GATACRE, Peter (Edward Victor) (1928-2020)

[dpth...@gmail.com]

Peter (Edward Victor) Gatacre, born 2nd March 1928, died on 3rd May at de Wiersse. He will be missed by his wife Laura, his children and grandchildren. His burial took place on 8 May at de Wiersse with his family around him.

Source: The Telegraph, 13 May 2020; announcment placed by Thomas Gatacre

something about the historic De Wiersse estate

http://www.dewiersse.com/en/history/

He was a collateral of the LG Family Gatacre of Gatacre, son of William Edward Gatacre (1878-1959) and of his second wife, Alice Julie Hortense Jacqueline Aurélie Jkvr de Stuers, heiress of de Wiersse.

He married 1stly 1953 Teresa Chancellor, daughter of Sir Christopher John Chancellor and of his wife, Sylvia Mary Paget (herself the daughter of Sir Richard Paget, 2nd Bt., and of his wife, Lady Muriel Evelyn Vernon Finch-Hatton. They had children including Thomas.

As for his second wife, Laura, she seems to be Laura Dru, whose mother was Gabriel Mary Hermione Herbert, of the Earls of Carnarvon, whose sister was wife of Evelyn Waugh.

[dpth...@gmail.com]

I make this assumption because I had Laura Dru marrying in 1978 a man named Gatacre (first name unknown).

Her mother Gabriel died in 1987. Can anyone with a Debrett's from between 1978 and 1987 check to see the name of Laura's husband?

On Wednesday, May 13, 2020 at 6:46:01 AM UTC-5, dpth...@gmail.com wrote:

...As for his second wife, Laura, she seems to be Laura Dru, whose mother was Gabriel Mary Hermione Herbert, of the Earls of Carnarvon, whose sister was wife of Evelyn Waugh.

[S R Eglesfield]

I do not have a copy of Debrett's to hand. However, the peerage.com confirms the marriage of Edward Victor Gatacre and Laura Jane Veronica Dru - see http://www.thepeerage.com/p62088.htm#i620873. Per FreeBMD, the marriage took place in 1978 (registered Q4 - Westminster).

[colinp]

Sir Christopher Chancellor was head of the gentry family Chancellor of Hunstrete House (BLG 1965)

Peter Gatacre's second wife was indeed Laura Jane Veronica (b 1946) dau of Maj Alexander DRU and (m 1943) Gabriel Mary Hermione (1911- 1987) dau of Hon Aubrey Nigel Henry Molyneux HERBERT (1880-1923) son of the 4th Earl of Carnarvon and (m 1910) Hon Mary Gertrude (1889-1970) dau of 4th Viscount de Vesci. 

Obituary in Telegraph online (not yet in print) - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2020/07/28/peter-gatacre-executive-transformed-fortunes-madame-tussauds/

EXTRACTS

Peter Gatacre, who has died aged 92, was notable for his achievements as managing director of Madame Tussauds between 1963 and 1976.

He took over when the wax museum was in a shambolic state, and during his time in charge increased annual attendance in London from one to two million. Profits soared.

Peter Gatacre, actually christened Edward Victor Gatacre, was born on March 2 1928 at de Wiersse, an outstanding house in the east of the Netherlands which had been in the family of his mother, née Alice de Stuers, since the 17th century.

Alice’s grandfather, Hubert de Stuers, a Red Lancer in Napoleon’s Imperial Guard, had fought in the Russian campaign of 1812, and was one of the few fortunate enough to return from Moscow. He even brought back his horse, which he later rode at the Battle of Waterloo.

Hubert’s son, Victor de Stuers (1843-1916) set up the Department of Historical Monuments in the Netherlands, and contributed to the design of the Rijkmuseum’s new building in Amsterdam, which opened in 1885.

On the paternal side, Peter’s grandfather was Lieutenant-General Sir William Gatacre, who distinguished himself in 1897 as head of a military committee set up in Bombay to enforce tougher measures against the bubonic plague. The next year he commanded two brigades at the Battle of Omdurman, which secured control of the Sudan. In 1899, however, his service in the Boer War proved problematical.

Gatacre’s parents usually spent the summer in de Wiersse, and the rest of the year in England, at first in Devon, later in Shropshire.

After a short-lived brush with architecture, in 1956 Gatacre took up a job with Unilever in Nigeria, which was still, until 1960, a British colony. In particular he enjoyed setting up a successful grocery store in Lagos, and he and his wife – he had married Teresa Chancellor in 1953 – made many friends there.

His first marriage having failed, Gatacre was fortunate to enjoy the best possible assistance from Laura Dru, whom he would marry in 1978. For the next 40 years they worked together to preserve, restore and develop the gardens and landscape [at de Wiersse], as well as the historic buildings and farmhouses on the estate.

Opened to the public in 1977, the garden attracted 8,000 visitors on the first day. Later, the newspaper Algemeen Dagblad acclaimed it as “the most beautiful garden in the Netherlands”.

Peter Gatacre had two sons and three daughters from his first marriage, and three daughters from his second.

Peter Gatacre, born March 2 1928, died May 3 2020