John William Leonard Lyttelton, 11th Viscount Cobham (15 June 1943 – 13 July 2006) was a British nobleman and peer from the

Lyttelton family The Lyttelton family (sometimes spelled Littleton) is a British nobility, British aristocratic family. Over time, several members of the Lyttelton family were made knights, baronets and peers. Hereditary titles held by the Lyttelton family inclu ...

. He was known as "Johnny Lyttelton" to his friends and family. He 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 ...

, where his father had been before him, and at

Christ's College, Christchurch Christ's College, Canterbury is an independent Anglican secondary day and boarding school for boys, located in the city centre of Christchurch, New Zealand. Founded in 1850 by Reverend Henry Jacobs in Lyttelton as a school for early settlers, ...

while his father was

Governor-General of New Zealand The governor-general of New Zealand ( mi, te kāwana tianara o Aotearoa) is the viceregal representative of the monarch of New Zealand, currently King Charles III. As the King is concurrently the monarch of 14 other Commonwealth realms and li ...

. He later attended the

Royal Agricultural College ;(from Virgil's Georgics)"Caring for the Fieldsand the Beasts" , established = 2013 - University status – College , type = Public , president = King Charles , vice_chancellor = Peter McCaffery , students ...

Cirencester Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...

. He married Penelope Ann Cooper in 1974, and inherited the family's titles and 200-year-old

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

mansion,

Hagley Hall Hagley Hall is a Grade I listed 18th-century house in Hagley, Worcestershire, the home of the Lyttelton family. It was the creation of George, 1st Lord Lyttelton (1709–1773), secretary to Frederick, Prince of Wales, poet and man of letters an ...

, on his father's death in 1977. Facing

inheritance taxes An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and property) of a person who has died. International tax law distinguishes between an es ...

and high maintenance costs as well as the unstable state of finances left by his predecessors, he auctioned his family's 700-year archive for £164,000, and sold Necker Island to

Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...

for $120,000. The hall was converted into a conference venue, although it also remained the family home. He was a member of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, but shyness prevented him from taking the seat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

that his

hereditary peerage The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of September 2022, there are 807 hereditary peers: 29 dukes (including five royal dukes), 34 marquesses, 190 earls, 111 viscounts, and 443 barons (disregarding subsidi ...

entitled him to. He left the Conservatives in 1992, in protest at

Michael Heseltine Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, (; born 21 March 1933) is a British politician and businessman. Having begun his career as a property developer, he became one of the founders of the publishing house Haymarket. Heseltine served a ...

's announcement that many coal mines would be closed. His first wife was a special adviser to

David Mellor David John Mellor (born 12 March 1949) is a British broadcaster, barrister, and former politician. As a member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet of Prime Minister John Major as Chief Secretary to the Treasury (1990–92) and ...

when Mellor was

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport The secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, also referred to as the culture secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for strategy and policy across the Department f ...

in 1992. Lady Cobham was later to leave her husband for Mellor, and they were divorced on 30 August 1995. Lord Cobham had to sell family heirlooms to pay his former wife a £1 million divorce settlement. He later confessed to having contemplated suicide over the break-up of his marriage, and admitted sitting in his

drawing room A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained, and an alternative name for a living room. The name is derived from the 16th-century terms withdrawing room and withdrawing chamber, which remained in use through the 17th cent ...

holding a loaded shotgun.Cobham dies aged 63
''Birmingham Mail'', 15 July 2006 Lord Cobham remarried on 1 August 1997 to

Lisa Clayton Lisa Lyttelton, Dowager Viscountess Cobham (born 30 December 1958 as Lisa Clayton) is the first British woman to sail single-handed and non-stop around the world. She was educated in Birmingham at the Church of England School for Girls, Edgba ...

, the first British woman to have sailed single-handed and non-stop around the world. He opposed the introduction of the ban on

fox hunting Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of ho ...

, and said he would rather go to prison than prevent hunting from taking place on his estate. Lord Cobham died in Spain. His ashes were returned to

Hagley Hagley is a large village and civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It is on the boundary of the West Midlands and Worcestershire counties between the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley and Kidderminster. Its estimated population was 7,162 in 20 ...

for burial in the Lyttelton plot at Hagley parish church. He had no children from either marriage, and his titles were inherited by his younger brother,

Christopher Christopher is the English language, English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek language, Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or ''Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Jesus ...

References

Obituary
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 22 July 2006

External links

* Cobham, John Lyttelton, 11th Viscount Cobham, John Lyttelton, 11th Viscount Place of birth missing Cobham, John Lyttleton, 11th Viscount

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

People educated at Christ's College, Christchurch Cobham, John Lyttleton, 11th Viscount 11 {{GB-viscount-stub