Francis Burdett Thomas Nevill Money-Coutts, 5th Baron Latymer (18 September 1852 – 8 June 1923) was a London solicitor, poet, librettist, and wealthy heir to the fortune of the

Coutts Coutts & Co. () is a British private bank and wealth manager headquartered in London, England. Founded in 1692, it is the eighth oldest bank in the world. Today, Coutts forms part of NatWest Group's wealth management division. In the Channe ...

banking family. He is now remembered chiefly as a patron and collaborator of the Spanish composer

Isaac Albéniz Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual (; 29 May 1860 – 18 May 1909) was a Spanish virtuoso pianist, composer, and conductor. He is one of the foremost composers of the post-romantic era who also had a significant influence on his con ...

Clark Clark is an English language surname with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland, ultimately derived from the Latin ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educated ...

, pp. 102–108.

Family history

His father was the Reverend James Drummond Money (d. 1875), and his mother was Clara Burdett (d. 1899). Clara was the daughter of Sir

Francis Burdett Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet (25 January 1770 – 23 January 1844) was a British politician and Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament who gained notoriety as a proponent (in advance of the Chartism, Chartists) of univ ...

(1770–1844) and

Sophia Coutts Sophia, Lady Burdett (1775–1844) was an English heiress and political hostess. Burdett and her sisters were known as the "Three Graces." Biography Burdett was born in 1775 and was the third daughter of the wealthy banker Thomas Coutts, foun ...

(d. 1844). Sophia was one of three daughters of the wealthy banker

Thomas Coutts Thomas Coutts (7 September 1735 – 24 February 1822) was a British banker. He was a founder of the banking house Coutts & Co. Early life Coutts was the fourth son of Jean (née Steuart) Coutts and John Coutts (1699–1751), whose business i ...

. In 1875 Francis Money, as he was then named, married Edith Ellen Churchill. In 1881, his mother Clara's sister Angela Burdett violated the terms of the will making her the sole heir of the Coutts fortune, by marrying a foreigner (an American 40 years her junior). Seeing an opportunity, Clara and her son adopted the name "Coutts," as required by the will, and contested Angela's claims. A settlement was reached, and Angela received two-fifths of the income until her death in 1906, at which time Francis became the sole beneficiary.

Education and professional life

Money attended

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

( MA;

LL.M. A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

, 1878). He became a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

in 1879 and later worked as a

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

. Although often described as a banker, he was too interested in the arts to be a serious banker. He was at one point considered for a partnership in the firm, but this idea was abandoned, as he was thought too unstable in temperament for such a position. In any case, his preferred vocation was as an author. Adopting the pen name of "Mountjoy," he wrote and published at least 23 works between 1896 and 1923. Many of these were collections of poems (see

List of works A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...

). He also worked for publisher John Lane in London, writing prefaces for, and editing, collections of poems by other authors, including

Alfred, Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of ...

(''Flowers of Parnassus'', 27 volumes, 1900–1906) and

Jeremy Taylor Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667) was a cleric in the Church of England who achieved fame as an author during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. He is sometimes known as the "Shakespeare of Divines" for his poetic style of expression, and he is fr ...

(''The Marriage Ring'', 1907).

Collaboration with Albéniz

In the late 1880s Money-Coutts became involved with the finances of the

Lyric Lyric may refer to: * Lyrics, the words, often in verse form, which are sung, usually to a melody, and constitute the semantic content of a song * Lyric poetry is a form of poetry that expresses a subjective, personal point of view * Lyric, from t ...

and

Prince of Wales Theatre The Prince of Wales Theatre is a West End theatre in Coventry Street, near Leicester Square in London. It was established in 1884 and rebuilt in 1937, and extensively refurbished in 2004 by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, its current owner. The theatre ...

s. Through this connection he became an admirer of the music of Albéniz. Soon he became acquainted with the composer, eventually becoming an intimate friend and benefactor. They collaborated on a series of operas, for which Coutts wrote the

libretti A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major l ...

. The first opera in the series was '' Henry Clifford'' (1895), followed by '' Pepita Jiménez'' (1896), and an

Arthurian According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a leader of the post-Ro ...

trilogy, of which only one part, ''

Merlin The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...

'' (1902), was completed and staged.

List of works

Money-Coutts authored the following works: *''Poems'' (1896) *''The Revelation of St. Love the Divine'' (1898) *''The Alhambra'' (1898) *''The Mystery of Godliness'' (1900) *''The Nutbrown Maid'' (1901) *''The Poet's Charter'' (1902) *''Musa Verticordia'' (1904) *''The Song of Songs: a Lyrical Folk-Play of the Ancient Hebrews Arranged in Seven Scenes'' (1906) *''The Heresy of Job'' with the Inventions of William Blake (1907) *''Romance of King Arthur'' (1907) *''Psyche'' (1911), poems *''Egypt and Other Poems'' (1912) *''The Royal Marines'' (1915) *''The Spacious Times, and Others'' (1920), poems *''Well'' (1922), a guidebook to the village of Well,

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

*''Selected Poems'' (1923)

Title

Francis Money-Coutts became the 5th Baron Latymer in 1913 when its 336-year

abeyance Abeyance (from the Old French ' meaning "gaping") describes a state of temporary dormancy or suspension. In law, it can refer to a situation where the ownership of property, titles, or office is not currently Vesting, vested in any specific perso ...

was terminated in his favour by

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. George was born during the reign of his pa ...

. Kidd & Williamson. See also Baron Latymer and . Accessed 3 November 2009.

Notes

Sources

* Clark, Walter Aaron (1999). ''Isaac Albéniz: Portrait of a Romantic''. Oxford, New York:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. * Kidd, Charles; David Williamson, editors (1990). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage''. New York: St Martin's Press. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Latymer, Francis Money-Coutts, 5th Baron English opera librettists Barons Latimer 1852 births 1923 deaths English male poets 19th-century English poets 20th-century English poets 19th-century English male writers 20th-century English male writers