William Grenfell was the son of Charles William Grenfell MP (1823-1861) of Taplow Court and inherited the house and the Desborough estate on the death of his father in 1861. Like his father he went to Harrow and Balliol, where he was president of both the university athletic club and boating club. He was one of the greatest all-round English sportsmen: oarsman and punter, long-distance track runner, cricketer, fencer, horseman, fisherman, big-game hunter and mountaineer.
He married Ethel Fane in 1887 and they had three sons and two daughters, Monica and Imogen. The two oldest boys, Julian - well-known as a war poet - and Gerald William (known as Billy), were killed in action in Flanders in 1915. The youngest son, Ivo, died in a car accident in 1926.
Grenfell entered parliament in 1885 but after losing his seat, went to the Sudan in 1888 as a special correspondent for the Daily Telegraph. He returned to parliament in 1892 as a Gladstonian Liberal for Hereford City but resigned in 1893 refusing to support Irish home rule. He returned to parliament in 1900 as a Conservative MP for South Bucks but left the Commons in 1905 when he was raised to the peerage taking the title Baron Desborough of Taplow which referred to the Desborough Hundred, one of the three 'Chiltern Hundreds'. He was appointed CVO in 1907, KCVO in 1908, GCVO in 1925 and admitted to the Garter in 1928. The peerage became extinct on his death on 6 January 1945.
In 1914 Desborough became president of The Central Association of Volunteer Training Corps which organised around a million volunteers, either over-age for military service or in protected occupations, to provide essential labour in dockyards and munitions factories, helping to bring in the harvest or manning anti-aircraft defence posts. Also during the First World War he turned Taplow Court into a nurses’ rest home.
Though Grenfell never achieved great political office, his commitment to public service was extraordinarily wide-ranging. It was said of him that 'the multiplicity of his interests was indeed only matched by his industry and sense of duty' and at one time he was reputed to have sat on 115 committees simultaneously. He was chairman of the Thames Conservancy Board for 32 years, president of the London Chamber of Commerce and president of the Royal Agricultural Society. He also became president of the Marylebone Cricket Club, the Lawn Tennis Association and the Amateur Athletic Association. He was both President and prime mover of the Olympics held in London in 1908.
The Desboroughs made Taplow Court (currently the headquarters of Soka Gakkai, an international Buddhist sect), into a highly fashionable society venue: Edward VII and Field Marshal Lord Kitchener were frequent visitors. In WW2 it was used as a school for evacuated girls.
He is buried in St. Nicholas's Church, Taplow.
Lord Desborough's connection with the borough
Lord Desborough (known as Willy) was a genial and popular man very active in local affairs. He was High Steward of the borough for 60 years from 1884 until his death. The stewardship's original remit was 'to enlist an eminent man who would take part in the public government of the town' (and be an influence at Court). By the time he took on the office it had become purely honorary. He nonetheless became an 'invaluable servant and generous sponsor' and was an exceptional benefactor to the town throughout his life, particularly in the sale and lease of land for development.
The Grenfells had been Lords of the Manors of Taplow and Bray for many years and the Grenfell estate (on the Berkshire side of the river) included Shoppenhangers, Ockwells, Kimbers, Philberd and Lowbrooks. From the 1870s to the end of the war a great deal of estate land was developed within the borough and his name lives on in such places as Grenfell Park, Grenfell Road, Desborough Park and Desborough School. He was Mayor of Maidenhead 1895-97, including Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year, and was made a Freeman of the Borough in 1918.
His skill at aquatic sports and his great love of the Thames meant he was often to be seen on the river rowing or punting. He was steward of Henley Regatta for many years and president and captain of Maidenhead Rowing Club for over 60 years.