Lieutenant-Colonel John Francis Granville Scrope Egerton, 4th Earl of Ellesmere, MVO, K.StJ (14 November 1872 – 24 August 1944) was a British

hereditary peer The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of April 2025, there are 800 hereditary peers: 30 dukes (including six royal dukes), 34 marquesses, 189 earls, 108 viscounts, and 439 barons (not counting subsidiary ...

and soldier from the Egerton family, known as Viscount Brackley before 1914.

Early life

Lord Ellesmere was born in 1872, the eldest son of Francis Egerton, 3rd Earl of Ellesmere and his wife

Lady ''Lady'' is a term for a woman who behaves in a polite way. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the female counterpart of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men. "Lady" is al ...

Katherine Phipps, daughter of George Phipps, 2nd Marquess of Normanby. He succeeded to the earldom and the viscountcy upon his father's death in 1914.

Military career

Ellesmere was appointed a

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

in the part-time

3rd (Edinburgh Light Infantry Militia) Battalion, Royal Scots Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

, on 10 March 1894. The battalion was embodied in December 1899 and in early March 1900 left Queenstown on the ''SS Oriental'' for

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to serve in the

Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic an ...

. Lord Brackley and most of the battalion left

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for the United Kingdom in early May 1902, shortly before the end of the war. After his return, he was appointed Aide-de-camp to Sir William Knox, Commander,

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

, for 3rd Army Corps. His battalion later became the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, Royal Scots, in the

Special Reserve The Special Reserve was established on 1 April 1908 with the function of maintaining a reservoir of manpower for the British Army and training replacement drafts in times of war. Its formation was part of the military reforms implemented by Ri ...

and he was promoted to its command as lieutenant-colonel on 11 November 1912. He was in command when it was embodied at the outbreak of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and served with it during the war, when he was

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Cricket

A cricketer, he captained his own side to the West Indies in the winter of 1904–05.

Marriage and children

On 28 October 1905, he married Lady Violet Lambton, eldest daughter of Frederick Lambton, 4th Earl of Durham. They had seven children: * Lady Anne Katherine Egerton (1908 - 15 July 1964), married Geoffrey Babington * Lady Jane Mary Egerton (22 September 1909 – 27 July 1978), married Richard Scrope * Lady Mary Egerton (born 1911), married Lt Col Conyers Scrope * Lady Susan Alice Egerton (1913 – 29 April 2010), married

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

John Askew * John Sutherland Egerton, 6th Duke of Sutherland, 5th Earl of Ellesmere (10 May 1915 – 21 September 2000) * Lady Margaret Egerton (1918 – 2004), married Sir Jock Colville * Lady Alice Egerton (1923 – 1977) Ellesmere sold his father's seat, St George's Hill House and its 964-acre estate to master builder W. G. Tarrant, who went on to create Surrey's landmark St George's Hill estate. He purchased Hatchford End on the family's former estate at Hatchford Park for his unmarried sisters Lady Mabel Egerton, Lady Alice Egerton and Lady Leila Egerton. He and his wife moved to Burwood House in Surrey, now Notre Dame School.

Death

Lord Ellesmere died on 24 August 1944, at the age of 71. He was succeeded in the earldom and viscountcy by his only 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 * Second E ...

who, in 1963, also succeeded his third cousin once removed George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 5th Duke of Sutherland in the dukedom.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellesmere, John Egerton, 4th Earl of 1872 births 1944 deaths Earls in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Royal Scots officers British Army personnel of the Second Boer War British Army personnel of World War I Knights of Justice of the Order of St John Members of the Royal Victorian Order English cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers

Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club Lord Brackley's XI cricketers