BROUGHAM & VAUX, Rt Hon 5th Baron CBE 1938-2023

[Richard R]

From the Telegraph of 5 Sep 2023: BROUGHAM Michael John, The Lord Brougham and Vaux CBE, passed away peacefully on 27th August 2023, at The Royal Marsden Hospital, with family by his side. Devoted husband to Sezgin, beloved dad to Charlie and Henrietta and much loved 'Grandad Big' to Lottie and Henry. Private funeral….

He was s of 4th Baron BROUGHAM & VAUX 1909-67 and his 1st w Jean 1915-92 d of Brig-Gen Gilbert Burrell Spencer FOLLETT DSO MVO 1878-1918 and Lady Mildred MURRAY 1878-1969 d of 7th Earl of DUNMORE 1841-1907 (and gd of 2nd Earl of LEICESTER 1822-1909 etc). He m 1st 1963 (div 1967) as her 1st h (her 2nd was Lt Roger D Hicks RN) Olivia Susan 1941-86 d of Rear-Adm Gordon Thomas Seccombe GRAY CB DSC 1911-97 and Sonia 1918-2001 d of Maj Joseph Gwyn MOORE-GWYN scion of that gentry family f/o Dyffryn and Olive GILBERTSON 1881-1946, and had a dau. He m 2nd 1969 (div 1981) Catherine Jill, and had a son. He m 3^rd 14 Sep 2022 as her 2^nd h (her 1^st was Claude A Petterson) Sezgin MURAD. His son succeeds him:

[Rt Hon] CHARLES WILLIAM Brougham b 9 Nov 1971 6^th Baron BROUGHAM & VAUX, has yet to establish his claim. He m 2010 Nicola d of David MOORE of Mobberley, Cheshire and has a son and a dau:

SON LIVING

Hon HENRY GEORGE b 21 April 2012

DAUGHTER LIVING

Hon Charlotte (Lottie) Isabella b 2010

[David Beamish]

Lord Brougham and Vaux was one of the 15 hereditary peers elected by the whole House in 1999, and so his death will lead to a by-election with all members able to vote. His death means that Lord Geddes is now the only one of the original 15 elected in 1999 who is still a member of the House.

[colinp]

Lord Brougham and Vaux was the 3rd longest serving member of the House of Lords (took his seat in 1967).  The 3rd longest serving member is now the Earl of Liverpool (1969) behind Lord Trefgarne (1962) and Lord Colwyn (1967)

[colinp]

My apologies - Lord Colwyn had retired from the House in 2022 so Lord Brougham and Vaux was the second longest serving member of the House at the time of his death

[bx...@yahoo.com]

Debrett's has updated its page for this title.

Brooke

[BREMENMURRAY]

Impressed Debrett's was prompt in this case

[colinp]

Obit in the Daily Telegraph 20 Sept 2023 -  Lord Brougham and Vaux, Tory peer and Lords deputy speaker noted for his dry wit – obituary (telegraph.co.uk)

EXTRACTS:

Lord Brougham and Vaux, Tory peer and Lords deputy speaker noted for his dry wit – obituary

Brougham belonged to a group of Tory peers known as the ‘own goals group’ because their questions did not always help the government

The 5th Baron Brougham and Vaux, who has died aged 85, was one of the last surviving members of a group of backbench Tory peers set up in 1981 to help Margaret Thatcher’s government by putting down oral questions drafted by the Conservative Research Department.

The questions almost invariably ended up annoying ministers and offering excellent opportunities to the opposition in supplementaries, and consequently the little conclave which met weekly in great secrecy became known as the “own goals group”.

One of 92 hereditaries elected to stay on when Tony Blair’s government ousted the rest in 1999, Michael Brougham was popular in all parts of the House, assisted by his dry wit – and having been in the place so long, having succeeded his father back in 1967…..

Michael John Brougham was born on August 2 1938, the son of the 4th Baron – at 6ft 7½in the tallest member of the Lords – and his second wife, Jean Follett, daughter of a brigadier-general. His parents divorced when he was four, and he was educated in Switzerland and at Millfield.

The first Lord Brougham, a renowned Lord Chancellor, was the founding father of the French Riviera, having built a villa at the fishing village of Cannes in 1834 after being prevented by a cholera epidemic from crossing the border to Genoa with his consumptive daughter. Other English friends followed suit, and in 1973 Michael Brougham was handed the keys of the municipality in commemoration. Feted again 11 years later, he observed: “Cannes is not a place I visit often. I simply cannot afford it.”

Brougham’s father spent the 1950s in bankruptcy, and when Michael was summonsed for going through a red light soon after succeeding to the title he gave his occupation as “out of work”. He found a niche in the City, however.

His first months as a peer were traumatic in one other respect: he divorced his first wife for adultery with their daughter’s godfather. He married again soon after….

Once he was a deputy speaker Brougham became heavily involved in the management of the House, and for almost a decade he was vice-chairman of the Association of Conservative Peers. He was appointed CBE in 1995.

Michael Brougham married first, in 1963, Olivia Gray; they were divorced in 1968 and she died in 1986. In 1969 he married, secondly, Catherine Gulliver; that marriage was dissolved in 1981. He is survived by a daughter from his first marriage and a son from the second, Charles William Brougham (born 1971), who succeeds to the title as 6th Baron.

Lord Brougham and Vaux, born August 2 1938, died August 27 2023

[colinp]

From the House of Lords Minutes of Proceedings 8 Nov 2023:

Barony of Brougham and Vaux in the Peerage of the United Kingdom The Lord Chancellor reported that Charles William Brougham had established his claim to the Barony of Brougham and Vaux in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The Clerk of the Parliaments was accordingly directed to enter Lord Brougham and Vaux on the register of hereditary peers maintained under Standing Order 9(4).