Edward John Sidney Christian Welbore Ellis Agar, 5th Earl of Normanton (29 March 1910 – 28 January 1967) was a British and Irish peer, soldier, and landowner, a member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

from 1933 until his death. From birth until 1933 he was known by the courtesy title of Viscount Somerton.

Early life

The only son of

Sidney James Agar, 4th Earl of Normanton Sidney James Agar, 4th Earl of Normanton (9 April 1865 – 25 November 1933) was a British and Irish peer and landowner, a member of the House of Lords from 1896 until his death. The second son of James Charles Herbert Welbore Ellis Agar, 3rd Ear ...

, and his wife Lady Amy Frederica Alice Byng, he was educated at

West Downs School West Downs School, Romsey Road, Winchester, Hampshire, was an English independent preparatory school, which was established in 1897 and closed in 1988. History Founding The school was founded by Lionel Helbert (1870–1919), with help from h ...

, Eton, and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, graduating BA.

Career

As Viscount Somerton, Normanton was commissioned into the Royal Horse Guards. On 25 November 1933, he succeeded his father as Earl of Normanton, Viscount Somerton, and Baron Somerton, all in the

peerage of Ireland The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divisi ...

, and as Baron Somerton of Somerley in the peerage of the United Kingdom. The last of these gave him a seat in the

. From his father, he also inherited

Somerley House Somerley is a large Georgian Grade II* listed English country house that is situated in the civil parish of Ellingham and Harbridge with Ibsley in the New Forest district in Hampshire, England. It is 2 miles (3 km) west of the New For ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

and an estate of some 7,000 acres, and an art collection which included the Somerley '' Venus and Adonis'' by

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian (Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, nea ...

. On 13 November 1935, Normanton resigned his commission and transferred as a lieutenant from the active list to the

Regular Army Reserve of Officers The Regular Reserve is the component of the military reserve of the British Armed Forces whose members have formerly served in the " Regular" (full-time professional) forces. (Other components of the Reserve are the Volunteer Reserves and the Sp ...

. During the Second World War, he returned to the army and rose to the rank of Captain. He died in 1967 aged only 56, without having planned for the inheritance tax on his estate, and as a result, his son owed 88 per cent of the value of the property for that.

Private life

On 5 July 1937, Normanton married firstly Barbara Mary Prior-Palmer, a daughter of Sir Frederick William Francis George Frankland, 10th Baronet, and Mary Cecil Curzon, 17th Baroness Zouche. She was previously married to Otho Prior-Palmer, who in 1936 had successfully sued her for

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

on the grounds of her adultery with Normanton."Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division", ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'', 22 December 1936 They were divorced in 1943. On 30 October 1944, Normanton married secondly Lady Fiona Pratt, a daughter of John Pratt, 4th Marquess Camden, and Lady Joan Marion Nevill. She had previously been married to Sir John Gerard Henry Fleetwood Fuller, 2nd Baronet''

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher founded in 1826, when the Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage, knightage and landed gentry of Great ...

'', volume 2 (2003), p. 2923 and had two young sons, John Fuller (1936–1998) and Anthony Fuller (born 1940). With his second wife, Normanton had two sons: * Shaun James Christian Welbore Ellis Agar, 6th Earl of Normanton (1945–2019) *Mark Sidney Andrew Agar (born 1948)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Normanton, Edward John Sidney Christian Welbore Ellis Agar, 5th Earl of 1910 births 1967 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge People educated at Eton College People educated at West Downs School Royal Horse Guards officers Earls of Normanton