George Richard Lawley Gibbs, 2nd Baron Wraxall, (16 May 1928 – 19 July 2001), who used the forename Richard, 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 ...

Early life and background

Gibbs succeeded his father, George Gibbs, 1st Baron Wraxall, in the barony on 28 October 1931 at the age of three. His mother was the Hon. Ursula Mary Lawley, daughter of

Arthur Lawley, 6th Baron Wenlock Arthur Lawley, 6th Baron Wenlock, (12 November 1860 – 14 June 1932) was a British colonial administrator who served variously as Administrator of Matabeleland, Governor of Western Australia, Lieutenant-Governor of the Transvaal, and Governo ...

. His godmother was Queen

Mary of Teck Mary of Teck (Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes; 26 May 186724 March 1953) was List of British royal consorts, Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 6 May 1910 until 20 Janua ...

Kidnapping

In 1988, Lord Wraxall was kidnapped at his home

Tyntesfield Tyntesfield () is a Victorian Gothic Revival country house and estate near Wraxall, North Somerset, England. The house is a Grade I listed building named after the Tynte baronets, who had owned estates in the area since about 1500. The locati ...

and locked in the boot of his BMW for almost seven hours. Afterwards according to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', he said "Good grief, there's more room in the back than I ever thought". The kidnappers had knocked him to the ground, one battering him on the head with a plank, and demanded the combination to his safe and his house keys, but the burglar alarm went off and, in a panic, the raiders bundled Lord Wraxall into the boot of his car and drove him to woods about two miles away, before making off with his wallet and credit cards.

Later life and death

Wraxall was appointed to be a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

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 ...

in 1996. He died unmarried in July 2001, aged 73, and was succeeded by his younger brother, Sir Eustace Gibbs.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wraxall, Richard Gibbs, 2nd Baron 1928 births 2001 deaths 2

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...