Christopher Henry Maxwell Peto was born in February 1897, the second son of Sir Basil Peto Bt. His grandfather was Sir Morton Peto Bt MP, a well known civil engineer. He was educated at Harrow and commissioned into the 9th Lancers in 1915. He served with the regiment in WW1, seriously injured in 1918 and mentioned in despatches. He commanded the 9th Lancers from 1940, and on 6 June 1940 led them against a German position during the Dunkirk retreat and was awarded the DSO. He was badly wounded in this operation and evacuated from St Nazaire.
For three years he commanded the 29th and 137th armoured brigades and became Chief Liaison Officer to Allied Contingents in 21st Army Group (North West Europe) on Montgomery’s staff.
Between the two world wars he travelled to Germany, Egypt, Palestine, Transjordan, Syria, East Africa, Uganda and India. He was MP for North West Devon and came from a family with Parliamentary associations. His father, Sir Basil Peto was Conservative MP for Devizes from 1910 to 1918 and for North West Devon from 1922 to 1923 and 1924 to 1925. His grandfather Sir Morton Peto was Liberal MP for Norwich. Sir Christopher was a Deputy Lieutenant of Devon from 1950 to 1955 and of Wiltshire from 1956 to 1979, serving as High Sheriff in 1966. He was Colonel of the Regiment from 2 Sep 1950 until amalgamation on 11 Sep 1960.
Brigadier Sir Christopher Peto was married, in 1935, to Barbara Close from Camberley and lived at Kenwith Castle, near Bideford. They had a daughter and two sons. He died on 19 May 1980 at Basingstoke, his obituary being published in the Daily Telegraph on 21 May 1980. His son Michael succeeds to the baronetcy.
