Gerard Vernon Wallop, 9th Earl of Portsmouth (16 May 1898 – 28 September 1984), styled Viscount Lymington from 1925 until 1943, was a British landowner, writer on agricultural topics, and politician involved in right-wing groups.
Early life
Gerard was born in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, the eldest son of
Oliver Henry Wallop and Marguerite Walker. His father moved to Wyoming, where he was a rancher and served in the
Wyoming State Legislature
The Wyoming State Legislature is the legislative branch of the U.S. State of Wyoming. It is a bicameral state legislature, consisting of a 60-member Wyoming House of Representatives, and a 30-member Wyoming Senate. The legislature meets at the ...
. After the deaths of his two older brothers without sons, Oliver succeeded as 8th
Earl of Portsmouth
Earl of Portsmouth is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1743 for John Wallop, 1st Viscount Lymington, who had previously represented Hampshire in the House of Commons. He had already been created Baron Wallop, of Fa ...
, and renounced his American citizenship to serve in the House of Lords. Gerard was brought up near
Sheridan, Wyoming
Sheridan is a town in the U.S. state of Wyoming and the county seat of Sheridan County. The town is located halfway between Yellowstone Park and Mount Rushmore by U.S. Route 14 and 16. It is the principal town of the Sheridan, Wyoming, Micropo ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, where his parents farmed. He was educated in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, at
Farnborough, at
Winchester College
Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...
and at
Balliol College, Oxford. He then farmed at
Farleigh Wallop in
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 ...
. Wallop was commissioned a temporary second lieutenant (probationary) in the Reserve Regiment,
2nd Life Guards
The 2nd Regiment of Life Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. It was formed in 1788 by the union of the 2nd Troop of Horse Guards and 2nd Troop of Horse Grenadier Guards. In 1922, it was amalgamated ...
on 19 January 1917, was transferred to the
Guards Machine Gun Regiment
The Guards Machine Gun Regiment was a regiment of the British Army, formed for service in the First World War.
When the Guards Division was formed in August 1915, it included three machine gun companies, with a fourth added in March 1917. In Apr ...
on 10 May 1918, and commissioned a temporary lieutenant on 19 July 1918.
Conservative Party politics
Lord Lymington was
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
for the
Basingstoke constituency from 1929 to 1934. He stepped down and caused a
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
in March 1934 (
Henry Maxence Cavendish Drummond Wolff
Henry Maxence Cavendish Drummond Wolff (16 July 1899 – 8 February 1982), commonly known as Henry Drummond Wolff, was a British Conservative Party politician. Drummond Wolff was known for his close ties to the far right.
Political career
From e ...
was elected). At this point he was in the
India Defence League The India Defence League was a British pressure group founded in June 1933 dedicated to keeping India within the British Empire.
It grew from the parliamentary India Defence Committee and was founded with the support of 10 Privy Councillors, 28 p ...
, an imperialist group of Conservatives around
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
, and undertook a research mission in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
for them.
He attended the second ''
Convegno Volta
The Volta Conference was the name given to each of the Academic conference, international conferences held in Italy by the Accademia dei Lincei, Royal Academy of Science in Rome, and funded by the Alessandro Volta Foundation. In the interwar perio ...
'' in 1932, with
Christopher Dawson
Christopher Henry Dawson (12 October 188925 May 1970) was a British independent scholar, who wrote many books on cultural history and Christendom. Dawson has been called "the greatest English-speaking Catholic historian of the twentieth century ...
,
Lord Rennell of Rodd,
Charles Petrie and
Paul Einzig making up the British representatives. It was on the theme ''L'Europa''.
His exit from party politics was apparently caused by a measure of disillusion, and frustrated ambition.
Newton papers
In 1936, he sent for auction at
Sotheby's
Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...
the major collection of unpublished papers of
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a " natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...
, known as the Portsmouth Papers. These had been in the family for around two centuries, since an earlier Viscount Lymington had married Newton's great-niece.
The sale was the occasion on which Newton's religious and
alchemical
Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...
interests became generally known. Broken into a large number of separate lots, running into several hundred, they became dispersed.
John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in ...
purchased many significant lots. Theological works were bought in large numbers by
Abraham Yahuda
Abraham Shalom Yahuda ( he, אברהם שלום יהודה; 1877–1951) was a Palestinian Jew, polymath, teacher, writer, researcher, linguist, and collector of rare documents.
Biography
Abraham Shalom Yahuda was born in Jerusalem to a Jewish f ...
. Another purchaser was Emmanuel Fabius, a dealer in Paris.
Right-wing groups
Wallop was a member of and important influence on the
English Mistery, a society promoted by
William Sanderson
William Sanderson (born January 10, 1944) is an American retired actor. He played J. F. Sebastian in the feature film ''Blade Runner'' (1982), and had regular roles on several television series such as Larry on ''Newhart'' (1982–1990), E. B ...
and founded in 1929 or 1930. This was a conservative group, with views in tune with his own monarchist and ruralist opinions.
A split in the Mistery left Wallop leading a successor, the English Array. It was active from 1936 to the early months of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, and advocated "back to the land". Its membership included
A. K. Chesterton
Arthur Kenneth Chesterton (1 May 1899 – 16 August 1973) was a British far-right journalist and political activist. From 1933 to 1938, he was a member of the British Union of Fascists (BUF). Disillusioned with Oswald Mosley, he left th ...
,
J. F. C. Fuller
Major-General John Frederick Charles "Boney" Fuller (1 September 1878 – 10 February 1966) was a senior British Army officer, military historian, and strategist, known as an early theorist of modern armoured warfare, including categorising p ...
,
Rolf Gardiner
Henry Rolf Gardiner (5 November 1902 – 26 November 1971) was an English rural revivalist, helping to bring back folk dance styles including Morris dancing and sword dancing. He founded groups significant in the British history of organic far ...
, Hon.
Richard de Grey
Richard de Grey (died c.1271) of Codnor, Derbyshire, was a landowner who held many important positions during the reign of Henry III of England, including Warden of the Isles (Channel Islands) 1226–1227, 1229–1230 and 1252–1254, and later ...
,
Hardwicke Holderness Harold Hardwicke Clake Holderness (6 January 1915 – 21 March 2007) was a lawyer and liberal politician in Southern Rhodesia, who was also a highly decorated wartime RAF Coastal Command pilot.
Background
Hardwicke Holderness was born in Salisbury ...
,
Anthony Ludovici
Anthony Mario Ludovici MBE (8 January 1882 – 3 April 1971) was a British philosopher, sociologist, social critic and polyglot. He is known as a proponent of aristocracy and anti-egalitarianism, and in the early 20th century was a lea ...
,
John de Rutzen, and
Reginald Dorman-Smith
Colonel Sir Reginald Hugh Dorman-Smith, GBE (10 March 1899 – 20 March 1977) was an Anglo-Irish diplomat, soldier and politician in the British Empire.
Early life and politics
Dorman-Smith was educated at Harrow School and the Royal Milita ...
. It has been described as "more specifically pro-Nazi" than the Mistery; ''
Famine in England'' (1938) by Lymington was an agricultural manifesto, but traded on racial overtones of urban immigration. Lymington's use of Parliamentary questions has been blamed for British government reluctance to admit refugees.
He edited ''
New Pioneer
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
'' magazine from 1938 to 1940, collaborating with
John Warburton Beckett and
A. K. Chesterton
Arthur Kenneth Chesterton (1 May 1899 – 16 August 1973) was a British far-right journalist and political activist. From 1933 to 1938, he was a member of the British Union of Fascists (BUF). Disillusioned with Oswald Mosley, he left th ...
. The gathering European war saw him found the ''
British Council Against European Commitments
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
'' in 1938, with
William Joyce
William Brooke Joyce (24 April 1906 – 3 January 1946), nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an American-born fascist and Nazi propaganda broadcaster during the Second World War. After moving from New York to Ireland and subsequently to England, ...
. He joined the
British People's Party in 1943. The English Array was not shut down, as other organisations of the right were in the war years, but was under official suspicion and saw little activity.
Organic movement
Wallop was an early advocate of
organic farming
Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and re ...
in Britain. He has been described as a "central figure in the
organic movement
The organic movement broadly refers to the organizations and individuals involved worldwide in the promotion of organic food and other organic products. It started during the first half of the 20th century, when modern large-scale agricultural pr ...
’s coalescence during the 1930s and ’40s."
He founded the
Kinship in Husbandry with
Rolf Gardiner
Henry Rolf Gardiner (5 November 1902 – 26 November 1971) was an English rural revivalist, helping to bring back folk dance styles including Morris dancing and sword dancing. He founded groups significant in the British history of organic far ...
, a precursor of the
Soil Association
The Soil Association is a British registered charity. The organisation activities include campaigning – against intensive farming, for local purchasing and public education on nutrition – and certification of organic foods. It was establ ...
. It recruited
Edmund Blunden
Edmund Charles Blunden (1 November 1896 – 20 January 1974) was an English poet, author, and critic. Like his friend Siegfried Sassoon, he wrote of his experiences in World War I in both verse and prose. For most of his career, Blunden was a ...
,
Arthur Bryant
Sir Arthur Wynne Morgan Bryant, (18 February 1899 – 22 January 1985) was an English historian, columnist for ''The Illustrated London News'' and man of affairs. His books included studies of Samuel Pepys, accounts of English eighteenth- and n ...
,
H. J. Massingham,
Walter James, 4th Baron Northbourne
Walter Ernest Christopher James, 4th Baron Northbourne (18 January 1896 – 17 June 1982), was an English agriculturalist, author and rower who competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics.
Life
James was the son of Walter James, 3rd Baron Northbourne ...
,
Adrian Bell
Adrian Hanbury Bell (4 October 1901 – 5 September 1980) was an English ruralist journalist and farmer, and the first compiler of ''The Times'' crossword.
Early life
Bell was born at Stretford, Lancashire, son of Robert Bell (1865-1949), e ...
, and
Philip Mairet
Philip Mairet (; full name: Philippe Auguste Mairet; 1886–1975) was a British designer, writer and journalist. He had a wide range of interest: crafts, Alfred Adler and psychiatry, and Social Credit. He translated major figures including Jean ...
.
Family and personal life
He was married twice and had five children.
On 31 July 1920, he married Mary Lawrence Post (divorced 1936), daughter of Waldron Kintzing Post Sr., of
Bayport,
Long Island, and Mary Lawrence née Perkins. They had two children:
* Oliver Kintzing Wallop, Viscount Lymington (14 January 1923 – 5 June 1984), married as his second wife, Ruth Violet Sladen, daughter of Brig.-Gen. Gerald Carew Sladen , and Mabel Ursula, of the
Orr Ewing baronets, and had:
**
Quentin Wallop, 10th Earl of Portsmouth
Quentin Gerard Carew Wallop, 10th Earl of Portsmouth, (born 25 July 1954), styled Viscount Lymington in 1984, is a British peer and current head of the Wallop family.
Early life
Quentin Wallop was born on 25 July 1954, the son of Oliver Kint ...
*
Lady Anne Camilla Evelyn Wallop (born 12 July 1925) who married
Lord Rupert Nevill
Lord Rupert Charles Montecute Nevill (29 January 1923 – 19 July 1982) was Chairman of the British Olympic Association from 1966 to 1977 and then its President until his death. As a courtier, he was treasurer and later private secretary to Prin ...
, younger son of
Guy Larnach-Nevill, 4th Marquess of Abergavenny.
In 1936, he married secondly, Bridget Cory Crohan, only daughter of Capt. Patrick Bermingham Crohan by (Edith) Barbara Cory (later Bray), of
Owlpen Manor, Gloucestershire. They had three children:
* Lady Philippa Dorothy Bluet Wallop (21 August 1937 – 31 August 1984) who married
Charles Cadogan, Viscount Chelsea and had issue
* Lady Jane Alianora Borlace Wallop (born 24 February 1939)
*
Hon.
''The Honourable'' (British English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific Style (ma ...
Nicholas Valoynes Bermingham Wallop (born 14 July 1946), married Lavinia Karmel, only daughter of David Karmel
Gerard Wallop succeeded to the title of
Earl of Portsmouth
Earl of Portsmouth is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1743 for John Wallop, 1st Viscount Lymington, who had previously represented Hampshire in the House of Commons. He had already been created Baron Wallop, of Fa ...
in 1943, on the death of his father
Oliver.
After the war he moved to
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
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...
, where he lived for nearly 30 years. His seat at
Farleigh House
Farleigh House, or Farleigh Castle, sometimes called Farleigh New Castle, is a large English country house in the county of Somerset, formerly the centre of the Farleigh Hungerford estate. Much of the stone to build it came from the nearby Farlei ...
was let as a preparatory school from 1953.
The Earl's elder son, Oliver, predeceased him; on his death in 1984, the title passed to his grandson
Quentin
Quentin is a French male given name from the Latin first name ''Quintinus'', diminutive form of '' Quintus'', that means "the fifth".Albert Dauzat, ''Noms et prénoms de France'', Librairie Larousse 1980, édition revue et commentée par Marie-T ...
.
Works
*''Spring Song of Iscariot'' (
Black Sun Press, 1929) poem, as Lord Lymington
*''Ich Dien - the Tory Path'' (1931) as Lord Lymington
*''Famine in England'' (1938)
*''Alternative to Death'' (1943)
*''A Knot of Roots'' (1965) autobiography
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
IHS Press page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Portsmouth, Gerard Wallop, 9th Earl of
1898 births
1984 deaths
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
British Army personnel of World War I
British emigrants to Kenya
British fascists
British Life Guards officers
Wallop, Gerard
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Organic farmers
People educated at Winchester College
People from Farleigh Wallop
Politicians from Chicago
People from Sheridan, Wyoming
Wallop, Gerard
Wallop, Gerard
Portsmouth, E9
Gerard