Colonel William Cornwallis Cornwallis-West, VD, JP, DL (20 March 1835 – 4 July 1917) was a British landowner, politician for seven years from 1885 and raised the 6th (Ruthin) Denbighshire Rifle Volunteer Corps followed by further ceremonial duties in the wider territorial army in Wales.
William Cornwallis-West | |
|---|---|
 "Denbighshire". Caricature by Spy published in Vanity Fair in 1892 | |
| Lord-Lieutenant of Denbighshire | |
| In office 1872–1917 | |
| Preceded by | Robert Myddelton Biddulph |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Kenyon |
| Member of Parliament for Denbighshire West | |
| In office 1885–1892 | |
| Preceded by | New constituency |
| Succeeded by | John Roberts |
| Personal details | |
| Born | William Cornwallis West 20 March 1835 Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany |
| Died | 4 July 1917 (aged 82) Ruthin Castle, Denbighshire, Wales |
| Political party | Liberal Party; Liberal Unionist Party |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Daisy, Princess of Pless Constance Lewis George Cornwallis-West |
| Parent(s) | Frederick Richard West Theresa Cornwallis Whitby |
Early life
edit(William) Cornwallis West was born on 20 March 1835 at Florence. He was the son of Frederick Richard West, a Tory MP for Denbigh Boroughs and East Grinstead who was a member of the Canterbury Association, and his wife, Theresa Cornwallis Whitby. His father first married Lady Georgiana Stanhope (a daughter of Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl of Chesterfield).[1]
A scion of the De La Warr Wests, his paternal grandfather was the Hon. Frederick West (a son of John West, 2nd Earl De La Warr). His maternal grandparents were both Royal Navy figures: Captain John Whitby and Mary Anne Theresa Symonds (adoptive daughter and heiress of Admiral William Cornwallis).[2]
Following his education at Eton, he returned to the country of his birth as, like his parents, he was an enthusiastic lover of the Italianate art.[3] While in Italy he was an amateur painter and may have fathered several illegitimate children.[4] He returned and was called to the Bar, Lincoln's Inn, in 1862.[5]
Career
editCornwallis-West was High Sheriff of Denbighshire in 1872,[6] Lord-Lieutenant of Denbighshire from 1872 to 1917, and a Justice of the Peace for Hampshire and Denbighshire. In 1885 he won a fought election to Parliament for Denbighshire West as a Liberal, a seat he held until 1892 latterly as a Liberal Unionist (which took an anti-Irish Home Rule line).[7]
He lost to the Liberal Party's candidate that year as the parties began their clearer left/right split.[7] He raised the 6th (Ruthin) Denbighshire Rifle Volunteer Corps in 1861 and became commanding officer of the 1st Volunteer Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers in 1885. In 1890 he became Honorary Colonel of the battalion and later of its successor, the 4th (Denbighshire) Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers in the Territorial Force.[8]
In 1895 he assumed by deed poll the surname of Cornwallis-West. In his most active years he lived simultaneously in London, at Ruthin Castle, Denbighshire and at Newlands Manor, Milford, Hampshire.[9]
Personal life
editCornwallis-West married Mary Eupatoria ("Patsy") Fitzpatrick, daughter of Rev. Frederick Fitzpatrick and Lady Olivia Taylour (daughter of the 2nd Marquess of Headfort), on 3 October 1872 at Dublin. Patsy, a prominent mistress Edward VII, was known as a great beauty and leading socialite.
Their had three children, all of whom endured divorce:
- Mary Theresa ("Daisy") Cornwallis-West (1873–1943), who married Prince Hans Heinrich XV von Hochberg (going by the name Henry of Pless from 1914).[10]
- George Frederick Myddleton Cornwallis-West (1874–1951), second husband of Lady Randolph Churchill (the American heiress formerly known as Jennie Jerome), mother of Winston Churchill. After their 1914 divorce, he married the actress and beauty Mrs Patrick Campbell (formerly Beatrice Tanner).[11]
- Constance Edwina ("Shelagh") Cornwallis-West (1875–1970), who married Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster. They divorced and she married her private secretary and agent, Captain John Fitzpatrick Lewis.[12]
Cornwallis-West died in July 1917, aged 82. His widow died in July 1920, shortly after returning from Monaco, at her family's Arnewood House which has a half-wooded holding 1.2 miles (1.9 km) north of her other mansion: Newlands, near Milford-on-Sea in Hampshire.
Newlands Manor
edit
Newlands Manor, Hampshire is a Grade II listed Strawberry Hill Gothic style manor house, dating from the late 18th century.
George, who had already been declared bankrupt, after the sale of certain lots, decided to dispose of the bulk – the rest – of the Hampshire estate so astutely acquired by his great-grandmother.[13]
In 1920 the estate of 2,000 acres was put up for auction in 91 lots. The mansion and its grounds and four lodges were sold in one lot. Other lots included arable, pasture and woodland, building sites in Milford, 30 cottages and farms including Batchley, Kings, Harts, Lea Green and Downton Manor.
The house, which had been badly neglected, and 500 acres was bought by Sir John Power, MP for Wimbledon, who made improvements but put it up for sale in 1948. The house and 38 acres were then acquired by a developer who turned it into six flats.[13] As of 2023, the house was on sale for an estimated £3 million.[14]
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ Blain, Rev. Michael (2007). The Canterbury Association (1848-1852): A Study of Its Members' Connections (PDF). Christchurch: Project Canterbury. pp. 87–88. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
- ^ The subject's mother had put up the memorial to the 6th Earl De La Warr (1815–1873); his death was otherwise not memorialized as he was a suicide. Speculation exists on the relationship between the unmarried earl and this lady beyond the cousinage of her husband.
- ^ Koch, W. John (2003). Daisy, Princess of Pless, 1873-1943: A Discovery. John Koch. pp. 12–13. ISBN 978-0-9731579-0-1.
- ^ Coates, Tim (2012). Patsy: The Story of Mary Cornwallis West. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 22, 88. ISBN 978-1-4088-3443-5.
- ^ "William Cornwallis-West (1835-1917), Politician; MP for Denbighshire West". www.npg.org.uk. National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
- ^ "No. 23825". The London Gazette. 6 February 1872. p. 404.
- ^ a b Parliament, Great Britain (1902). Members of Parliament: Return to an Address of the ... House of Commons, Dated 13 August 1901; - For, "Return of the Names of Every Member Returned to Serve in Each Parliament from the Year 1885 to the Dissolution of Parliament in the Year 1900, Specifying the Names of the County, City, University Or Place for which Returned (in Continuation of Parliamentary Paper No. 21 of Session 1887)". H.M. Stationery Office. p. 23. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
- ^ Army List.
- ^ Historical faces from Milford on Sea
- ^ Caernarfon and Denbigh Herald, Fri, Dec 11, 1891 ·Page 3
- ^ MacColl, Gail; Wallace, Carol McD. (2012). To Marry an English Lord: Tales of Wealth and Marriage, Sex and Snobbery. New York: Workman Publishing. p. 364. ISBN 9780761171959. OCLC 883485021.
- ^ "Duchess of Westminster; a secret marriage". The Press. 23 January 1920. p. 6. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
- ^ a b "Newlands Manor – St Barbe Museum & Art Gallery".
- ^ "The Gothic mansion built for Admiral William Cornwallis is on sale for £3m". Times. Retrieved 8 August 2023.