Biographies

A

Aarvold, Sir Carl Douglas (1907–1991). Judge of the Mayor’s and City of London Court from 1954–1959; Common Serjeant of the City of London 1959–1964; Recorder of London 1964–75. Earlier played rugby for England, winning 16 caps, and captaining the side. In 1934 he married Noeline Etrenne Hill.

Abel, Robert (1857–1936). Cricketer. Batsman for Surrey (1881–1904) and England (1888–1902). Known as ‘the guv’nor’.

Aberconway, Lady: Christabel Mary Melville, née MacNaghten (1890–1974). Patron of the arts; dedicatee of Walton’s Viola Concerto.

Acton, John Emerich Edward Dalberg (1834–1902). 1st Baron Acton. Scholar. MP for Carlow, 1859–1869. Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge from 1895.

Acton, Sir Harold Mario Mitchell (1904–1994). Writer and scholar. Published The Bourbons of Naples, 1957, and The Last Bourbons of Naples, 1961.

Adam Smith, Janet (1905–1999). Editor, biographer, mountaineer, critic, literary editor, scholar. Literary editor of The New Statesman 1952–1960. Biographer of John Buchan.

Addington, Henry (1757–1844). Politician. Prime Minister, 1801–1804. Followed Pitt the Younger in the post, and was deemed a failure in comparison.

Adeane, Sir Michael Edward (1910–1984). Baron Adeane of Stamfordham. Assistant Private Secretary to George VI, 1937–52, to Elizabeth II, 1952–53; Private Secretary and Keeper of HM’s Archives, 1953–72. From 1972, Chairman, Royal Commission on Historical Monuments and member of the British Library Board.

Adeane, Sir Robert Philip Wyndham (1905–1979). Director: Colonial Securities Trust Co. Ltd; Decca Co. Ltd; Ruberoid and other companies. Trustee, Tate Gallery, 1955–62. Brother of Pamela Lyttelton.

Adie, Clement James Mellish (1874–1954). Eton master, 1905–34. Senior language master.

Agar, Herbert Sebastian (1879–1980). American author. Wrote many works on US politics and governance. Director of RH-D Limited. His third wife was Barbara Wallace, widow of Captain Euan Wallace, MP, and daughter of Sir Edwin Lutyens; she died in 1981 aged 83.

Agate, James Evershed (1897–1947). Diarist and critic. Theatre critic for The Sunday Times, 1923–1947; film critic for The Tattler; literary critic for The Daily Express. He wrote nine volumes of memoirs (Ego, 1–9) in four of which correspondence with GWL features; volume 8 is dedicated to GWL.

Agnew, Sir Geoffrey William Gerald (1908–1986). London art dealer, of the family firm, Thos Agnew & Sons. Managing director, 1937; chairman, 1965–1982.

Ainger, Arthur Campbell (1841–1919). Eton master, 1864–1901.

Albemarle, Lord and Lady: Walter Egerton George Lucian Keppel (1882–1979), 9th Earl of Albemarle, and his wife Diana Cecily, née Grove (1909); she was Chairman of the Albemarle Report on Youth and Development in the Community in 1948. Neighbours of GWL in Suffolk.

Aldington, Richard (1892–1962). Poet, novelist, literary scholar. His obituary in The Times was headed ‘Angry writer and critic.’ Publications include: Death of a Hero (1929) and Life of Wellington (1946).

Alekhine, Alexander Alexandrovich (1892–1946) Russian-born naturalised French chess grandmaster; the fourth World Chess Champion. He was known for his attacking style.

Alexander, Harold Rupert Leofric George (1891–1969). 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis. Soldier. Second World War the commander of the 15th Army Group. He later served as the last British Governor General of Canada (1946–52), and completed his public service as Minister of Defence at Churchill’s re­quest.

Alexander, Michael Charles (1920–2004). Soldier, publisher and author. Books include: The Privileged Nightmare (with Giles Romilly, 1952), Off Beat in Asia (1953), The Reluctant Legionnaire (1956); The True Blue (1958); and Mrs Fraser on the Fatal Shore (1972), the second, third and fourth of which were published by RH-D.

Alexandra, Princess (1936–), daughter of Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent and Prince George, Duke of Kent.

Alington, Cyril Argentine (1872–1955). Anglican priest. Headmaster, Shrewsbury School, 1908–16; Head Master, Eton College, 1916–33; Dean of Durham, 1933–1951. Publications include a biography of Edward Lyttelton (1943) and mystery stories including Blackmail in Blankshire (1949), and The Nabob’s Jewel (1953).

Alington, Hester Margaret. née Lyttelton (1874–1958). Wife of Cyril Alington and an aunt of GWL.

Allcock, Charles Howard (1855–1947). Mathematician and cricketer. Eton master 1884–1910. Retired to Aberdovey, where he was celebrated for his hospitality. Played cricket for minor counties Staffordshire and Buckinghamshire.

Allen, Sir George Oswald Browning (‘Gubby’) (1902–1989). Cricketer and cricket administrator. Played for Cambridge University (1922–23), Middlesex (1923–50) and England (1930–48). Chairman of Selectors, 1955–61; Chairman MCC cricket subcommittee, 1956–63; President, MCC, 1963–64; Treasurer, 1964–76; Member of the Cricket Council, 1968–82.

Alletson, Edwin Boaler (1884–1963). Cricketer. Nottinghamshire batsman, 1906– 1914. Alletson was famous for a remarkable, match-winning innings against Sussex in 1911, when he scored 189 in 90 minutes, the last 142 in 40 minutes.

Allingham, Margery (1904–66). Writer of detective fiction featuring her sleuth Albert Campion.

Allnatt, Alfred Ernest (d. 1969). Director of a property company, who gave Rubens’s Ado­ration of the Magi to King’s College, Cambridge, and El Greco’s The Apostle St James to New College, Oxford.

Alma-Tadema, Sir Lawrence (1836–1912). Dutch-born painter, immensely popular in late nineteenth century Britain, where he lived from 1870. He became famous for his depictions of the luxury and decadence of the Roman Empire, with languorous figures set in fabulous marbled interiors or against a backdrop of dazzling blue Mediterranean sea and sky.

Altham, Harry Surtees (1888–1965). Cricketer, schoolmaster and cricket administrator. Master at Winchester 1913–14 and 1919–48. Played for Hampshire from 1919. President of MCC, 1959–60.

Amis, Sir Kingsley (1922–1995). Novelist, critic and teacher. His first novel, Lucky Jim, published in 1954, was a success with the public, if not with GWL.

Andersen, Hendrik, Norwegian-American sculptor (1872–1940). Object of fascination to Henry James.

Angell, Sir (Ralph) Norman, né Lane (1872–1967). Writer, peace activist and Nobel laureate.

Annan, Noel Gilroy (1916–2000), Baron Annan. Historian and academic. Provost of King’s College, Cambridge, 1956–66; Provost of University College, London, 1966–78; Vice-Chancellor, University of London, 1978–81. Married, 1950, Gabriele Ullstein (b. 1922/3), who had a distinguished career as a writer, translator and literary critic.

Anselm, Saint (1033–1109). Italian philosopher and theologian, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109. Called the founder of scholasticism, he is famous as the originator of the ontological argument for the existence of God and as the archbishop who openly opposed the Crusades.

Antheil, George Carl Johann (1900– 1959). American composer, pianist and author.

Aprahamian, Felix, né Apraham Felix Bartev Aprahamian (1914–2005). Music critic. Honorary Member of the Royal Philharmonic Society (1994), the first critic to receive that honour.

Archer, William (1856–1924). Scottish critic, playwright, and translator of Ibsen.

Argyll, Ian Douglas Campbell (1903–1973), 11th Duke of. Later famous for his 1963 divorce from his wife, whose sexual misconduct was the stuff of legend.

Arlen, Michael, né Dikran Kouyoumdjian (1895–1956). Bulgarian-born, of Armenian parents. Essayist, short story writer, novelist, playwright and script writer, who had his greatest successes in the 1920s while living and writing in England. His biggest success was The Green Hat (1924).

Arnold, Matthew (1822–1888). Poet and critic. Son of Thomas Arnold.

Arnold, Thomas (1795–1842). Headmaster of Rugby school, 1828–1841. Regius Professor of Poetry at Oxford, 1841–42. One of the ‘Eminent Victorians’ in Lytton Strachey’s book of that name.

Ascham, Roger (c. 1514–1568). Author and royal tutor.

Ashcroft, Dame Peggy (Elizabeth Margaret Emily) (1907–91). One of the great actresses of the twentieth century. In 1934 she played Juliet in a famous production of Romeo and Juliet in which John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier alternated in the roles of Romeo and Mercutio. Thereafter she starred in productions ranging from Ibsen to drawing room comedy to Beckett. Briefly (1929–33) married to RH-D and thereafter remaining on close terms.

Askey, Arthur (1900–1982). Liverpool-born comedian and singer of ‘silly little songs’.

Asquith, Herbert Henry (1852–1928). 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith. Liberal Prime Minister, 1908–16. Introduced the Irish Home Rule Act, 1914.

Astley, Philip (1896–1958). Soldier. Served in both World Wars, winning the Military Cross in the first. From 1940 to 1945 he was a senior figure in the army’s public relations. Married Joan Bright in 1949.

Astor, Gavin (1918–1984). 2nd Baron Astor of Hever. Soldier and publisher.

Astor, John Jacob (1886–1971), 1st Baron Astor of Hever. Co-proprietor of The Times with John Walter, 1922–59.

Attlee, Clement Richard (1883–1967). 1st Earl Attlee. Labour politician. Prime Minister 1945–51.

Attlee, Wilfred (1877–1962). Medical officer to Eton College, 1906–44.

Auchinleck, Sir Claude John Eyre (1884–1981). Soldier. Indian Army 1903–41. C-in-C in India, 1941 and 1943–47; C-in-C Middle East, 1941–42.

Auden, Wystan Hugh (1907–1973). Poet, essayist and critic.

Augustus the Strong: Frederick Augustus I (1670–1733), Elector of Saxony 1694–1733 and King of Poland (as Augustus II) 1697–1704 and again 1709–1733. His great physical strength earned him his nickname. He liked to show off by breaking horse shoes with his bare hands. Carlyle referred to him in Frederick the Great as Augustus the Physically Strong.

Aumonier, Stacy (1887–1928). Author. Collections of short stories include: Three Bars Interval, 1917; The Love-a-Duck and Other Stories, 1921; Odd Fish, 1923; Miss Bracegirdle and Others, 1923; Overheard, 1924; and The Baby Grand and Other Stories, 1926.

Austen, Jane (1775–1817). Novelist, famous for Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.

Austen-Leigh, Edward Compton (d. 1916 aged 76). Eton master, 1862–1905.

Austin, Alfred (1835–1913). Poet. Succeeded Tennyson as poet laureate in 1896.