Sir George Peter Labouchere (

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, 2 December 1905 –

Dudmaston Hall Dudmaston Hall is a 17th-century country house in the care of the National Trust in the Severn Valley, Shropshire, England. Dudmaston Hall is located near the village of Quatt, a few miles south of the market town of Bridgnorth, just off the ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

, 14 June 1999) was a British diplomat and collector of modern art.

Career

Labouchere was educated at

Charterhouse School (God having given, I gave) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , president ...

and the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

, and entered the

Diplomatic Service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtains diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to ...

in 1929. He was Deputy-Commissioner for

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, 1951–53, Minister to Hungary 1953–55, Ambassador to Belgium 1955–60, and Ambassador to Spain 1960–66. He was a member of the

Society of Dilettanti The Society of Dilettanti (founded 1734) is a British society of noblemen and scholars that sponsors the study of ancient Greek and Roman art, and the creation of new work in the style. History Though the exact date is unknown, the Society is b ...

and was associated at various stages with the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

, serving as president of the Friends of the Tate. He was an avid art collector, buying, at various stages, works by British artists including

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi- abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Moore produced ...

Barbara Hepworth Dame Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth (10 January 1903 – 20 May 1975) was an English artist and sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture. Along with artists such as Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo, Hepworth was a leadi ...

Lynn Chadwick Lynn Russell Chadwick, (24 November 1914 – 25 April 2003) was an English sculptor and artist. Much of his work is semi-abstract sculpture in bronze or steel. His work is in the collections of MoMA in New York, the Tate in London and th ...

and

Ben Nicholson Benjamin Lauder Nicholson, Order of Merit, OM (10 April 1894 – 6 February 1982) was an English painter of abstract art, abstract compositions (sometimes in low relief), landscape and still-life. Background and training Nicholson was ...

. He also bought contemporary continental works, including

Victor Vasarely Victor Vasarely (; born Győző Vásárhelyi, ; 9 April 1906 – 15 March 1997) was a Hungarian-French artist, who is widely accepted as a "grandfather" and leader of the Op art movement. His work entitled ''Zebra'', created in 1937, is consi ...

Antoni Tàpies Antoni Tàpies i Puig, 1st Marquess of Tápies (; 13 December 1923 – 6 February 2012) was a Catalan People, Catalan painter, sculptor and art theorist, who became one of the most famous European artists of his generation. Life The son of Jo ...

Pierre Soulages Pierre Jean Louis Germain Soulages (; 24 December 1919 – 26 October 2022) was a French painter, printmaker, and sculptor. In 2014, President François Hollande of France described him as "the world's greatest living artist." His works are held ...

Jean Dubuffet Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet (31 July 1901 – 12 May 1985) was a French Painting, painter and sculpture, sculptor. His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so-called "low art" and eschewed traditional standards of beauty in favor of what ...

and

Max Ernst Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealism ...

Family

Labouchere was a descendant of an old

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

merchant family exiled in the 17th century to England, which included prominent politicians such as

Henry Labouchere, 1st Baron Taunton Henry Labouchere, 1st Baron Taunton, PC (; 15 August 179813 July 1869) was a prominent British Whig and Liberal Party politician of the mid-19th century. Background and education Labouchere was born in Over Stowey, Somerset, into a Huguenot me ...

and Henry Du Pré Labouchere. His father was Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Anthony Labouchere, a banker and reserve officer, and his mother was Evelyn Stirling, only child of Sir Walter Stirling, 3rd Baronet of Faskine. His sister Lilah married

Ailwyn Fellowes, 3rd Baron de Ramsey Ailwyn Edward Fellowes, 3rd Baron de Ramsey KBE, TD (16 March 1910 – 31 March 1993) was a British peer and Territorial soldier. Early life de Ramsey was the son of the Hon. Coulson Churchill Fellowes (1883–1915), son of William Fellowe ...

, a first cousin (once removed) of

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 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

. On 10 May 1943 he married Rachel Hamilton-Russell, granddaughter of the 8th

Viscount Boyne Viscount Boyne, in the province of Leinster, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1717 for the Scottish military commander Gustavus Hamilton, 1st Baron Hamilton of Stackallan. He had already been created Baron Hamilton of St ...

, now run by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

, was Rachel Hamilton-Russell's ancestral home, inherited from her maternal uncle Geoffrey Wolryche-Whitmore, and the couple settled there to restore it in their retirement. He was president of the Shropshire branch of the Council for the Protection of Rural England.

Honours

Labouchere was appointed in the

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

of 1951, knighted KCMG in 1955 and given the additional, senior knighthood of GBE in 1964.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Labouchere, George Peter 1905 births 1999 deaths People educated at Charterhouse School University of Paris alumni English art collectors Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Spain Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Belgium Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Hungary