George_St_John_Brodrick,_2nd_Earl_of_Midleton

George Brodrick, 2nd Earl of Midleton

George Brodrick, 2nd Earl of Midleton

English aristocrat, landowner and soldier

For other people with the same name, see George Brodrick (disambiguation).

George St John Brodrick, 2nd Earl of Midleton MC (21 February 1888 – 2 November 1979) was an English aristocrat, landowner and soldier.

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Early life

The former Brodrick family seat, Peper Harow House.

He was the eldest son of five children born to St John Brodrick, 1st Earl of Midleton by his first wife, Lady Hilda Charteris.[1] His siblings included Lady Muriel Brodrick (wife of Dudley Marjoribanks, 3rd Baron Tweedmouth), Lady Sybil Brodrick who was Maid of honour to Queen Mary from 1911 to 1912 (wife of Sir Ronald William Graham), Lady Aileen Brodrick (wife of Charles Francis Meade), Lady Moyra Brodrick (wife of Gen. Sir Charles Loyd of Geldeston Hall) After his mother's death in 1901, his father remarried, in 1903, to Madeleine Stanley, a daughter of The Baron St Helier. From his father's second marriage, his younger-half siblings were Maj. Hon. Francis Alan Brodrick (who married Margaret Letitia Lyell, only daughter of Maj Hon Charles Henry Lyell) and Maj. Hon. Michael Victor Brodrick. Both of his brothers were killed in action in Italy in September 1943.[2]

His paternal grandparents were William Brodrick, 8th Viscount Midleton and the former Hon. Augusta Mary Fremantle (a daughter of Thomas Fremantle, 1st Baron Cottesloe).[3] His maternal grandparents were Francis Richard Charteris, 10th Earl of Wemyss and Lady Anne Anson (a daughter of Thomas Anson, 1st Earl of Lichfield).[2]

He was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford.[4]

Career

From 1914 to 1918, he served in World War as aide-de-camp on the personal staff of Sir Ian Hamilton in Egypt and Gallipoli. In 1918, he was Staff Officer and was awarded Military Cross. During World War II, he served as aide-de-camp to the Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces.[2]

On 2 February 1920, his father was created Earl of Midleton and the Viscount Dunsford, of Dunsford in the County of Surrey. Thereafter, and until his father's death in 1942, he was referred to by the courtesy title of Viscount Dunsford.[5]

He succeeded his father, who had served as Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State for India, as the Earl of Midleton in 1942.[2] In 1944, he sold the family seat, Peper Harow House (which had been built by Sir William Chambers for George Brodrick, 3rd Viscount Midleton in 1765), and the entire village, to property developers. Both are now owned by a trust.[6]

Personal life

Lord Midleton was married three times to three actresses, but did not have any children from any of his marriages.

First marriage

His first marriage was to the stage actress Margaret "Peggy" Rush,[lower-alpha 1] a daughter of J. Rush, of Cromer, Norfolk, on 23 June 1917.[9] They divorced in March 1925[10] before he succeeded to the Earldom.[2]

Second marriage

On 28 July 1925, when he was known as Viscount Dunsford, he married Guinevere Jeanne (née Sinclair) Gould (1885–1978) at the American Presbyterian Church in Montreal.[11] Guinevere, an actress at the Gaiety Theatre, was the widow of George Jay Gould,[12] and a daughter of Alexander Sinclair of Dublin.[lower-alpha 2] Her grandfather was Sir Edward Burrowes Sinclair, King's Professor of Midwifery in the School of Physic of the University of Dublin,[15] and her cousin was Sir George McMunn, High Commissioner of Palestine.[11] They were divorced in 1975.[2]

Third marriage

In the 1950s he met film actress Irene Lilian Creese (1911–1993), better known by her stage name Rene Ray, who was born in London and made her London acting debut at the Savoy Theatre in 1930.[16] Lord Midleton and Ray, whose first husband was composer George Posford, moved to Jersey together in 1963. Immediately after his 1975 divorce from his second wife, Guinevere, he married for the third, and final, time to Ray on 24 April 1975.[2]

Death

Lord Midleton died on 2 November 1979. Upon his death, the Earldom of Midleton and the Viscountcy of Dunsford became extinct, but the Viscountcy of Midleton passed to his second cousin, Trevor Lowther Brodrick.[2] The Countess of Midleton died in 1993.[16]

References

Notes
  1. Peggy was born in Chicago, Illinois, in around 1898. Her parents relocated to England, when she was just three months old. In 1915 she began her stage career as a member of a musical comedy chorus, that appeared at the Maxine Elliott's Theatre.[7] A photograph of her by the Bassano studio (1923) can be found in Britain’s National Portrait Gallery.[8]
    "Miss Rush had a sense of humor... She once said that she never knew whether to refer to herself as American or English. She quipped that she felt safest calling herself a Chicagoan".[7]
  2. Guinevere had been the mistress of George Jay Gould before the death of his first wife, fellow actress Edith Kingdon, in 1921.[13] Sinclair married Gould on 1 May 1922 and had three children with him, George Sinclair Gould (1915–2003), Jane Sinclair Gould (1916–1948), and Guinevere Gould (1922–1968).[14]
Sources
  1. [1]
    "EARL OF MIDLETON DIES IN ENGLAND, 85; War Minister in Boer Conflict, Ex-Secretary of State for India, Had Been M.P. TOLD OF KAISER INTRIGUE Emperor's Scheme to Invade South America With British Aid Shocked Salisbury". The New York Times. 15 February 1942. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  2. [2]
    "Midleton, Earl of (UK, 1920 - 1979)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  3. [3]
    "Midleton, Viscount (I, 1717)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  4. [4]
    "Midleton, 2nd Earl of, (George St John Brodrick) (21 Feb. 1888–2 Nov. 1979)." WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 2007-12-01. Oxford University Press.
  5. [5]
    "SIR ALBERT STANLEY A NEW YEAR'S BARON; Street Railway Man, Trained Here, Is Honored by King George. RIDDELL ALSO MADE A PEER Viscount Midleton Becomes an Earl --C.B. for Montgomery, Who Was Here with Reading". The New York Times. 1 January 1920. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  6. [6]
    Historic England. "Peper Harow Park (1435898)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  7. [7]
    "PEGGY RUSH : PORTRAIT OF A BRITISH AMERICAN CHIGAGOAN STAGE AND FILM ACTRESS". The Cabinet Card Gallery. 27 May 2020. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  8. [8]
    "Peggy Rush by Bassano Ltd, whole-plate glass negative (NPG x122731)". National Portrait Gallery, London. 18 October 1923. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  9. [9]
    TIMES, Special Cable to THE NEW YORK (24 May 1916). "WILL WED VISCOUNT'S SON.; Peggy Rush, Actress, to Marry the Hon. George St. John Brodrick". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  10. [10]
    LADY DUNFORD'S DIVORCE, Malaya Tribune, 11 March 1925, Page 2. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  11. [11]
    Times, Special to The New York (29 July 1925). "G.J. GOULD'S WIDOW WED TO A VISCOUNT; Marries Lord George St. J.B. Dunsford, Heir of the Earl of Midleton, in Montreal. HAVE JUST TWO WITNESSES Bride Received $1,000,000 in Settlement From Gould Estate Five Weeks Ago. G.J. GOULD'S WIDOW WED TO A VISCOUNT". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  12. [12]
    "George J. Gould Dies in Villa in France. Leaves $30,000,000. With His Second Wife and Her Children Near, He Yearned for His Sons. Last Malady a Secret. Death Holds Up Litigation With Family Over His Father's Estate. First Became Ill in March. Had Apparently Regained Health When He Suffered a Relapse". New York Times. 17 May 1923. Retrieved 23 May 2008.
  13. [13]
    "Gould Gone for Good to live in England; Bride wed in tears" (PDF). New York Times. 15 July 1922. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  14. [14]
    "Gould Acknowledges Three Illegitimate Children In His Will". Associated Press. 5 June 1923. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  15. [15]
    Sir Edward Burrowes Sinclair Br Med J 1882; 1 :484 doi:10.1136/bmj.1.1109.484
  16. [16]
    "Rene Ray Dies at 81; Actress and a Writer". The New York Times. 6 September 1993. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
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