Charles Stourton, 26th Baron Mowbray
Encyclopedia
Charles Edward Stourton, 23rd Baron Stourton, 27th Baron Segrave, 26th Baron Mowbray CBE
(11 March 1923 - 12 December 2006) was a baron
in the peerage of England
. From 1965 to 1983, he was premier baron in the English peerage. He sat on the Conservative
benches in the House of Lords
, and was a Conservative whip in government and in opposition from 1967 to 1980. He was one of the 92 hereditary peer
s selected to keep their seat in the reformed House of Lords under the House of Lords Act 1999
.
Mowbray was the only son of William Marmaduke Stourton
, 25th Lord Mowbray, 26th Lord Segrave and 22nd Lord Stourton. His mother, Sheila Gully, was a granddaughter of William Court Gully, 1st Viscount Selby
, who served as Speaker of the House of Commons
from 1895 to 1905.
Through his father, he was descended from a brother of Geoffrey de Mowbray, Bishop of Coutances, who was an adviser to William the Conqueror. Another relative, William de Mowbray, was one of the barons who forced King John
to put his seal to Magna Carta
in 1215; as a direct descendant, Charles travelled to Washington, D.C.
in 1976 with a parliamentary delegation that presented one of the four copies of the Magna Carta
held by the British Museum
to the U.S. Congress.
He was educated at Ampleforth College
and Christ Church, Oxford
, and served as a lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards
in the Second World War. He was injured and lost his right eye near Caen
in 1944. He left the Army in 1945, and ran a pig farm on the family estates in Yorkshire.
He was married twice. He married his first wife, Jane de Yarburgh-Bateson, in 1953. She was the only child of Stephen Nicholas de Yarburgh-Bateson, 5th Baron Deramore. They had two sons:
His wife died in 1998, and he was married again in 1999, to Joan, Lady Holland, née Street, widow of Sir Guy Holland, 3rd Baronet.
He was Gold Stick Officer at the Coronation
of Queen Elizabeth II
in 1953. He was a councillor on Niddesdale Rural District Council from 1954 to 1959.
Despite his strong Roman Catholic faith, he took his mother's side when his parents were divorced in 1961, in a case that drew significant publicity. His father was labelled an "egocentric" and his mother was granted a decree of judicial separation on the ground of her husband's cruelty. After the divorce, he took his father to court over disputes concerning the administration of the family estates. The case was later settled.
He inherited three baronies when his father died in 1965. Baron Mowbray
is the third most senior barony in the Peerage of England
, after the Baron de Ros
and Baron le Despencer
. However, as Georgiana Maxwell, 27th Baroness de Ros
was female, and the Baron le Despencer is also Viscount Falmouth
, he followed his father as premier baron of England, losing that distinction in 1983 when Baroness de Ros died and was succeeded by her son. His father's will left most of his estate to his 12-year-old grandson, Edward, with little provision for his wife or son. The family seat at Allerton Park
, near Knaresborough
in Yorkshire
, perhaps the most important Gothic Revival stately home
in England, was left on trust until Edward was 30. The house was sold to an American businessman in 1983.
Recognisable by his eye-patch, he sat on the Conservative benches, and rarely departed from the Conservative party line. He became an opposition whip in 1967, and continued as a Conservative whip for 13 years until he resigned in 1980. As a Lord-in-Waiting
, he was often called upon to greet visiting heads of state
at Heathrow Airport. He was twice Chancellor of the Primrose League
, from 1975 to 1979 and from 1981 to 1984. He was also a spokesman on the Environment for the government of Edward Heath
from 1970 to 1974 and on the Environment, Transport and the Arts for the government of Margaret Thatcher
from 1979 to 1980. He was conferred the honour of the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1982. After the House of Lords Act 1999
, he was elected as one of the 92 hereditary peer
s to keep a seat in the reformed House. He sat on the House of Lords Committee of Privileges, and was a captain of the House of Lords shooting team.
He belonged to many clubs and associations. He was vice-president of the British Association of the Sovereign and Military Order of Malta, and was also its longest-serving Knight.
He became a director of Securicor
in the 1960s. He was chairman of Thames Estuary Airport Company from 1993.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(11 March 1923 - 12 December 2006) was a baron
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...
in the peerage of England
Peerage of England
The Peerage of England comprises all peerages created in the Kingdom of England before the Act of Union in 1707. In that year, the Peerages of England and Scotland were replaced by one Peerage of Great Britain....
. From 1965 to 1983, he was premier baron in the English peerage. He sat on the Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
benches in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
, and was a Conservative whip in government and in opposition from 1967 to 1980. He was one of the 92 hereditary peer
Hereditary peer
Hereditary peers form part of the Peerage in the United Kingdom. There are over seven hundred peers who hold titles that may be inherited. Formerly, most of them were entitled to sit in the House of Lords, but since the House of Lords Act 1999 only ninety-two are permitted to do so...
s selected to keep their seat in the reformed House of Lords under the House of Lords Act 1999
House of Lords Act 1999
The House of Lords Act 1999 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was given Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. The Act reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. For centuries, the House of Lords had included several hundred members who inherited their seats;...
.
Mowbray was the only son of William Marmaduke Stourton
William Stourton, 25th Baron Mowbray
William Stourton, 22nd Baron Stourton, 26th Baron Segrave, 25th Baron Mowbray was the son of Charles Stourton and Mary Constable.He was a Captain in the Grenadier Guards, and married Shelia Gully in 1921.They had one son:...
, 25th Lord Mowbray, 26th Lord Segrave and 22nd Lord Stourton. His mother, Sheila Gully, was a granddaughter of William Court Gully, 1st Viscount Selby
William Court Gully, 1st Viscount Selby
William Court Gully, 1st Viscount Selby QC, PC was a British lawyer and Liberal politician. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons between 1895 and 1905.-Background and education:...
, who served as Speaker of the House of Commons
Speaker of the British House of Commons
The Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, the United Kingdom's lower chamber of Parliament. The current Speaker is John Bercow, who was elected on 22 June 2009, following the resignation of Michael Martin...
from 1895 to 1905.
Through his father, he was descended from a brother of Geoffrey de Mowbray, Bishop of Coutances, who was an adviser to William the Conqueror. Another relative, William de Mowbray, was one of the barons who forced King John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
to put his seal to Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
in 1215; as a direct descendant, Charles travelled to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
in 1976 with a parliamentary delegation that presented one of the four copies of the Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
held by the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
to the U.S. Congress.
He was educated at Ampleforth College
Ampleforth College
Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire, England, is the largest Roman Catholic co-educational boarding independent school in the United Kingdom. It opened in 1802, as a boys' school, and is run by the Benedictine monks and lay staff of Ampleforth Abbey...
and Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
, and served as a lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards
Grenadier Guards
The Grenadier Guards is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It is the most senior regiment of the Guards Division and, as such, is the most senior regiment of infantry. It is not, however, the most senior regiment of the Army, this position being attributed to the Life Guards...
in the Second World War. He was injured and lost his right eye near Caen
Caen
Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....
in 1944. He left the Army in 1945, and ran a pig farm on the family estates in Yorkshire.
He was married twice. He married his first wife, Jane de Yarburgh-Bateson, in 1953. She was the only child of Stephen Nicholas de Yarburgh-Bateson, 5th Baron Deramore. They had two sons:
- Edward William Stephen Stourton, 27th Baron MowbrayEdward Stourton, 27th Baron MowbrayEdward William Stephen Stourton, 24th Baron Stourton, 28th Baron Segrave, 27th Baron Mowbray is a British peer.The son of the 26th Baron Mowbray and Hon. Jane Faith de Yarburgh-Bateson, daughter of the 5th Baron Deramore, he succeeded to his father's titles on 12 December 2006.On 12 July 1980, he...
(b. 17 April 1953) - Hon. James Alastair Stourton (b. 3 July 1956)
His wife died in 1998, and he was married again in 1999, to Joan, Lady Holland, née Street, widow of Sir Guy Holland, 3rd Baronet.
He was Gold Stick Officer at the Coronation
Coronation of the British monarch
The coronation of the British monarch is a ceremony in which the monarch of the United Kingdom is formally crowned and invested with regalia...
of Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
in 1953. He was a councillor on Niddesdale Rural District Council from 1954 to 1959.
Despite his strong Roman Catholic faith, he took his mother's side when his parents were divorced in 1961, in a case that drew significant publicity. His father was labelled an "egocentric" and his mother was granted a decree of judicial separation on the ground of her husband's cruelty. After the divorce, he took his father to court over disputes concerning the administration of the family estates. The case was later settled.
He inherited three baronies when his father died in 1965. Baron Mowbray
Baron Mowbray
Baron Mowbray is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created by writ for Roger de Mowbray in 1283. It was held for a long time by the Mowbray and Howard Dukes of Norfolk. The title was united with the Barony of Segrave in 1368, when John Mowbray, 1st Earl of Nottingham and 5th Baron Mowbray...
is the third most senior barony in the Peerage of England
Peerage of England
The Peerage of England comprises all peerages created in the Kingdom of England before the Act of Union in 1707. In that year, the Peerages of England and Scotland were replaced by one Peerage of Great Britain....
, after the Baron de Ros
Baron de Ros
The title of Baron de Ros of Helmsley is the most ancient baronial title in the Peerage of England. The title of Baron de Ros of Helmsley is the most ancient baronial title in the Peerage of England. The title of Baron de Ros of Helmsley is the most ancient baronial title in the Peerage of England....
and Baron le Despencer
Baron le Despencer
The title Baron le Despencer has been created several times by writ in the Peerage of England.-Creation:The first creation was in 1295, when Hugh the elder Despenser was summoned to the Model Parliament. He was the eldest son of the sometime Justiciar Hugh le Despenser , who was summoned in 1264 to...
. However, as Georgiana Maxwell, 27th Baroness de Ros
Georgiana Maxwell, 27th Baroness de Ros
Georgiana Angela Maxwell, 27th Baroness de Ros of Helmsley succeeded her grandmother Una Ross after the title was called out of abeyance in her favour in 1958. She was the first woman of her line to be allowed to sit in the House of Lords after the Peerage Act 1963.The 27th Baroness was the...
was female, and the Baron le Despencer is also Viscount Falmouth
Viscount Falmouth
Viscount Falmouth is a title that has been created twice, first in the Peerage of England, and then in the Peerage of Great Britain. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1674 for George FitzRoy, illegitimate son of King Charles II by Barbara Villiers. He was created Earl of...
, he followed his father as premier baron of England, losing that distinction in 1983 when Baroness de Ros died and was succeeded by her son. His father's will left most of his estate to his 12-year-old grandson, Edward, with little provision for his wife or son. The family seat at Allerton Park
Allerton Castle
Allerton Castle, formerly "Allerton Park" is a Grade I listed nineteenth century Gothic or Victorian Gothic house at Allerton Mauleverer in North Yorkshire, England...
, near Knaresborough
Knaresborough
Knaresborough is an old and historic market town, spa town and civil parish in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, located on the River Nidd, four miles east of the centre of Harrogate.-History:...
in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, perhaps the most important Gothic Revival stately home
Stately home
A stately home is a "great country house". It is thus a palatial great house or in some cases an updated castle, located in the British Isles, mostly built between the mid-16th century and the early part of the 20th century, as well as converted abbeys and other church property...
in England, was left on trust until Edward was 30. The house was sold to an American businessman in 1983.
Recognisable by his eye-patch, he sat on the Conservative benches, and rarely departed from the Conservative party line. He became an opposition whip in 1967, and continued as a Conservative whip for 13 years until he resigned in 1980. As a Lord-in-Waiting
Lord-in-Waiting
Most Lords in Waiting are Government whips in the House of Lords who are members of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. As members of the Royal Household their duties are nominal, though they are occasionally required to meet visiting political and state leaders on visits...
, he was often called upon to greet visiting heads of state
Head of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
at Heathrow Airport. He was twice Chancellor of the Primrose League
Primrose League
The Primrose League was an organisation for spreading Conservative principles in Great Britain. It was founded in 1883 and active until the mid 1990s...
, from 1975 to 1979 and from 1981 to 1984. He was also a spokesman on the Environment for the government of Edward Heath
Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George "Ted" Heath, KG, MBE, PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and as Leader of the Conservative Party ....
from 1970 to 1974 and on the Environment, Transport and the Arts for the government of Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
from 1979 to 1980. He was conferred the honour of the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1982. After the House of Lords Act 1999
House of Lords Act 1999
The House of Lords Act 1999 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was given Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. The Act reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. For centuries, the House of Lords had included several hundred members who inherited their seats;...
, he was elected as one of the 92 hereditary peer
Hereditary peer
Hereditary peers form part of the Peerage in the United Kingdom. There are over seven hundred peers who hold titles that may be inherited. Formerly, most of them were entitled to sit in the House of Lords, but since the House of Lords Act 1999 only ninety-two are permitted to do so...
s to keep a seat in the reformed House. He sat on the House of Lords Committee of Privileges, and was a captain of the House of Lords shooting team.
He belonged to many clubs and associations. He was vice-president of the British Association of the Sovereign and Military Order of Malta, and was also its longest-serving Knight.
He became a director of Securicor
Securicor
Securicor plc was one of the United Kingdom's largest security businesses. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but merged with Group 4 Falck in 2004.-History:...
in the 1960s. He was chairman of Thames Estuary Airport Company from 1993.
External links
- Obituary, The Daily TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, 15 December 2006 - Obituary, The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, 19 December 2006 - Obituary, Yorkshire PostYorkshire PostThe Yorkshire Post is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England by Yorkshire Post Newspapers, a company owned by Johnston Press...
, 23 December 2006 - Obituary, The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, 3 January 2007