MASSEREENE & [7th] FERRARD, Rt Hon 14th Viscount 1940-2024

[Richard R]

From the Telegraph & Times of 23 Nov 2024: MASSEREENE & FERRARD John Clotworthy Skeffington, 14th Viscount Massereene and Ferrard died peacefully on 13th November aged 84. Much loved husband of Denise, father to Charles, Harriette and Henry, fun grandfather to Freddie, Araminta, Tara, Annabelle, Jamie and Emma. Private family service, memorial service to be announced.

He was s of the 13^th Viscount MASSEREENE & [6^th] FERRARD 1914-98 and Annabelle Kathleen 1920-2009 d of Henry David LEWIS 1875-1936 of Comberwell Priory, Kent and Eileen Josephine 1892-1972 d of Thomas Joseph MCNAMARA 1857-1918 and Catherine Luisa DALY 1862-1930. He m 1970 Ann Denise b 1946 reg Q3 Wandsworth d of Norman Francis ROWLANDSON 1916-67 of Kingston-upon-Thames by his 1942 m reg Q4 Wandsworth to (Marjorie) Joan 1917-2015 d of Joseph Serle Lindsay CALLWAY 1887-1960 by his 26 June 1915 m (St James, Piccadilly) to Dorothy Edith CHAMPION 1887-1974, and had two sons and a dau. His elder son succeeds him:

CHARLES CLOTWORTHY WHYTE-MELVILLE FOSTER Skeffington 15^th Viscount MASSEREENE & [8^th] FERRARD, has yet to establish his claim, b 7 Feb 1973: m 2009 Olga Elizabeth Cochrane b 1977 d of Cecil Lewis DIXON-BROWN c1922-2020 and Sarah Fiola Elsworth b 1942 d of Robert Elsworth STEEN d 1981 and Elizabeth Margaret 1915-2002 d of Sir Ernest Cecil COCHRANE 2^nd Bt 1873-1952 and his 2^nd w Elsa Dorothea Marie 1886-1966 d of Erwin Albert Joseph Louis Philipp SCHUMACHER c1845-1915 and Lucy Harvey FFENNELL 1849-1926, and had a son and a dau.

SON LIVING

Hon JAMES ALGERNON FOSTER CLOTWORTHY b 7 Feb 2012

DAUGHTER LIVING

Hon Tara Harriet Whyte Melville b 7 Feb 2012 (in line to Massereene title)

[Patricia Light]

Hi Richard

I am sure its a typo on your part but 2019 version of Debretts shows that HON JAMES ALGERNON FOSTER CLOTWORTHY was born 11TH AUGUST 2014 (the date of 7 Feb 2012 is the date of Hon Tara's birth)

[Richard R]

Thanks Patricia. I did what Colin kindly calls an 'eye jump' and listed the dau's date rather than the son's. I've some visual impairment and I don't always take this into account when I'm posting at speed!!

[Patricia Light]

Well, vision aside, you do an excellent job, so full marks to you. I admire your dedication to this Peerage Group and keeping us all up-to-date. Thanks Richard

[marquess]

I second Patricia's comments, you've been doing a first rate job in this group for years. Thanks

[sven_me...@web.de]

So know should be 245 left who were excluded 1999.

[dpth...@gmail.com]

To show where all the various titles came from:

  

Sir William SKEFFINGTON, of Fisherwicke, cr Baronet 1627, bur 16 Sep 1635; m.by 1590 Elizabeth Dering

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Sir Richard, d.2 Jun 1647; m.Anne Newdigate, sister of Sir Richard Newdigate, Bt.; note that Extinct Baronetage and Extinct Peerage have him as 4th Bt., and his funerary monument calls him Baronet, but Cokayne shows that he d. before his brother and nephew

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Sir John, 4th Bt., 1665 2nd Viscount Massereene, d.21 Jun 1695; m.20 Jul 1654 Hon. Mary Clotworthy (d.20 Sep 1686), whose father John had been cr in 1660 Viscount Massereene and Baron of Loughneagh [I], with remainder, failing heirs male of his own body, to his son-in-law Sir John and the heirs male of the body of John and Mary, and then to the heirs general of John Clotworthy’s body (Mary was his only child)

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Clotworthy, 3rd Viscount Massereene (ca 1660-14 Mar 1714); m.1680 Rachel Hungerford (d.2 Feb 1731)

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Clotworthy, 4th Viscount Massereene, d.11 Feb 1739; m.9 Sep 1713 Lady Catherine Chichester (bap 9 Sep 1687-1 Jul 1749)

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Clotworthy, 5th Viscount Massereene, cr 1756 Earl of Massereene [I], d.14 Sep 1757; m.1st 16 Mar 1738 Anne Daniel (bap 2 Nov 1719-dsp 24 Mar 1741); m.2nd 25 Nov 1741 Anne Eyre (d.20 May 1805)

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Chichester, 4th Earl of Massereene (ca 1746-25 Feb 1816); m.1780 Lady Harriet Jocelyn (d.7 Jul 1831); on his death the earldom and Baronetcy expired

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Harriet, 9th Viscountess Massereene, d.2 Jan 1831; m.20 Nov 1810 Hon. Thomas Foster, later Skeffington, 1824 Viscount Ferrard (d.18 Jan 1843)

 

 

 John FOSTER, cr 1821 Baron Oriel of Ferrard (bap 28 Sep 1740-23 Aug 1828); m.14 Dec 1764 Margaret Amelia Burgh (ca 1737-20 Jan 1824), who was cr 1790 Baroness Oriel of Collon [I], and cr 1797 Viscountess Ferrard [I], aunt of 2nd Lord Downes

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Thomas Henry FOSTER, 1817 SKEFFINGTON (ca 1772-18 Jan 1843), suc 1824 as 2nd Viscount Ferrard and 2nd Lord Oriel of Collon, suc 1828 as 2nd Lord Oriel of Ferrard; m.20 Nov 1810 Lady Harriet Skeffington (d.2 Jan 1831), who suc 1816 as 9th Viscountess Massereene; she was dau of Chichester Skeffington, 4th Earl of Massereene
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John, suc 1831 as 10th Viscount Massereene, suc 1843 as 3rd Viscount Ferrard, etc. (30 Nov 1812-28 Apr 1863); m.1 Aug 1835 Olivia Deane Grady (d.10 May 1874)
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Clotworthy John Eyre, 11th Viscount Massereene and 4th Viscount Ferrard (9 Oct 1842-26 Jun 1905); m.4 Oct 1870 Florence Elizabeth Whyte-Melville (d.14 Oct 1929)
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Algernon William John Clotworthy, 12th Viscount Massereene and Ferrard (28 Nov 1873-20 Jul 1956); m.1st 16 Feb 1905 Jean Barbara (3 Dec 1883-11 Dec 1937), dau of Sir John Ainsworth, Bt.; m.2nd 17 Aug 1940 Mrs Florence Clementina Laurie, née Skeffington
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John Clotworthy Talbot Whyte-Melville, 13th Viscount Massereene and Ferrard (22 Oct 1914-1992); m.15 Mar 1939 Annabelle Kathleen Lewis (d.24 Sep 2009)
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John David Clotworthy Whyte-Melville Foster, 14th Viscount Massereene and Ferrard (3 Jun 1940-13 Nov 2024); m.21 Nov 1970 Ann Denise Rowlandson

[bx...@yahoo.com]

And I will "third" Patricia's and marquess' comments, about your excellent work, Richard.  Thanks so much, for all that you do for our great group.

Now, about the subject at hand.

A quick check of DPB online (which hasn't updated the page yet) shows that the only other male in remainder to the Ferrard viscountcy, besides the new ha, is his uncle (brother of the 15th & 8th Viscounts) , the Hon. Henry William Norman Foster Clotworthy (b. 1980).  

All others in remainder, including females, are in remainder to the Massereene half of these two viscountcies.

Brooke

[colinp]

Obit in Daily Telegraph 23 November 2024 -  Lord Massereene and Ferrard, colourful peer who was president of the Monday Club – obituary

EXTRACTS:

Lord Massereene and Ferrard, colourful peer of robust views who was president of the Monday Club

He restored ‘vintage’ cars that he felt had been unfairly overlooked by collectors, including a blue Morris Marina De Luxe estate

The 14th Viscount Massereene and 7th Viscount Ferrard, who has died aged 84, inherited some of the engaging eccentricities of his father, who had been revered as an institution in the House of Lords; he also inherited many of his political views, serving, like his father, as president of the Right-wing Monday Club.

The club had been founded in 1961 by the Marquess of Salisbury, Julian Amery and other Conservatives to oppose liberal policies within the party. It backed Rhodesian independence, took a staunchly Unionist line against Republicanism in Northern Ireland, backed capital punishment and pursued strong anti-immigration views……

Lord Massereene had sat on the Conservative benches of the House of Lords after inheriting the peerage on his father’s death in 1992, until the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999, which ended the automatic right for hereditary peers to sit on the red benches. In 2013 he stood unsuccessfully as a Ukip candidate in a House of Lords by-election.

John David Clotworthy Whyte-Melville Foster Skeffington was born on June 3 1940, the eldest son of John Clotworthy Talbot Foster Whyte-Melville Skeffington, who would inherit the family viscountcies on his father’s death in 1956, and Annabelle, née Lewis, granddaughter of the diamond magnate Isaac Lewis.

Both viscountcies are titles in the Peerage of Ireland. The Viscountcy of Massereene was created in 1660 for John Clotworthy, a prominent Anglo-Irish politician and virulent anti-papist who had been a Parliamentarian during the Civil War, but later took an active part in promoting the restoration of Charles II. Other ancestors included the 6th Viscount, who once ordered 60 dogs decked out in mourning attire to attend the funeral of his favourite hound.

Since the early 19th century, in addition to four Irish peerages, the Massereene viscounts have held one in the United Kingdom (Baron Oriel of Ferrard), entitling them to sit in the House of Lords………

After his father’s death in 1992, the new Viscount Massereene took it upon himself to put family affairs on a more secure footing, rather than continuing to fight a losing battle to maintain a crumbling castle and Scottish estate. He sold Chilham Castle in 1996 and the Benmore Estate in 1999, moving the family to a farm in North Yorkshire……………………………

His father, known during his years in the Lords as “Lord Mass of Cream and Feathers”, had been famous for adding to the public stock of harmless pleasure with his contributions to debates. On unemployment, for example, he once informed their Lordships that the situation was not as bad as they supposed, since he had been trying for months to find an under-gardener for Chilham. On another occasion he expressed bewilderment that curlew remained on the quarry list since they were “filthy to eat”, unless it was to give Irishmen the opportunity to shoot something other than each other.

Though the 14th Viscount’s parliamentary interventions caused less hilarity, he inherited his father’s sense of humour. Once, being carried out of his club by friends after a large lunch, someone enquired whether the person being conveyed was Lord Massereene and Ferrard to which he responded: “Yes, and both drunk”. He was also a valued member of the House of Lords tug- of-war team.

In 1970 John Skeffington married Denise Rowlandson, with whom he had two sons and a daughter. His elder son, Charles John Foster Clotworthy Whyte-Melville Skeffington, born in 1973, succeeds to the titles.

Lord Massereene and Ferrard, born June 3 1940, died November 14 [sic] 2024

[bx...@yahoo.com]

DPB Online has now updated this page.

Brooke

[sven_me...@web.de]

I must correct myself 246 hereditary peers still alive excluded in 1999 from 667. 

[malcolm davies]

I am not sure whether it was the late Lord Masserene or his father was referred to by the present Earl of Bradford in his book Stately Secrets as having once been labelled Viscount Maserati & Ferrari.He responded by saying "If only it were true!"

Another amusing misprint relates to Viscount Norwich(uka John Julius Norwich).He has been referred to as the Vice Count Norwich and the Discount Norwich.

[JL]

I believe it to be the recently-deceased, who was a very pleasant down-to-earth chap, "Call me John", not many peers will say that to you!  I'm trying to find out between which years he was President of the Monday Club, if anyone could help.

[Richard R]

Obit in the Times of 30 Nov 2024:

E X T R A C T

Viscount Massereene obituary: Peer and president of the far-right Monday Club
Traditionalist who berated the Conservative leadership for bowing to ‘political correctness’

...Viscount Massereene and Ferrard, who like his father before him was president of the Monday Club, felt aggrieved. Some considered him among the club’s more liberal honorary officers, although he had once told The Observer: “If you say I am a racist, yes I certainly am and proud of it.” Lord Sudeley (obituary, September 21, 2022), the club chairman, for example, queried the need to educate the working classes, claimed that the abolition of slavery was a mistake and listed “ancestor worship” among his hobbies in Who’s Who...

...The holder of two viscountcies and three baronies, only one of which entitled him to sit in the British legislature, Massereene spent seven years on the red benches, where he was a valuable member of the House of Lords tug-of-war team. He took the Conservative whip, making his maiden speech in 1993 during a debate on hunting, shooting and fishing, subjects dear to his heart. He left the upper chamber after the 1999 reforms, which ended the automatic right of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords. Massereene tried to return, standing unsuccessfully as Ukip candidate in a 2013 Lords by-election...

...On another occasion Massereene, impeccably dressed as always, led a group of peers in invoking Magna Carta by petitioning Queen Elizabeth to block closer integration with Europe. Their lordships marched on Buckingham Palace, where they presented a vellum parchment declaring that the ancient rights and freedoms of the British people had to be defended. The Queen did not intervene...

...John David Clotworthy Whyte-Melville Foster Skeffington was born in Devon in 1940, the elder child of Annabelle (née Lewis), granddaughter of the South African diamond magnate Isaac Lewis, and her husband, also John, who in 1956 succeeded as the 13th Viscount Massereene and Ferrard, humorously referred to as “Lord Mass of Cream and Feathers”; his sister Oriel, ten years his junior, survives him.

His misfortune, if indeed it was such, was to follow in the footsteps of an even more eccentric and outspoken father who, according to his Times obituary, is “remembered for his highly personalised views”. As a boy, it goes on to note, his father had attempted to shoot a sparrow with a catapult, but hit an old man who was taking a bath with the window open.
The Massereene viscountcy was conferred by Charles II in 1660 on John Clotworthy, a prominent Anglo-Irish politician who claimed that “the conversion of the papists in Ireland was only to be effected by the Bible in one hand and the sword in the other”. The sixth viscount, who served time in a French debtors prison, ordered that 60 dogs be clad in mourning clothes for the funeral of his favourite hound. By the tenth viscount, the poet John Foster-Skeffington (1812-63), the family had married into the viscountcy of Ferrard, also in the Irish peerage, and acquired two Irish baronies, Loughneugh and Oriel. In 1821 they were granted a British title, also Baron Oriel, that became their passport to the Lords...

...The family seat, Antrim Castle, where his father was born, had been destroyed by fire after a Halloween house party in 1922. Among the treasures lost in the blaze was the Speaker’s chair of the old Irish House of Commons, which the family had taken from Dublin in 1913. The ruins remained a site of pilgrimage for the family until they were demolished in 1970 but two years ago Massereene was a guest of honour for a son et lumière show marking a century since the blaze. After the war his father established the “family seat” at Chilham Castle in Kent, a Jacobean manor house and keep built on the site of a Norman castle...

...He met Denise Rowlandson, who did charity work with the Red Cross, and before their marriage in 1970 she persuaded him to return to his former calling as a stockbroker. She survives him with their children: Charles, who sells quirky tea towels and mugs and succeeds in the peerages; Harriette, an interior decorator; and Henry, who arranges hunting expeditions.
After his father’s death in 1992 Massereene consolidated the family estates. Chilham Castle was sold in 1996 and Benmore three years later. The new seat is High Northolme, near Helmsley in North Yorkshire...

The 14th Viscount Massereene and 7th Viscount Ferrard was born on June 3, 1940. He died from sepsis and pneumonia on November 13, 2024, aged 84

https://www.thetimes.com/article/d72458a2-7864-4f43-95f4-eb0a00a5454b