgate

Viscount Stansgate, of Stansgate in the County of Essex, is a currently disclaimed title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1942 for the Labour politician and former Secretary of State for India and Secretary of State for Air, William Wedgwood Benn. He was the second son of Sir John Benn, 1st Baronet, of The Old Knoll. Lord Stansgate's eldest son and heir apparent, the Hon. Michael Benn, was killed in the Second World War, and he was consequently succeeded by his younger son, the second Viscount, better known as the Labour politician Tony Benn. He disclaimed the peerage in 1963 on the day the Peerage Act 1963 passed into law and made it possible for him to do so. On Tony Benn's death the title will be passed on to the next in line, his elder son Stephen Benn. Both Tony Benn and his sons are in remainder to the Benn Baronetcy of The Old Knoll.