John Wodehouse, 3rd Earl of Kimberley, (11 November 1883 – 16 April 1941), styled Lord Wodehouse from 1902 to 1932, 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 Liberal politician. He was a champion polo player.

Background

Wodehouse was the eldest son of

John Wodehouse, 2nd Earl of Kimberley John Wodehouse, 2nd Earl of Kimberley (10 December 1848 - 7 January 1932), known as Lord Wodehouse from 1866 to 1902, was a British peer and landowner, who was the first member of the Labour Party in the House of Lords. Wodehouse was born at ...

. He 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

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge, colloquially "Tit Hall" ) is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1350, it is th ...

.Horace A. Laffaye, ''Polo in Britain: A History'', Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2012, p. 111. At Cambridge, he was a committee member of the

University Pitt Club The University Pitt Club, popularly referred to as the Pitt Club, the UPC, or merely as Club, is a private members' club of the University of Cambridge. It was formerly male-only, and has admitted women since 2017. History The Pitt Club was ...

. He started playing

polo Polo is a stick and ball game that is played on horseback as a traditional field sport. It is one of the world's oldest known team sports, having been adopted in the Western world from the game of Chovgan (), which originated in ancient ...

at university, where he was a member of the Light Blue team. He later played for the Old Cantabs team. He holds the unique distinction of being the only person to win a gold medal at the Olympics in 1920 and a silver medal in

1908 This is the longest year in either the Julian or Gregorian calendars, having a duration of 31622401.38 seconds of Terrestrial Time (or ephemeris time), measured according to the definition of mean solar time. Events January * January ...

, both for polo.

Political career and military service

Wodehouse was elected Member of Parliament for

Mid Norfolk Mid Norfolk is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament since 2010 by George Freeman (po ...

at the general election of 1906. Aged 22 years and 2 months, he was the youngest Liberal candidate at that election. Throughout his service, he was Baby of the House of Commons. In the former year, he became JP for the county of Norfolk. He sat in Parliament until the

January 1910 general election The January 1910 UK general election was held from 15 January to 10 February 1910. Called amid a constitutional crisis after the Conservative-dominated House of Lords rejected the People's Budget, the Liberal government, seeking a mandate, los ...

. Lord Wodehouse was commissioned a lieutenant in the

Norfolk Yeomanry The Norfolk Yeomanry was a volunteer cavalry ( Yeomanry) regiment of Britain's Territorial Army, accepted onto the establishment of the British Army in 1794. After seeing action in the Second Boer War, it served dismounted at Gallipoli, in Pale ...

in 1911 and served with them until the beginning of the

First World War 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 ...

in 1914. He served as 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

16th Lancers The 16th The Queen's Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1759. It saw service for two centuries, before being amalgamated with the 5th Royal Irish Lancers to form the 16th/5th Lancers in 1922. History Early wa ...

during the war, when he was wounded and twice

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

. He was at the Western Front in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

from 1914 to 1917, and on the Italian Front during 1917–18. He won the MC in the latter year and also received the Italian

War Merit Cross The War Merit Cross () was a state decoration of Nazi Germany during World War II. By the end of the conflict it was issued in four degrees and had an equivalent civil award. A " de-Nazified" version of the War Merit Cross was reissued in 1957 ...

. His younger brother, Edward, also served in the 16th Lancers, but was killed in 1918. Another brother, Philip, died serving in 1919. From outside Parliament, he served as unpaid assistant private secretary to the Colonial Secretary, then

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

, in 1921–22, and was awarded the

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1925. From 1921 to 1933 he remained on the

Reserve of Officers The Army Reserve is the active-duty volunteer reserve force of the British Army. It is separate from the Regular Reserve whose members are ex-Regular personnel who retain a statutory liability for service. Descended from the Territorial Force ( ...

. He succeeded to his father's peerages in 1932, giving him a seat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

Family

Lord Kimberley married the twice-divorced Frances Margaret Montagu, daughter of Leonard Howard Loyd Irby, on 5 May 1922. In April 1941, aged 57, he was killed in

The Blitz The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War. Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...

at 48

Jermyn Street Jermyn Street is a One-way traffic, one-way street in the St James's area of the City of Westminster in London, England. It is to the south of, parallel, and adjacent to Piccadilly. Jermyn Street is known as a street for gentlemen's-clothing r ...

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and was succeeded by his only child,

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 ...

. Kimberley's son John was the

godson Within Christianity, a godparent or sponsor is someone who bears witness to a child's baptism (christening) and later is willing to help in their catechesis, as well as their lifelong spiritual formation. In both religious and civil views, ...

of the writer

P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse ( ; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Je ...

, a distant cousin, both being descended from

Sir Armine Wodehouse, 5th Baronet Colonel Sir Armine Wodehouse, 5th Baronet ( – 21 May 1777) was a British Tories (British political party), Tory politician and militia officer. Wodehouse was born in 1714, the son of Sir John Wodehouse, 4th Baronet, and Mary Fermor. His unus ...

.The Earl of Kimberley
(obituary) in ''

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

'' dated 29 May 2002, accessed 23 February 2018. According to ''

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ''Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'', sometimes referred to simply as ''Brewer's'', is a reference work containing definitions and explanations of many famous phrases, allusions, and figures, whether historical or mythical. The "New Edi ...

'', P. G. Wodehouse based the character of

Bertie Wooster Bertram Wilberforce Wooster is a fictional character in the comedic Jeeves stories created by British author P. G. Wodehouse. An amiable English gentleman and one of the "idle rich", Bertie appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose intellige ...

on him.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kimberley, John Wodehouse, 3rd Earl Of 1883 births 1941 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge Polo players at the 1908 Summer Olympics Polo players at the 1920 Summer Olympics English Olympic competitors Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain 16th The Queen's Lancers officers British Army personnel of World War I Commanders of the Order of the British Empire 13 English justices of the peace Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Recipients of the Military Cross British civilians killed in World War II UK MPs 1906–1910 UK MPs who inherited peerages John Wodehouse, 3rd Earl of Kimberley Deaths by German airstrikes during The Blitz British sportsperson-politicians Norfolk Yeomanry officers English polo players Olympic medalists in polo