20th March, 2018

William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp

© National Portrait Gallery, London

image: William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp by George Charles Beresford

© National Portrait Gallery, London.
Photographs Collection
NPG x6436

 

By May 1918 it was clear that the end of the war was in sight, with the allies sensing an overwhelming victory. We should remember that the Russian revolution was in full swing Add to this the rise of socialism and trade union power. This combination created a visceral fear in the British Establishment that revolution and socialism would come to these shores.
Thus it was that those who argued for peace were portrayed as “fellow travellers” and unpatriotic.

Nowhere is this better illustrated than in a speech by Lord Denbigh. The Earl Beauchamp, with his known pacifist leanings was a particular target. Denbigh argued that Germany wanted respite so that it could expand in the East and from there, destroy the Empire.
His attack began thus. “I have a speech here made by the noble Earl, Lord Beauchamp, not very long ago at a meeting where he was presiding, and he reminded the meeting that the reason of the outbreak of war was the violation of the neutrality of Belgium. That may have been the reason which rallied united England. But then he went on to say that that was the chief interest of this country. That I entirely dispute, and I maintain that it shows that the noble Earl has paid very little attention to this aspect of the question.

He went on to say, “Many of those active pacifists may be described as nothing short of pure Bolshevists. The only effect of their activities would be to produce the same disastrous results as were produced in Russia and Rumania as the result of their activities and those of their friends, amply supplied with German gold”.

Specifically linking Lord Beauchamp to this accusation, Denbigh fell only just short of calling him a traitor.

On a warm evening in June 1931, 59-year-old William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp, was dozing in the Moat Garden at Madresfield Manor. A piece of embroidery he had been working, draped on his lap. Behind him, unripe grapes tapped against the mullioned windows. Water trickled into the old iron well which bore his family motto “Fortuna mea est in bello campo”, ‘My fortune lies in the battlefield’. Pigeons cooed under the trefoil arches of the dovecote set into the chapel wall, The drama that destroyed this idyllic scene is worthy of a Greek Tragedy.

Suddenly, four car doors slammed shut. A black, chauffeur-driven saloon had entered the estate, driven down the Gloucester Drive, over the cattle grid and drawn up on the gravel beyond the moat. Three formally dressed men crossed the bridge into the court. They were not expected, and it was clear from their demeanour that they had come on business, not pleasure. The ultimatum they brought with them would shatter the lives of the Lygons.
Bradford, the butler, showed the three Knights of the Garter into the drawing-room to await Earl Beauchamp. William left the Moat Garden and joined the visitors, who were all known to him. Lord Stanmore gravely explained that they had been sent at the request of ‘the highest authority in the land’. His Majesty had been informed by Bend’or, the Duke of Westminster and William’s brother-in-law, that he could provide evidence of criminal acts of indecency between William and a number of men.
When King George had heard the allegations, he had reputedly muttered, “I thought men like that shot themselves” The King had been left in no doubt that Westminster would expose William, present the evidence to the press and have him arrested. According to the Constitution, a peer was entitled to be tried by fellow peers in the House of Lords. However, the thought of such a trial, in which male prostitutes would be subpoenaed, love notes read out in court and low-life exposed, had so horrified the King that he had decided to intervene. There was also the real possibility that other members of the Establishment would be implicated.
Accordingly, William was given the ultimatum, “leave the country by midnight tonight, never to return”

There can be very few falls from grace as dramatic and we have to ask why, Beauchamp had held the highest offices in the land. He was part of the War Cabinet and, despite his pacifist leanings was a signatory to the declaration of war in August 1914. It is probable that his liberal tendencies, as much as his homosexuality, lay at the heart of the coup to out him.
We should refer back to a speech by Lord Denbigh in May 1918. In it Beauchamp was openly accused of seeking peace at any price, of siding with Quakers and Bolsheviks, the accusation falling just short of treason. The end of the war was in sight, and in an echo of today’s divided parliament there were hawks and doves. The hawks won and the Treaty of Versailles, laid the platform for the 2nd World War.

Beauchamp’s radicalism did not confine itself to politics. IN his beloved estate in Kempley and Dymock, he was a significant social benefactor and creator of St Edward’s Church in Kempley, known as the Arts and Craft Church. certainly his sale of the estate, in 1919 would have sent ripples of worry through the ruling landowning class. Families, who had been tenants for centuries, were suddenly elevated to property owners with the political clout that brought with it.

Finally why wait till 1931. We can only surmise but the rise of socialism and the Trade Unions, the General Strike, was still fresh in memory, was eating away at privilege. Add to that the fears of revolution and the stagnant economy. No doubt there was a private incident, which precipitated the coup. It’s ruthless execution, however, smacks strongly of revenge

NB Beauchamp Exiled, always in motion – his ever supportive children-would find their way to him for visits.
This is a poem he sent home

“For all that this was a man who suffered. He was homesick for Madresfield and his family.
 This undated poem perhaps expressed his pain:

Thou muse of my manhood how oft have I stray’d
O’er thy lawns and thy meadows, in sun and in shade;
and though I no longer am domiciled here,-
To my heart will sweet Madresfield ever be dear.

And with joy through my life could wander about
Its gardens and shrubberies, its walks and its moat;
Till with aid of my fancy, loved nymph, I could feign
The days I so valued were with me again”.

J. O’Keefe
28.2.18

Related Articles
Appendix
Author


Also in Themes…
7th Earl Beauchamp: WW1 Liberal (1914-1916)

Listen to The Seventh Earl Beauchamp Audio Story

“The lives of the Earls Beauchamps are intricately bound with the history of Kempley”

See the Beauchamp Dymock Estate 1919 Auction Map on our maps Archive page

Who’d be a liberal ? : Then and Now – a Moment.press editorial drawing parallels between Earl Beauchamp and another ‘ousted’ liberal leader Charles Kennedy.



Image attribution:
William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp by George Charles Beresford
© National Portrait Gallery, London.
Photographs Collection
NPG x6436

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