Hugh FitzRoy, 11th Duke of Grafton

Hugh FitzRoy, 11th Duke of Grafton

Hugh Denis Charles FitzRoy, 11th Duke of Grafton , KG , DL (born April 3, 1919 in Cape Town , † April 7, 2011 in Euston Hall , Suffolk ) was a British peer and politician .

Life

Origin and family

FitzRoy was a descendant of Charles II through Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton , the illegitimate son of the king with Barbara Villiers . The Fitzroys are therefore a direct but illegitimate line of the House of Stuart .

FitzRoy was born on April 3, 1919 to Charles FitzRoy, 10th Duke of Grafton , and his first wife Lady Doreen Maria Josepha Sydney Buxton, the second daughter of Sydney Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton , in Cape Town . The mother died in 1923; the father married twice and became Duke of Grafton in 1936 after his cousin, John FitzRoy, 9th Duke of Grafton , died unmarried and childless.

Career

Hugh FitzRoy attended Oakham School , Eton College, and Magdalene College at the University of Cambridge . He then became a member of the Grenadier Guards and was aide-de-camp for three years from 1943 to the Viceroy of India , Archbald Wavell . He achieved the rank of captain .

Hugh FitzRoy devoted much of his life to preserving and protecting historic buildings. He was chairman ( Chairman ) and later president of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and Chairman ( Chairman of Trustees ) of the Historic Churches Preservation Trust 1980-1997, Chairman of the Architectural Heritage Fund from 1976 to 1994, Chairman of the Cathedral Advisory Commission of Church of England from 1981 to 1991 and Chairman of Sir John Soane's Museum from 1975 to 1997.

He was a member of the Historic Buildings Council from its inception in 1953 to 1984 and, until he inherited his father's title in 1970, he was administrator of the National Trust for Sussex and Kent , and later for East Anglia . He was also Vice-Chairman of the National Portrait Gallery from 1967 to 1992 . From 1984 to 2001 he was a member of the Historic Buildings Advisory Committee and Churches and Cathedrals Committee English Heritage . FitzRoy was also President of the International Students House in London .

His father wrote to him for ten years before his death, most of the family property Euston Hall , near Thetford in the county of Suffolk . Hugh FitzRoy managed part of the family's estate himself. Like his father, he became a successful horse breeder and in 1977 won the breeding championship for cattle at the Suffolk Show with a bull from Hereford .

Other offices

From 1981 to 1994 FitzRoy was a member of the National Trust Properties Committee and from 1971 to 1994 he was a member of the Royal Fine Art Commission . He was a member of the Trustee of the Tradescant Trust from 1976 to 1999 and of the Buildings at Risk Trust from 1986 to 2000. From 1957 to 1996 he was President of the Suffolk Preservation Society . He was President of the British Society of Master Glass Painters . He also held this position for the East Anglia Tourist Board from 1973 to 1993. FitzRoy was patron ( saint ) of the Historic Houses Association and the Hereford Herd Book Society .

He has also volunteered for numerous activities for the Georgian Group , the Victorian Society , Heritage in Danger , the Ancient Monuments Society, and the Civic Trust .

Membership in the House of Lords

Through the death of his father, he inherited his title and the then associated seat in the House of Lords . He gave his inaugural speech in 1973. In this he spoke about the importance of preserving historic towns and villages.

He lost his seat through the House of Lords Act 1999 , which ended his membership on November 11, 1999. Previously, he last attended a meeting on October 26, 1999.

Working in public

In 1953, FitzRoy, in his capacity as vice-chairman of the Society of the Preservation of Ancient Buildings, compiled a list of historic country houses that had either already been demolished or were threatened with demolition. This caused a public stir.

In 1961 he spoke out against a proposal to demolish Euston Arch , the 22-meter-high portico with Doric columns of Euston station , and said that "such an act of vandalism" would not have been conceivable had it still been in his possession Family. In the same year he started a project to preserve the historic center of Salisbury . In 1962 he successfully lobbied for the restoration of the last remaining Regency Theater , the Theater Royal in Bury St Edmunds .

In 1963, in his capacity as Chairman of the International Students' Trust Council, he announced a £ 850,000 construction project for a new student center in Park Crescent, Regent's Park . Today there is the International Students House, London , an accommodation for over 700 students.

In 1969 he called for the preservation of Woburn Square , one of the last remaining Georgian squares in Bloomsbury .

FitzRoy was launched in 1972 as Chairman ( Chairman ) of the Historic Churches Preservation Trust launched an appeal for the preservation of 8000 churches, which were threatened with demolition. In 1988 he led the protest directed against the decision of the dean and the cathedral chapter of the cathedral in front of Herford to sell their Mappa mundi , which came from the 13th century.

Honors

FitzRoy became Deputy Lieutenant of Suffolk in 1973 and was made Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1976.

In 1990 he was awarded an honorary doctorate ( Doctor of Civil Law (DCL)) from the University of East Anglia . He was also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (FSA)

Family and death

On October 12, 1946, he married Ann Fortune Smith (* 1920), daughter of Captain Evan Cadogan Eric Smith and Helen Williams, the current Mistress of the Robes at Elizabeth II. FitzRoy and his wife had five children, two of them sons and three Daughters. The real heir to the title was his son James Fitzroy, Earl of Euston , who died before his father in 2009. The title therefore inherited from his only surviving son Henry FitzRoy, 12th Duke of Grafton .

Hugh FitzRoy lived at Euston Hall , near Thetford , where he died on April 7, 2011 at the age of 92.

literature

• Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage: 107th Edition: Clan Chiefs, Scottish Feudal Barons , Boydell & Brewer Inc, 2003, ISBN 978-0971196629 (Publisher Charles Mosley )

Web links

Commons : Hugh FitzRoy, 11th Duke of Grafton  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Hugh Fitzroy at Hansard (English)
• The Duke of Grafton obituary in: The Daily Telegraph ; April 11, 2011
• Hugh Denis Charles FitzRoy, 11th Duke of Grafton on thepeerage.com , accessed August 19, 2015.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hugh Denis Charles Fitzroy, 11th Duke of Grafton on the National Portrait Gallery website
2. ↑ Officers of the Society and Council Members ( Memento of the original from April 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ Tuesday 26 October 1999 Minutes of the House of Lords meeting of October 26, 1999
4. ↑ no. 46885, p. 6047 London Gazette, September 27, 1976
5. ↑ GRAFTON obituary in the telegraph

predecessor	Office	successor
Charles FitzRoy	Duke of Grafton 1970-2011	Henry FitzRoy