Gerald Walter Erskine Loder, 1st Baron Wakehurst, JP DL

LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the China, People's Republic ...

(25 October 1861 – 30 April 1936) was a British barrister, businessman and Conservative politician. He is best remembered for developing the gardens at Wakehurst Place,

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

Background and education

The fourth son of Sir Robert Loder, 1st Baronet, Member of Parliament for New Shoreham, Loder was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

and Trinity College, Cambridge. He became a barrister at the Inner Temple in 1888.

Career

Loder was Conservative Member of Parliament for

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

from 1889 to 1905. He was private secretary to the

President of the Local Government Board The President of the Local Government Board was a ministerial post, frequently a Cabinet position, in the United Kingdom, established in 1871. The Local Government Board itself was established in 1871 and took over supervisory functions from the Bo ...

( Charles Ritchie) from 1888 to 1892 and to Lord George Hamilton (the Secretary of State for India) from 1896 to 1901. He served briefly under Arthur Balfour as a Lord of the Treasury in 1905. A keen gardener, Loder purchased the Wakehurst Place estate in 1903 and spent 33 years developing the gardens, which today cover some two square kilometres (500 acres) and are owned by the National Trust. He was president of the Royal Arboricultural Society from 1926 to 1927 and president of the Royal Horticultural Society from 1929 to 1931. He was a director of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway from 1896, and served as its last chairman in December 1922. He was a director of its successor, the Southern Railway, and later chairman from 1934 until his resignation in December 1934. In June 1934 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Wakehurst, of Ardingly in the County of Sussex.

Family

Lord Wakehurst married Lady Louise de Vere Beauclerk, eldest daughter of William Beauclerk, 10th Duke of St Albans, in 1890. The couple had one son and four daughters: * John de Vere Loder, 2nd Baron Wakehurst (born 5 February 1895, died 30 October 1970) - Margaret Tennant (daughter of industrialist Sir Charles Tennant, 1st Baronet and sister of many prominent figures of Victorian and Edwardian London, such as

Margot Asquith Emma Margaret Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith (' Tennant; 2 February 1864 – 28 July 1945), known as Margot Asquith, was a British socialite, author. She was married to H. H. Asquith, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from 1894 ...

and

Edward Tennant, 2nd Baron Glenconner Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...

) *

Hon Hon or HON may refer to: People * Han (surname) (Chinese: 韩/韓), also romanized Hon * Louis Hon (1924–2008), French footballer * Priscilla Hon (born 1998), Australian tennis player Other uses * Hon (Baltimore), a cultural stereotype of ...

Dorothy Cicely Sybil Loder (born 1896, died 1986) - Hon.William Palmer (son of the Earl and Countess of Selborne, and thus a grandson of Prime Minister Lord Salisbury) * Hon Victoria Helen Loder (born 1899, died November 1979) - Alan Rees Colman * Hon Diana Evelyn Loder (born 1899, died 1985) -

Donald Howard, 3rd Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal Donald Sterling Palmer Howard, 3rd Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal (14 June 1891 – 22 February 1959) was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. Biography Strathcona was the son of Robert Jared Bliss Howard and Margaret Howard ...

* Hon Mary Irene Loder (born 1 May 1902, died 7 January 1970)

Death

Lord Wakehurst died in April 1936, aged 74, and was succeeded in the barony by his only son, John. The

Loder Cup The Loder Cup is a New Zealand conservation award. It was donated by Gerald Loder, 1st Baron Wakehurst in 1926 to "encourage and honour New Zealanders who work to investigate, promote, retain and cherish our indigenous flora". The Minister of Co ...

, New Zealand's oldest conservation award, is named after Lord Wakehurst.New Zealand Department of Conservation
accessed 5 April 2014.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wakehurst, Gerald Loder, 1st Baron 1861 births 1936 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Deputy Lieutenants of Sussex Members of the Inner Temple Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs 1892–1895 UK MPs 1895–1900 UK MPs 1900–1906 UK MPs who were granted peerages Loder, Gerald London, Brighton and South Coast Railway people Southern Railway (UK) people People from Ardingly Barons created by George V English barristers