WEMYSS, Rear-Adm Martin La Touche CB 1927-2022

[Richard R]

From the Telegraph of 20 Sept 2022: WEMYSS Rear Admiral Martin La Touche Wemyss CB, died on 10th September 2022, aged 94. Beloved husband of Elizabeth (Libby) and father of Rory, Nicola, Toby and Kate with nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. A Thanksgiving Service will be held at All Saints' Church, Emberton, Buckinghamshire on Thursday 17th November at 2 p.m.

He was yr s of Cmdr Edward Gillespie WEMYSS DSO DSC RN 1900-89 sometime head of that Scots gentry family of Carphin and his 1st w (his 2nd w Avice Gertrude was his 1st wife's sister) Edith Mary Digges c1899-1930 d of T H Digges LA TOUCHE. He m 1951 (div 1973) Ann HALL and had a son and a dau. He m 2nd 1973 Elizabeth Loveday ALEXANDER and had a further son and a dau, all as above.

[S R Eglesfield]

Indeed, Cmdr Edward Gillespie WEMYSS married all three of the daughters of Thomas Henry DIGGES LA TOUCHE (30 X 1855 - 30 III 1938): the second, Edith Mary (5 IX 1897 - 17 III 1930), in 1924; the eldest, Avice Gertrude (23 III 1893 - 24 V 1959), on 19 December 1930; and the youngest, Lynette Nouvelle (24 XII 1903 - 21 XII 1977) in 1961.

[bx...@yahoo.com]

All three??!!  Now, that must be some sort of record!

Brooke 

[dpth...@gmail.com]

It wasn't common but there are earlier such examples among the German nobility. It was quite common for a man to marry the late wife's sister, probably because the sister was already known and liked and before the first wife died. Marrying three sisters is much less common, probably because there were fewer "third unmarried sisters" available, and fewer people were twice widowed than those who were only once widowed.

(By the way, there are many examples in the continental nobility of women marrying the brothers of their late husbands, so it was not only the men who did this.)

Here are two examples of nobles marrying three sisters:

Friedrich Schey, 1859 Edler von Schley, 1863 Ritter von Schley, 1869 Freiherr von Koromla (1815-1881); he married three sisters Landauer: 1st 1839 Emilie (1817-1840); m.2nd 1841 Charlotte 1820-1842); m.3rd 1846 Hermine (1822-1904)

Heinrich Moritz von Prittwitz und Gaffron (1787-1857); m.1st 1809 Auguste Frn von Wechmar (1786-1811); m.2nd 1812 Ernestine Frn von Wechmar (1788-1824); m.3rd 1826 Charlotte Frn von Wechmar (1789-1861); his wives were three sisters.

[bx...@yahoo.com]

Paul, thanks for this.

I know marrying 2 sisters (or brothers, depending on the person) isn't that uncommon, but the fact it was three is what interested me.

Thanks again.

Brooke

[colinp]

Obit in Daily Telegraph 1 November 2022 - Rear Admiral Martin ‘Whisky’ Wemyss, who helped to make the ‘perisher’ course a daunting prospect for aspiring submarine captains – obituary (telegraph.co.uk)

EXTRACTS:-

Rear Admiral Martin ‘Whisky’ Wemyss, who helped to make the ‘perisher’ course a daunting prospect for aspiring submarine captains – obituary

Invited to Princess Elizabeth’s 21st-birthday party, he arrived late at the wrong entrance and bumped into an amused King George VI

Rear Admiral Martin “Whisky” Wemyss, who has died aged 94, was “teacher” on the make-or-break course for would-be submarine captains known as “the perisher”.....

Martin La Touche Wemyss, a scion of the Earls of Fife, was born on December 5 1927 in Cambridge, where his mother’s family lived, while his father was serving on the China station. In wartime, his father, Commander David “Dicky” Wemyss DSO, DSC (the latter of which he was awarded three times), was a submariner turned U-boat hunter who in wartime had commanded the 2nd Escort Group after the death of Captain “Johnny” Walker. Martin’s mother was Edith Mary Digges La Touche.....

A highlight of his midshipman’s time was an invitation to Princess Elizabeth’s 21st-birthday party in Government House, Cape Town, with his term-mate Alan Hensher. Wearing the best uniforms which the gunroom of Nigeria could put together, the boys arrived late at the wrong entrance and bumped into an amused King George VI, who told his equerry: “Put them down for a dance with the girls.”....

On retirement he was clerk to the Worshipful Company of Brewers for 10 years but, by his own admission, left under a cloud in 1991.

The red-haired Wemyss, who was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1981, was quick-tempered, had a fierce intelligence, and was a voracious reader, who with his brother enjoyed the epithet “Whisky”. In old age he preferred his own company and grew his vegetables in straight lines.

His marriage to Ann Hall at the Savoy Chapel in 1952 was reported in Tatler and, after their divorce, he married Libby Alexander in 1973. She survives him with a son and daughter of the first marriage and a son and daughter of the second.

Rear Admiral Martin Wemyss, born December 5 1927, died September 10 2022

[sarac...@googlemail.com]

Bemused by the DT's Obit.description of being him 'a scion of the Earls of Fife',as more correctly as it  should be as  'a scion of the Earls of Wemyss' as his branch of Carphin were the lineal descendants of the cadet branch of Wemysshall(formerly Unthank) descended from Gavin Wemyss of Powguild(c.1560-1620),younger half-brother of Sir David Wemyss of Wemyss(c.1535-96),lineal grandfather of Sir John,1st Earl of Wemyss(cr.25th June 1633)

The Clan Wemyss are officially recognised as being male-line cadet descendants of the original MacDuff Earls of Fife(ext.1371/89),but the present Earldom(1759/1885) and upgraded Duke of Fife(1889/1900) are a completely separate entity,although the initial Duff family holders claimed a (still unproven) direct descent from the original MacDuff earls.