Lt-Col Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the army, armies, most Marine (armed services), marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use t ...

Sir Richard Charles Geers Cotterell, 5th Baronet JP TD

KStJ The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of c ...

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(1 June 1907 – 5 December 1978), a British soldier.

Early life

Cotterell was born on 1 June 1907. He was the only son of

Sir John Cotterell, 4th Baronet Sir John Richard Geers Cotterell, 4th Baronet (13 July 1866 – 13 November 1937) was an English baronet. Early life Cotterell was born on 13 July 1866. He was the son of Sir Geers Cotterell, 3rd Baronet and Hon. Katherine Margaret Airey. His fat ...

and Lady Evelyn Amy Gordon-Lennox. His three older sisters were Sylvia Evelyn Cotterell (wife of Capt. Christopher Digby Leyland and she married Roland Norris Fawcett), Cicely Violet Cotterell (wife of Capt. William Adrian Vincent Bethell and Roden Powlett Graves Orde), and Mildred Katharine Cotterell (wife of Lt.-Col.

Sir Terence Falkiner, 8th Baronet Lt.-Col. Sir Terence Edmond Patrick Falkiner, 8th Baronet Deputy Lieutenant, DL KStJ (17 March 1903 – 19 February 1987) was an English soldier. Early life Lt.-Col. Sir Terence Edmond Patrick Falkiner, 8th Bt. was born on 17 March 1903. He was the ...

).Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes.''

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...

U.S.A. 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 territorie ...

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 Br ...

(Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 1, pages 916, 1277. His paternal grandparents were

Sir Geers Cotterell, 3rd Baronet Sir Geers Henry Cotterell, 3rd Baronet (22 August 1834 – 17 March 1900) was a Whig politician. Early life Cotterell was the second son of Sir John Henry Cotterell (who had died before his birth and was heir apparent to Sir John Cotterell, 1s ...

(MP for

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

) and Hon. Katherine Margaret Airey (a daughter of

Richard Airey, 1st Baron Airey General Richard Airey, 1st Baron Airey, (April 180314 September 1881), known as Sir Richard Airey between 1855 and 1876, was a senior British Army officer of the 19th century. Background Born at Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, Airey was ...

). His mother was the eldest daughter of

Charles Gordon-Lennox, 7th Duke of Richmond Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, 7th Duke of Richmond and Lennox, 2nd Duke of Gordon, (27 December 1845 – 18 January 1928), 7th Duke of Aubigny ( French peerage in the French nobility), styled Lord Settrington until 1860 and Earl of March between ...

and, his first wife, the former Amy Mary Ricardo. 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 ...

before attending

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infantry a ...

Career

On 13 November 1937, he succeeded as the 5th Baronet Cotterell, of Garnons, Herefordshire following the death of his father. He served as a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for Herefordshire in 1938. He served as

Lord Lieutenant of Herefordshire This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Herefordshire. Before the English Civil War, the lieutenancy of Herefordshire was always held by the Lord Lieutenant of Wales, but after the Restoration, its lieutenants were appointed ...

between 1945 and 1957. He also served as a Forestry Commissioner between 1945 and 1964.

Military career

He fought in the Middle East and Italy during

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 opposin ...

, was mentioned in despatches and was awarded the

Territorial Decoration __NOTOC__ The Territorial Decoration (TD) was a military medal of the United Kingdom awarded for long service in the Territorial Force and its successor, the Territorial Army. This award superseded the Volunteer Officer's Decoration when the Te ...

. He was commanding officer of the

76th (Shropshire Yeomanry) Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery The Shropshire Yeomanry was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1795, which served as a cavalry and dismounted infantry regiment in the First World War and as a cavalry and an artillery regiment in the Second World War. It w ...

between 1943 and 1945, achieving the rank of

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

. He was appointed a Knight of

Order of Saint John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

and Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in 1965.

Personal life

On 16 June 1930, Cotterell married

Lady Lettice Lygon Lady Lettice Lygon (16 June 1906 – 18 July 1973) was an English socialite and aristocrat who was one of the Bright Young Things. Early life Lady Lettice Lygon was born on 16 June 1906, the daughter of William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp and Lad ...

St George's, Hanover Square St George's, Hanover Square, is an Anglican church, the parish church of Mayfair in the City of Westminster, central London, built in the early eighteenth century as part of a project to build fifty new churches around London (the Queen Anne C ...

. She was a daughter of

William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp, (20 February 1872 – 14 November 1938), styled Viscount Elmley until 1891, was a British Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician. He was Governor of New South Wales between 1899 and 1901, a member of the Libera ...

and Lady Lettice Mary Elizabeth Grosvenor (a daughter of

Victor Alexander Grosvenor, Earl Grosvenor Duke of Westminster is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created by Queen Victoria in 1874 and bestowed upon Hugh Grosvenor, 3rd Marquess of Westminster. It is the most recent dukedom conferred on someone not related to the ...

). Before their divorce in 1958, they were the parents of: * Rose Evelyn Cotterell (1932–2006), who married

Charles Hambro, Baron Hambro Charles Hambro, Baron Hambro (24 July 1930 – 7 November 2002) was a British merchant banker and political fundraiser. He was the Chairman of Hambros Bank from 1972 until its merger with Société Générale in 1998. He was the senior honora ...

, heir to the

Hambros Bank Hambros Bank was a British bank based in London. The Hambros bank was a specialist in Anglo-Scandinavian business with expertise in trade finance and investment banking, and was the sole banker to the Scandinavian kingdoms for many years. The Bank ...

fortune. * Anne Lettice Cotterell (b. 1933), who married

Charles St Clair, 17th Lord Sinclair Major Charles Murray Kennedy St Clair, 17th Lord Sinclair, CVO, DL (21 June 1914 – 1 April 2004) was a Scottish peer who spent his entire life in the service of the Crown; as a soldier, an officer of arms, an equerry in the Queen Mother's H ...

, in 1968. *

Sir John Henry Geers Cotterell, 6th Baronet Sir John ''Henry'' Geers Cotterell, 6th Baronet (8 May 1935 – 4 December 2017) was a Hereford businessman and politician. Early life Cotterell, usually went by his middle name of Henry, was born on 8 May 1935 in Belgrave Square, London. He was t ...

(1935–2017), who married Alexandra Bridgewater in 1959. * Thomas Richard Geers Cotterell (1939–2019) On 21 July 1958, he married Molly Seely, Baroness Sherwood ( Hon. Molly Patricia Berry), at the

Caxton Hall Caxton Hall is a building on the corner of Caxton Street and Palmer Street, in Westminster, London, England. It is a Grade II listed building primarily noted for its historical associations. It hosted many mainstream and fringe political and art ...

Register Office A register office or The General Register Office, much more commonly but erroneously registry office (except in official use), is a British government office where births, deaths, marriages, civil partnership, stillbirths and adoptions in England, ...

in London. She was daughter of

William Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose William Ewart Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose DL (23 June 1879 – 15 June 1954) was a British peer and newspaper publisher. Life and career Berry was born in Merthyr Tydfil in Wales, the second of three sons of Mary Ann (Rowe) and John Mathias Ber ...

, who owned ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' newspaper, and Mary Agnes Corns (a daughter of Thomas Corns). Molly was widow of Roger Charles George Chetwode (a son of

Philip Chetwode, 1st Baron Chetwode Field Marshal Philip Walhouse Chetwode, 1st Baron Chetwode, 7th Baronet of Oakley, (21 September 1869 – 6 July 1950), was a senior British Army officer. He saw action during the Second Boer War, during which he was present at the Siege of Ladys ...

), with whom she had two children, including

Philip Chetwode, 2nd Baron Chetwode Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

. After the death of her first husband she married

Hugh Seely, 1st Baron Sherwood Hugh Michael Seely, 1st Baron Sherwood (2 October 1898 – 1 April 1970), known as Sir Hugh Seely, 3rd Baronet of Sherwood Lodge, Nottinghamshire, from 1926 to 1941, was a British Liberal politician. Early life Seely was born on 2 October 1898 ...

(a son of

Sir Charles Seely, 2nd Baronet Sir Charles Hilton Seely, 2nd Baronet, VD, KGStJ (7 July 1859 – 26 February 1926) was a British industrialist, landowner and Liberal Unionist (later Liberal Party) politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Lincoln from 1895 to 190 ...

), whom she divorced in 1948. Cotterell died on 5 December 1978 at home at Garnons, Herefordshire. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son,

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 * Secon ...

. His memorial was held at

Hereford Cathedral Hereford Cathedral is the cathedral church of the Anglican Diocese of Hereford in Hereford, England. A place of worship has existed on the site of the present building since the 8th century or earlier. The present building was begun in 1079. S ...

and officiated by Norman Rathbone, the

Dean of Hereford The Dean of Hereford is the head (''primus inter pares'' – first among equals) and chair of the chapter of canons, the ruling body of Hereford Cathedral. The dean and chapter are based at the ''Cathedral Church of Blessed Virgin Mary and St Eth ...

, who was assisted by Canon

Allan Shaw Charles Allan Shaw (16 February 1927 – 16 July 1989) was an Anglican priest in the last third of the 20th century. He was born in Westhoughton, Lancashire on 16 February 1927, educated at Bolton School and Christ's College, Cambridge and ord ...

Portrait

In 1931, Sir John and his wife Lady Lettice had their portraits painted by

Philip de László Philip Alexius László de Lombos (born Fülöp Laub; hu, Fülöp Elek László; 30 April 1869 – 22 November 1937), known professionally as Philip de László, was an Anglo-Hungarian painter known particularly for his portraits of royal an ...

. In his portrait, he is pictured "Half-length slightly to the left, full face to the viewer, wearing the ceremonial uniform of the

Royal Horse Guards The Royal Regiment of Horse Guards (The Blues) (RHG) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. Raised in August 1650 at Newcastle upon Tyne and County Durham by Sir Arthur Haselrigge on the orders of Oliver Cr ...

, holding his red-plumed helmet in his right hand". László had previously done a number of portraits for his family, including of his mother in 1913, sister Sylvia in 1924, and later, his father in 1934.

References

External links

Portrait of Sir Richard Cotterell, 5th Baronet
1931, by

.
Portrait of Lady Lettice Cotterell
1931, by Philip de László. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cotterell, John 1907 births 1978 deaths People educated at Eton College Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Lord-Lieutenants of Herefordshire