George Neville Clive Wigram, 2nd Baron Wigram, MC, DL (2 August 1915 – 23 May 2017) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer. He was a Member of 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 ...

before his exclusion in 1999, due to the

House of Lords Act 1999 The House of Lords Act 1999 (c. 34) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. The Act was given royal assent on 11 November 1999. For centuries, the House of Lords ...

which excluded most members who inherited their seats. He sat as a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

. He held the title of Baron Wigram, of Clewer in the County of

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

, from 1960 when his father

Clive Wigram, 1st Baron Wigram Clive Wigram, 1st Baron Wigram, (5 July 1873 – 3 September 1960) was a British Indian Army officer and courtier. He was Private Secretary to the Sovereign from 1931 to 1936. Parentage and education Wigram was the son of Herbert Wigram. His ...

died. His son, Major Andrew Francis Clive Wigram, 3rd Baron (born 1949), succeeded to the title on his death.

Early life

Wigram was born on 2 August 1915 He was godson and a

Page of Honour A Page of Honour is a ceremonial position in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. It requires attendance on state occasions, but does not now involve the daily duties which were once attached to the office of page. The only ...

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 Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...

. He resigned from the post in 1932. He was educated at

Sandroyd School Sandroyd School is an independent co-educational preparatory school for day and boarding pupils aged 2 to 13 in the south of Wiltshire, England. The school's main building is Rushmore House, a 19th-century country house which is surrounded by th ...

Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...

and

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

.'WIGRAM',

Who's Who 2017 ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It has been published annually in the form of a hardback book since 1849, and has been published online since 1999. It has also been published on CD-ROM. It lists, and gives information on, people from around ...

, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2017; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2016; online edn, Nov 201
accessed 31 May 2017
/ref> He was an Officer Cadet in the university's

Officers Training Corps The University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), also known as the Officers' Training Corps (OTC), are British Army reserve units, under the command of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, which recruit exclusively from universities and focus on ...

. He took a commission within the infantry contingent of the Oxford OTC on 7 February 1936, and became a second lieutenant with seniority from 7 August 1934.

Military career

Wigram transferred from the Territorial Army, which he joined when he took a commission in the OTC, to the

Grenadier Guards The Grenadier Guards (GREN GDS) is the most senior infantry regiment of the British Army, being at the top of the Infantry Order of Precedence. It can trace its lineage back to 1656 when Lord Wentworth's Regiment was raised in Bruges to protect ...

as a second lieutenant on 28 August 1937. He was given seniority from 30 January 1936. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Wigram was involved in the

Dunkirk evacuation The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, or just Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the Second World War from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, in the ...

in 1940. He was shot in the back, but was not aware of it at the time. He only found out later when he opened his backpack to find a bullet embedded in his soap-dish. During a presentation he gave to a group of special needs school children at Coln House School,

Fairford Fairford is a market town in Gloucestershire, England. The town lies in the Cotswold hills on the River Coln, east of Cirencester, west of Lechlade and north of Swindon. Nearby are RAF Fairford and the Cotswold Water Park. History I ...

, Gloucestershire, Wigram described his experience at Dunkirk: Wigram was promoted to

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 ...

on 30 January 1944, and returned to France during the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...

that year. He then advanced through Europe with the Grenadier Guards. In April 1945, he was involved with the liberation of a

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

near

Bremen, Germany Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the German state of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven. W ...

. During the same presentation mentioned earlier, he described what they found at the camp: On 10 July 1945, ( temporary) Major Wigram, Grenadier Guards, was gazetted as having been awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

"in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in North West Europe". Wigram remained in the army after the war. From 1946 to 1949 he was posted in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

as Military Secretary and Comptroller to the Governor-General. He received promotions to

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 ...

on 30 January 1949, and to lieutenant colonel on 9 May 1955. He retired from the British Army on 26 June 1957 as a lieutenant colonel on account of a disability.

Later life

Upon the death of his father in 1960 Wigram became the second Baron Wigram, of Clewer in the County of Berkshire. On 8 October 1969 Wigram was announced as one of five deputy lieutenants commissioned that year by the

Lord Lieutenant A lord-lieutenant ( ) is the British monarch's personal representative in each lieutenancy area of the United Kingdom. Historically, each lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's militia. In 1871, the lieutenant's responsibility ov ...

of the County of Gloucester. He

turned 100 A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100. Because life expectancies at birth worldwide are well below 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. The United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living centenarian ...

in August 2015.

Death

Wigram died on 23 May 2017 at the age of 101. At the time of his death he was the longest lived person to have sat in the House of Lords.
/ref>

Personal life

In 1941, Wigram married Margaret Helen Thorne (1917–1986), daughter of General Andrew Thorne, Sir Andrew Thorne. Together they had three children: * Major Andrew Wigram, 3rd Baron Wigram (born 1949), who was married in 1974 to Gabrielle Diana Moore * Margaret Cherry Wigram (born 1942), who, in 1972, married Lieutenant Colonel Greville John Wyndham Malet (they divorced in 1993) * Anne Celia Wigram (born 1945), who, in 1973, married Major General Sir Evelyn Webb-Carter Wigram had nine grandchildren.

Styles

*George Neville Clive Wigram (1913–1935) *The Hon. Neville Wigram (1935–1944) *Captain The Hon. Neville Wigram (1944–1945) *Captain The Hon. Neville Wigram MC (1945–1949) *Major The Hon. Neville Wigram MC (1949–1955) *Lieutenant Colonel The Hon. Neville Wigram MC (1955–1957) *The Hon. Neville Wigram MC (1957–1960) *The Rt Hon. The Lord Wigram MC (1960–1969) *The Rt Hon. The Lord Wigram MC DL (1969–2017)

References

Sources

WIGRAM, 2nd Baron
''Who's Who 2013'', A & C Black, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Wigram, Neville 1915 births 2017 deaths Officers' Training Corps officers Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Deputy lieutenants of Gloucestershire Grenadier Guards officers Recipients of the Military Cross People educated at Sandroyd School People educated at Winchester College Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford British men centenarians British Army personnel of World War II Wigram