Sir Ralph Wedgwood, 1st Baronet

Wedgwood was born at Barlaston Lea, Stoke-on-Trent, the son of Clement Wedgwood and his wife Emily, daughter of the engineer James Meadows Rendel.[1][2] His elder brother was Josiah Wedgwood, 1st Baron Wedgwood. He was educated at Clifton College and Trinity College, Cambridge,[3][1] where he became a member of the Cambridge Apostles.[4] He was close friends there with his second cousin, Ralph Vaughan Williams, who later dedicated two of his works to him, "In the Fen Country" and "A Sea Symphony".[5] Along with Richard Curle, Wedgwood was executor of Joseph Conrad's estate from Conrad's death in 1924 until 1944, when responsibility was transferred to the author's son John Conrad and the law firm Withers.[6]

Wedgwood was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1917,[7] and was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1918.[8] He was knighted on 10 July 1924[9] and created a baronet on 20 January 1942.[10][1]

He married Iris Veronica Pawson, daughter of Albert Henry Pawson on 24 October 1906 at St. Margaret's, Westminster. They had two children who survived to adulthood; John Hamilton Wedgwood (1907–1989), second baronet and Cicely Veronica Wedgwood (1910–1997), historian. A second son, Ralph Pawson Wedgwood was born and died in 1909.

An A4 Class locomotive, 4469 Sir Ralph Wedgwood, was named after him but it was destroyed by bombing during the Second World War. His name was later given to A4 Class 4466.