Arthur Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede

The Right Honourable The Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
Ponsonby in 1934
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
In office 13 March – 25 August 1931
Prime Minister	Ramsay MacDonald
Preceded by	Clement Attlee
Succeeded by	The Marquess of Lothian
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport
In office 1929–1931
Preceded by	The Earl Russell
Succeeded by	John Allen Parkinson
Member of Parliament for Sheffield Brightside
In office 15 November 1922 – 1930
Preceded by	Tudor Walters
Succeeded by	Fred Marshall
Member of Parliament for Stirling Burghs
In office 1908 – 25 November 1918
Preceded by	Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	16 February 1871
Died	23 March 1946(1946-03-23) (aged 75)
Spouse	Dorothea Parry ​ (m. 1898)​
Children	2 (Elizabeth and Matthew)
Parents	Henry Ponsonby (father) Mary Bulteel (mother)
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford

Arthur Augustus William Harry Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede (16 February 1871 – 23 March 1946), was a British politician, writer, and social activist. He was the son of Sir Henry Ponsonby, Private Secretary to Queen Victoria, and Mary Elizabeth Bulteel, daughter of John Crocker Bulteel. He was also the great-grandson of The 3rd Earl of Bessborough, The 3rd Earl of Bathurst and The 2nd Earl Grey. The 1st Baron Sysonby was his elder brother.

Ponsonby is often quoted as the author of the dictum "When war is declared, truth is the first casualty", published in his book Falsehood in War-time, Containing an Assortment of Lies Circulated Throughout the Nations During the Great War (1928). However, he uses this phrase in quotation marks as an epigram at the start of the book and does not present it as his own words. Its likely origin is the almost identical line spoken in 1917 by the United States Senator Hiram Johnson: "The first casualty when war comes is truth".^[1]