William Bagot, 4th Baron Bagot JP (19 January 1857 – 23 December 1932), was a British peer and Conservative politician and art collector.

Early life

Bagot was the eldest son of two sons and five daughters born to William Bagot, 3rd Baron Bagot, and his wife, the former Hon. Lucia Caroline Elizabeth Agar-Ellis. His mother was a daughter of

George Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover George James Welbore Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover PC FRS FSA (14 January 179710 July 1833) was a British politician and man of letters. He was briefly First Commissioner of Woods and Forests under Lord Grey between 1830 and 1831. Background ...

and his sister, Louisa Bagot, married Hamar Alfred Bass of the

Bass Brewery The Bass Brewery () was founded in 1777 by William Bass in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The main brand was Bass Pale Ale, once the highest-selling beer in the UK. By 1877, Bass had become the largest brewery in the world, with ...

family in 1879. His paternal grandparents were

William Bagot, 2nd Baron Bagot William Bagot, 2nd Baron Bagot (11 September 1773 – 12 February 1856), was a British peer. William Bagot was born in London, the eldest son of William Bagot, 1st Baron Bagot, and his second wife Elizabeth Louisa St John. He was educated at We ...

and his second wife Lady Louisa Legge (daughter of George Legge, 3rd Earl of Dartmouth).''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage,'' 100th Edn, London, 1953: 'Bagot'. Bagot 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 ...

.Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.

Career

On 14 April 1875 he was commissioned as a

sub-lieutenant Sub-lieutenant is usually a junior officer rank, used in armies, navies and air forces. In most armies, sub-lieutenant is the lowest officer rank. However, in Brazil, it is the highest non-commissioned rank, and in Spain, it is the second high ...

in the

Staffordshire Yeomanry The Staffordshire Yeomanry (Queen's Own Royal Regiment) was a unit of the British Army. Raised in 1794 following Prime Minister William Pitt's order to raise volunteer bodies of men to defend Great Britain from foreign invasion, the Staffordshir ...

, of which his father was the honorary colonel. On 4 December the same year he was commissioned in the same rank into the 2nd Battalion, King's Own (1st Staffordshire) Militia. Both of these were part-time regiments. He served as an aide-de-camp to the

governor general of Canada The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, t ...

from 1876 to 1883. He was promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the 4th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment (as the militia had become) on 19 July 1879 and in the Staffordshire Yeomanry on 21 February 1880. He resigned from the militia on 29 March 1884, but remained in the yeomanry, being promoted to

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

on 11 May 1898. He later received the honorary 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 colonel. ...

and was second-in-command of the regiment, retiring on 30 November 1901. Bagot also held the office of

Gentleman Usher of the Privy Chamber Gentleman Usher and Lady Usher are titles for some officers of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom. For a list of office-holders from the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 up to the present day see List of Ushers. Gentleman Ushers as serv ...

from 1885 to 1887 and was 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 ...

and deputy lieutenant for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

and

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. Between 1896 and 1901 he served as a

Lord-in-waiting Lords-in-waiting (male) or baronesses-in-waiting (female) are peers who hold office in the Royal Household of the sovereign of the United Kingdom. In the official Court Circular they are styled "Lord in Waiting" or "Baroness in Waiting" (without ...

(government whip 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 ...

) in the Conservative administration of

Lord Salisbury Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (; 3 February 183022 August 1903) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times for a total of over thirteen y ...

Personal life

On 25 July 1903, Lord Bagot married the American Lilian Marie May (1863–1958) at Brompton Oratory. She was the youngest daughter of the late

Henry May Henry May may refer to: *Henry May (American politician) (1816–1866), U.S. Representative from Maryland *Henry May (New Zealand politician) (1912–1995), New Zealand politician * Henry May (VC) (1885–1941), Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cr ...

, a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from Maryland. The couple separated shortly after the christening of their only child, a daughter: * Hon. Barbara Bagot (b. 1905), who married in Oscar Crosby Sewall, son of Oscar Trufant Sewall, of

Bath, Maine Bath is a city in Sagadahoc County, Maine, in the United States. The population was 8,766 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Sagadahoc County, which includes one city and 10 towns. The city is popular with tourists, many drawn by its ...

in June 1934; they divorced in 1945 and she remarried in 1950 to Patricia Leighton Wilkins. Lord Bagot was an art collector and owned paintings by

Sir Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depend ...

, Sir Peter Lely,

Veronese Veronese is the Italian word denoting someone or something from Verona, Italy and may refer to: * Veronese Riddle, a popular riddle in the Middle Ages * ''Veronese'' (moth), a moth genus in the family Crambidae * Monte Veronese, an Italian chees ...

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh c ...

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo Bartolomé Esteban Murillo ( , ; late December 1617, baptized January 1, 1618April 3, 1682) was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contemporar ...

, Le Nain,

Frans Hals Frans Hals the Elder (, , ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, chiefly of individual and group portraits and of genre works, who lived and worked in Haarlem. Hals played an important role in the evolution of 17th-century group ...

, van Eyck, and valuable relics of the reign of King

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

. He was also an avid shooter, hunter, and fisher on his estates of more than 30,000 acres. Lord Bagot died at Blithfield Hall,

Rugeley Rugeley ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Cannock Chase District in Staffordshire, England. It lies on the north-eastern edge of Cannock Chase next to the River Trent; it is situated north of Lichfield, south-east of Stafford, nort ...

, 23 December 1932, aged 75, and was succeeded in his titles by his second cousin Gerald William Bagot, 5th Baron Bagot. Lady Bagot died 21 February 1958.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bagot, William Bagot, 4th Baron 1857 births 1932 deaths People educated at Eton College Gentlemen Ushers Staffordshire Yeomanry officers Staffordshire Militia officers 4