Shaun James Christian Welbore Ellis Agar, 6th Earl of Normanton (21 August 1945 – 13 February 2019) was an Irish and British peer, soldier, landowner, and powerboat racer. From birth until 1967 he was known by the courtesy title of Viscount Somerton.
As
Baron Somerton of
Somerley
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 Fores ...
and later as
Baron Mendip he was 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 1967 until the
reform of the Lords in 1999.
Early life
Normanton was the elder son of
Edward John Sidney Christian Welbore Ellis Agar, 5th Earl of Normanton, and his wife Lady Fiona Pratt, a daughter of
John Pratt, 4th Marquess Camden, who 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 He had two half-brothers, John Fuller (1936–1998) and Anthony Fuller (born 1940).
He was educated at
Eton and
Aiglon College
Aiglon College is a private co-educational boarding school in Switzerland, broadly modelled on British boarding school lines. It is an independent, non-profit school located in the Swiss Alps. It is located 60 km from Lausanne in the alpine vil ...
in
Switzerland[ and trained as a cavalry officer at the ]Mons Officer Cadet School
Mons Officer Cadet School was a British military training establishment for officer cadets in Aldershot from 1942 to 1972, when it was closed and all officer training concentrated at Sandhurst.
Until 1960, it was known as the Mons Officer Cade ...
.['']The London Gazette
''The London Gazette'' is one of the official journals of record or government gazettes of the Government of the United Kingdom, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are ...
'', Issue 43649 (Supplement), 14 May 1965,
p. 4650
/ref>
Career
As Viscount Somerton, Normanton was commissioned into the Royal Horse Guards direct from Mons on 3 April 1965.[ On his father’s early death in 1967, he succeeded him as ]Earl of Normanton
Earl of Normanton is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1806 for Charles Agar, 1st Viscount Somerton, Archbishop of Dublin. He had already been created Baron Somerton, of Somerton in the County of Kilkenny, in 1795 and Visco ...
, Viscount Somerton, and Baron Somerton of Somerton, County Kilkenny, 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 also as Baron Somerton of Somerley, in the peerage of the United Kingdom, which gave him a seat in the House of Lords.[ He was promoted from Second Lieutenant to Lieutenant in March 1968 and in 1972 transferred from the active list of the ]Blues and Royals
The Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons) (RHG/D) is a cavalry regiment of the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry Regiment. The Colonel of the Regiment is Anne, Princess Royal. It is the second-most senior regiment in ...
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 ...
.
From his father, he 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 ...
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 ...
and an estate of some 7,000 acres, but his father had died at the age of 58 without planning for inheritance tax, and 88 per cent of the value of the property was owed for that. Normanton commercialized the parkland, turning it into a golf club, opened the house to the public, and organized many events to raise money, including festivals, concerts, and clay pigeon shoots. One of these was the Ellingham Show. He also became a professional powerboat racer.["The Earl of Normanton: speed-loving, powerboat-racing aristocrat who made light of his playboy image"]
(obituary) in ''The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...
'' (London), 3 April 2019
In 1974, he succeeded a distant cousin, Arthur Agar-Robartes, 8th Viscount Clifden
Arthur Victor Agar-Robartes, 8th Viscount Clifden, MC (9 June 1887 – 22 December 1974) was a British Army officer and English cricketer.
Early life
Agar-Robartes was the youngest son of Thomas Agar-Robartes, 6th Viscount Clifden, and his w ...
, as Baron Mendip of Mendip, in the peerage of Great Britain.[
In the Normanton sale at Christie's, ]King Street, St James's
King Street is a street in the St James's district of the City of Westminster. It runs south-west to north-east from St James's Street to St James's Square.
History
King Street was probably named after Charles II, and is first mentioned in ra ...
, on 13 December 1991, Normanton sold 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 ...
; it was soon acquired by the J. Paul Getty Museum
The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa.
The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fea ...
.
''Dod's Parliamentary Companion
''Dods Parliamentary Companion'' (formerly "Dod's Parliamentary Companion") is an annual politics reference book published in the United Kingdom.
It provides biographies and contact information on members of the Houses of Parliament and the ...
'' (1991) states that Normanton was a member of White's
White's is a gentlemen's club in St James's, London. Founded in 1693 as a hot chocolate shop in Mayfair, it is the oldest gentleman's club in London. It moved to its current premises on St James's Street in 1778.
Status
White's is the oldes ...
and the Royal Yacht Squadron
The Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS) is a British yacht club. Its clubhouse is Cowes Castle on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom. Member yachts are given the suffix RYS to their names, and are permitted (with the appropriate warrant) to w ...
. In ''Who Owns Britain'' (2001), he was reported as still owning 6,000 acres.
Normanton died on 13 February 2019.[
]
Personal life
On 29 April 1970, Normanton married firstly Victoria Susan Beard, a daughter of John H. C. Beard, formerly of Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, Australia, where she had been born. They were divorced in 2000,[ and in 2010 he married secondly Rosalind Bernice Nott.]["Normanton, Earl of (Agar)" in ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (Debrett's Peerage Limited, 2011), pp. 1174–1175]
By his first wife, Normanton had two daughters and a son:[
*Lady Portia Caroline Agar (born 1976)
*Lady Marisa Charlotte Agar (born 1979)
*James Shaun Christian Welbore Ellis Agar, Viscount Somerton, later 7th Earl of Normanton (born 1982).
]
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Normanton, Shaun Agar, 6th Earl of
1945 births
2019 deaths
Blues and Royals officers
Graduates of the Mons Officer Cadet School
People educated at Eton College
Royal Horse Guards officers
Earls of Normanton
Alumni of Aiglon College
Normanton