{{Short description|British hereditary peer, Liberal politician and merchant banker}} {{More citations needed|date=March 2020}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable | name = The Lord Rea | honorific_suffix = PC | image = Sartono speaking with Phillip Rea and Wongsonegoro, Indonesian Affairs Vol 4 Issue 1-2, Jan-Feb 1954, p44 (cropped).jpg | alt = portrait, halftoned print | caption = Philip Rea | office = Leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Lords | term_start = 1955 | term_end = 1967 | predecessor = The Viscount Samuel | successor = The Lord Byers | office1 = Member of the House of Lords<br />Lord Temporal | term_start1 = 26 May 1948 | term_end1 = 22 April 1981<br />Hereditary Peerage | predecessor1 = The 1st Lord Rea | successor1 = The 3rd Lord Rea | birth_name = Philip Russell Rea | birth_date = 7 February 1900 | death_date = {{Death date and age|1981|4|22|1900|2|7|df=y}} | parents = | spouse = {{marriage|Lorna Smith |1922|1978|end=d}} | children = 2 | party = Liberal | education = Westminster School | alma_mater = {{unbulleted list|Oxford University |University of Grenoble}} }} {{Infobox COA wide |image = Rea Achievement.png |escutcheon = Or on a fess wavy Azure between three stags courant Gules a lymphad sails furled of the field. |crest = A stag at gaze Gules resting the dexter fore-leg on an anchor Or. |supporters = On either side a stag Gules each charged on the shoulder with a bezant thereon an anchor Azure. |motto = In Omnia Promptus <ref>{{cite book|title=Burke's Peerage |date=1949}}</ref>}}

'''Philip Russell Rea, 2nd Baron Rea''', PC (7 February 1900 – 22 April 1981) was a British hereditary peer, Liberal politician and merchant banker.

The eldest son of Walter Rea, a Liberal politician, and his first wife, Evelyn, Rea was educated at Westminster School, and then at Christ Church, Oxford University, where he graduated BA and later MA, and lastly at the University of Grenoble.

In 1918, during the closing stages of the First World War, he served as a second lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards. During the Second World War he returned to the British Army and served as personal staff officer to Brigadier Colin Gubbins, Head of the Special Operations Executive, a key British intelligence and guerrilla operations agency. He was an officer of the King's Royal Rifle Corps.

Lord Rea served as Leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Lords from 1955 to 1967. In the Lords he had been Chief Liberal Whip from 1950 to 1955, a Deputy Speaker from 1954, and Deputy Chairman of Committees 1950 to 1955. He was president of the Liberal Party between 1955 and 1956, and a party vice-president from 1970. He was made a Privy Councillor in 1962.

Rea married Lorna Smith (died 11 December 1978) on 7 April 1922. They had a son and daughter, but as his son Piers Russell Rea (1925–1934) died young, he was succeeded by Nicolas Rea, the son of his younger brother James Russell Rea (1902–1954).

His daughter, the Hon. Ann Felicity Rea (born 1923) served in the WRNS in the Second World War<ref>''London Gazette'' dated 25 February 1944, [http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/36397/pages/953/page.pdf p. 953]</ref> and married SOE veteran Malcolm Munthe in 1945.

==References== *''Burke's Peerage and Baronetage'' (105th edition, 1970) {{reflist}}

== External links == * {{NPG name|name=Philip Rea}}

{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{succession box|title=Chairman of the Liberal Party|years=1950–1952 |before=The Lord Moynihan|after = Philip Fothergill}} {{succession box|title=President of the Liberal Party|years=1955|before=Graham White|after=Leonard Behrens}} {{succession box | title = Leader of the Liberals in the House of Lords | years = 1955–1967 | before = The Viscount Samuel | after = The Lord Byers }} {{s-reg|uk}} {{succession box | title = Baron Rea | years = 1948–1981 | before = Walter Rea | after = Nicolas Rea }} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rea, Philip, 2nd Baron}} Category:1900 births Category:1981 deaths 2 Category:British Army personnel of World War I Category:British Army personnel of World War II Category:Grenadier Guards officers Category:King's Royal Rifle Corps officers Category:Leaders of the Liberal Party (UK) Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:People educated at Westminster School, London Category:Presidents of the Liberal Party (UK) Category:British Special Operations Executive personnel

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