Piers Wedgwood, 4th Baron Wedgwood

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Piers Anthony Weymouth Wedgwood, 4th Baron Wedgwood (born September 20, 1954 in Hillwood, Molo , Nakuru County , Kenya , † January 29, 2014 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , United States ) was a British peer and politician ( Conservative Party ).

Life

Piers Anthony Weymouth Wedgwood, 4th Baron Wedgwood, was born to Hugh Wedgwood, 3rd Baron Wedgwood (1921-1970), and his second wife Jane Weymouth, daughter of Judge William James Poulton. His father lived from 1941 to 1964 as a farmer in Hillwood at Molo in Kenya . It is there that Piers Wedgwood was born on his parents' farm outside of Nairobi .

Wedgwood was a direct descendant of Josiah Wedgwood , founder of the porcelain manufacturer Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd . He was the great, great, great grandson of Josiah Wedgwood. Wedgwood already worked in the family business as a teenager. He cleaned the furnaces and kilns of the Wedgwood factory in Barlaston in the county of Staffordshire and learned the production of porcelain and pottery . He attended Marlborough College . With the death of his father on April 25, 1970, at the age of almost 16, Wedgwood inherited the title of Baron Wedgwood . He completed his military training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and became an officer . In June 1973 he became a second lieutenant with the Royal Scots . With the Royal Scots he was u. a. stationed in Cyprus . In June 1975 he was promoted to lieutenant and in December 1979 to captain . In 1980 he gave up his military career. In 1976 he was awarded the General Service Medal for Northern Ireland .

In the summer of 1970 he was an intern at the Wedgwood family business. From 1980 until his death, Wedgwood served as the owner, heir, representative and ambassador of the Wedgwood brand. He took part in the maintenance and development of Wedgwood collections in museums in Great Britain and the United States. In particular, he campaigned for the Buten Wedgwood Collection , which is now housed in a museum in Birmingham in the US state of Alabama . In 2009 he received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Art and Design at Staffordshire University in recognition of his services "for the preservation and promotion of the cultural heritage of North Staffordshire in the field of the arts and pottery production" ("for his services to the preservation and promotion of North Staffordshire's cultural heritage in the art and industry of English pottery ").

He also devoted himself extensively to charitable tasks and fundraising . In 2000 he founded The Lord Wedgwood Charity , a charity and aid organization that provides funding for high school sports programs in Birmingham. The foundation pays u. a. Defibrillators , which are used on athletes who have suffered cardiovascular arrest . Wedgwood started the foundation after doctors saved his life after a heart attack on an Alabama golf course.

He was a member of the Royal Automobile Club of England, the London Racquet Club and the Philadelphia Club. In 2006 Wedgwood became Freeman of the City of London .

Membership in the House of Lords

Inheriting the title of Baron Wedgwood, Piers Wedgwood became an official member of the House of Lords on April 25, 1970 . In the House of Lords he sat for the Conservative Party . His inaugural address was given on October 16, 1991 as part of the defense policy debate .

Wedgwood was an active member of the House of Lords. His political interests were in particular defense policy and cultural heritage. He was a member of the Defense and Heritage Parliamentary Groups in the House of Lords. A total of 30 contributions by Wedgwood from 1991 to 1999 are documented in Hansard . On October 26, 1999, he spoke out passionately against the House of Lords Act 1999 in a debate . On November 4, 1999, he spoke for the last time with a question about the assumption of moving costs when peers left. His membership in the House of Lords ended on November 11, 1999 by the House of Lords Act 1999. In obituaries, the end of Wedgwood's membership in the House of Lords was also dated to 2001; however, this is not the case.

In 2001 he resigned from the Conservative Party in protest against the reform of the House of Lords through the House of Lords Act 1999.

Family and private

In 1985 he married Mary Regina Margaret Kavanagh Quinn, the daughter of Judge Edward Thomas Quinn and his wife Helen Marie Buchanan Quinn. Her parents were from Philadelphia. Wedgwood had met his wife at a business meeting when he was demonstrating Wedgewwod china at the Marshall Field Company in Chicago . Mary Quinn headed the public relations department there . The marriage resulted in a daughter, Alexandra Mary Kavanagh Wedgwood (* 1987). Wedgwood lived alternately in Chestnut Hill, near Pennsylvania, in London, and on the coast of Jersey .

Wedgwood died in January 2014 at the age of 59 years in the Hospital University of Pennsylvania , Philadelphia to a heart failure . Heir apparent ( heir presumptive ) the barony until 2007 was Wedgwood's uncle John Wedgwood . After his death, his son Antony Wedgwood (* 1944), the cousin of Piers Wedgewood, became the alleged heir. He is now heir to the title as Antony Wedgwood, 5th Baron Wedgwood.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Piers Wedgwood, 59, British lord obituary. Philly.com February 1, 2014. Retrieved February 25, 2014
  2. ↑ a b c d e Piers Wedgwood, Scion of Luxury Ceramics Makers, Remembered Obituary. ArtFix. Artwire Press Release January 30, 2014. Retrieved February 25, 2014
  3. ↑ The Lord Anthony Weymouth WEDGEWOOD (496342) RS  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in: London Gazette of August 21, 1973. Supplement. Page 10052.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.thegazette.co.uk  
  4. ↑ 2nd Lt. (subject to confirmation) The Lord Piers Anthony Weymouth WEDGWOOD (496342) RS  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in: London Gazette of December 4, 1973. Supplement. Page 14388.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.thegazette.co.uk  
  5. ↑ The Lord WEDGWOOD (496342) RS  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in: London Gazette of July 1, 1975. Supplement. Page 8374.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.thegazette.co.uk  
  6. ↑ The Lord WEDGWOOD (496342) R, S.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in: London Gazette of January 29, 1980. Supplement. Page 1441.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.thegazette.co.uk  
  7. ↑ a b c The Lord Wedgwood of Barlaston Vita. Official website of Staffordshire University. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
  8. ^ Defense minutes of the House of Lords from October 16, 1991
  9. ↑ DURATION OF ACT minutes of the House of Lords of 26 October 1999
  10. ^ Hereditary Peers' Effects: Removal Wording of the minutes of the meeting of November 4, 1999
  11. ↑ Peer quits Tories over Lords reform BBC News, February 14, 2001. Retrieved February 25, 2014
  12. ↑ Piers, 4th Lord Wedgwood 1954-2014 death report in: Peerage News from February 1, 2014
predecessor Office successor
Hugh Wedgwood Baron Wedgwood
1970-2014 		Anthony Wedgwood
personal data
SURNAME Wedgwood, Piers, 4th Baron Wedgwood
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wedgwood, Piers Anthony Weymouth, 4th Baron Wedgwood (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British peer and politician (Conservative Party)
DATE OF BIRTH 20th September 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Hillwood, Molo , Nakuru County , Kenya
DATE OF DEATH January 29, 2014
Place of death Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , United States