William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp

William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (1920)

William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp KG KCMG KStJ PC (born February 20, 1872 in London - † November 15, 1938 ) was a British Liberal Party politician who inherited the title of Earl Beauchamp in 1891 and was a member of the House of Lords was. Among other things, he was Governor of New South Wales between 1899 and 1901 , Lord Steward of the Household from 1907 to 1910 , Lord President of the Council in 1910 and again Lord President of the Council between 1914 and 1915, and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports from 1913 to 1934, and became a carrier in 1914 of the Order of the Garter .

When his bisexuality became known in 1931 , he resigned his functions as chairman of the parliamentary group of the Liberal Party in the upper house and as chancellor of the University of London , largely withdrew from public life and went into exile in New York City . He was considered the literary model for the character of 'Lord Marchmain' in the 1944 novel Reunion with Brideshead by Evelyn Waugh .

Life

Family origins and siblings

Lygon was the eldest son of Frederick Lygon , who from 1857 to 1866 a member of the House of Commons was, and in 1866 the title of the 6th Earl Beauchamp inherited, from 1874 to 1880 Lord Steward , 1876-1891 Lord Lieutenant of the county Worcestershire and twice from 1885 to 1886 and again between 1886 and 1887 held the post of Paymaster General , as well as his first wife Lady Mary Catherine Stanhope, a daughter of the historian Philip Henry Stanhope, 5th Earl Stanhope .

His siblings from this first marriage were his older sister, Lady Mary Lygon, who was married to Lieutenant Colonel Henry Walter Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis, a son of Charles Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis, 20th Baron Clinton . His second oldest sister Lady Susan Lygon was with Robert Gilmour, 1st Baronet married, the 1916-1920 Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Masons of Scotland (Grand Lodge of Scotland) was. His younger brother Edward Hugh Lygon fell as a lieutenant on March 23, 1900 during the Second Boer War . His youngest sister, Lady Margaret Lygon, was the wife of Arthur Russell, 2nd Baron Ampthill , who in 1904 was temporarily Governor General and Viceroy of India and a founding member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

His half-siblings from the second marriage of his father, married on September 24, 1878 with Lady Emily Annora Charlotte Pierrepont, eldest daughter of Sydney William Herbert Pierrepont, 3rd Earl Manvers , included Lieutenant Colonel Robert Lygon, who was married to Cecilia Albinia Arbuthnot, a daughter of the British Indian entrepreneur George Gough Arbuthnot . The half-sister Agnes Lygon was married to the son of the well-known politician Arthur Wellesley Peel, 1st Viscount Peel , Arthur George Villiers Peel , who published numerous economic and political books and was himself a member of the lower house for the Liberal Party between 1917 and 1918 . The half-sister Maud Lygon was the wife of the well-known politician of the Conservative Party, Samuel John Gurney Hoare , who was, among other things, Minister for India , Foreign Minister and Interior Minister and was raised to the nobility in 1944 as Viscount Templewood, of Chelsea in the County of Middlesex and thus was a member of the House of Lords. The younger half-brother from the second marriage of the 6th Earl Beauchamp was Henry Lygon, who died unmarried.

Member of the House of Lords and Governor of New South Wales

William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp, in a cartoon by Spy in Vanity Fair magazine dated July 20, 1899

As his father's apparently marriage , Lygon carried the courtesy title Viscount Elmley from birth . He completed his schooling at the renowned Eton College and inherited the nobility titles of 7th Earl Beauchamp , 7th Viscount Elmley and 7th Baron Beauchamp when his father died on February 19, 1891, the day before his 19th birthday . This made him a member of the House of Lords and belonged to it until his death on November 15, 1938. He then began studying at Christ Church College of Oxford University and became involved while studying in 1893 as president of the local debating Oxford Union Society .

The Earl Beauchamp, who was Mayor of Worcester from 1895 to 1896 , was made Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (KCMG) on February 16, 1899 . Three months later he was May 18, 1899, succeeding Henry Brand, 2nd Viscount Hampden from Colonial Secretary (Secretary of State for the Colonies) Joseph Chamberlain appointed governor of New South Wales. He was the youngest governor who ever held this post, and remained in this post as representative of the respective British monarch until April 30, 1902. His successor was on May 27, 1902, the previous Commander in Chief of the Canal Fleet, Admiral Harry Rawson .

Lord President of the Council and later offices

On his return, the Earl Beauchamp served as captain of the Honorable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms from 1906 to 1907 and also became a member of the Privy Council (PC) on January 8, 1906 . He was then Lord Steward of the Household between 1907 and 1910 and was then appointed Lord President of the Council in the Asquith I cabinet on June 16, 1910 . He held the office of President of the Privy Privy Council until November 3, 1910. From November 3, 1910 to August 6, 1914, he was a member of the Asquith Cabinet as Minister of Public Works (First Commissioner of Works) . He was also from 1911 to 1931 Lord Lieutenant of the county Gloucestershire and 1913-1934 Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports .

Earl Beauchamp, who in 1914 was also the bearer of the Order of the Garter (KG), was again Lord President of the Council between August 5, 1914 and May 25, 1915. Most recently he was Chancellor of the University of London between 1929 and 1931 . When his bisexuality became known in 1931 , he resigned his functions as chairman of the parliamentary group of the Liberal Party in the upper house and as chancellor of the University of London, largely withdrew from public life and went into exile in New York City . He was considered the literary model for the character of 'Lord Marchmain' in the 1944 novel Reunion with Brideshead by Evelyn Waugh .

Marriage and offspring

Earl Beauchamp married Lady Lettice Mary Elizabeth Grosvenor on July 26, 1902, daughter of Victor Alexander Grosvenor, Earl Grosvenor, and his wife Lady Sibell Mary Lumley.

From this marriage there were three sons and four daughters. The eldest son William Lygon was a member of the House of Commons between 1929 and 1938 and inherited the title of 8th Earl Beauchamp after his death on November 15, 1938. The second eldest son, Hugh Patrick Lygon, was a friend of Evelyn Waugh and presumably the role model of the character 'Lord Sebastian Flyte' in his novel Reunion with Brideshead . The eldest daughter, Lady Lettice Lygon, was married to Lieutenant Colonel Richard Charles Geers Cotterell, 5th Baronet Cotterell, who was Lord Lieutenant of Herefordshire between 1945 and 1957 . The second eldest daughter, Lady Sibell Lygon, was married to Michael Rowley, a stepson of her uncle Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster . The third oldest daughter, Lady Mary Lygon, was married to Prince Vsevolod Ivanovich Romanov, the eldest son of Prince Ivan Konstantinovich Romanov . The youngest daughter, Lady Dorothy Lygon, was the wife of Robert Vernon Heber-Percy, a lieutenant in the 1st King's Dragoon Guards . The youngest son was Richard Edward Lygon.

Web links

• William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp at Hansard (English)
• Entry in Cracroft's Peerage
• Entry in Leigh Rayment Peerage
• Entry in The Peerage

predecessor	Office	successor
Frederick Lygon	Earl Beauchamp 1891-1938	William Lygon