MELCHETT, Rt Hon 4th Baron (1948-2018) title EXTINCT

[Richard R]

He was s of 3rd Baron MELCHETT (1925-73) and (as her 1st h) Sonia Elizabeth (b 1925, now Mrs Andrew Sinclair) d of Lt-Col Roland Harris GRAHAM (1898-1968), scion of the Irish gentry family of that name, and Kathleen DUNBAR (1896-1983). He has a son and a dau by his partner since 1972, Cassandra N M (b 1949 reg Hertfordshire) d of William Basil Van Nostrand WEDD (1916-66) by his 1941 m (reg Q3 London) to Joan Cassandra SAUNDERSON (1913-2006): Jay Julian MOND WEDD (b 1983) and Jessica Joan MOND WEDD (b 1981). The title is EXTINCT.

Eastern Daily Press: Norfolk farmer and veteran campaigner, Lord Peter Melchett, has died

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/lord-peter-melchett-death-norfolk-farmer-activist-1-5674981

[Richard R]

Joan Cassandra SAUNDERSON (1913-2006) was d of Capt John Vernon SAUNDERSON (1878-1960), scion of the Irish gentry family of that name, and Hon Eva Norah Helen MULHOLLAND (1884-1972) d of 2nd Baron DUNLEATH (1854-1931) and Norah Louise Fanny WARD (d 1935, gd of 3rd Viscount BANGOR, gt gd of 6th Baron FARNHAM and gt gt gd of 2nd Earl of CARRICK etc etc).

My attribution of Lt-Col Roland GRAHAM (1898-1968) to the Irish gentry family of that name is subject to challenge/confirmation as I don't have my BIFR to hand.

[Jonathan]

As discussed on here in January, and as Wikipedia states:

"According to Desert Island Discs broadcast on BBC Radio on 4 February 2000, Lord Melchett intentionally had his son out of wedlock to deprive him of his birthright due to his beliefs against inherited privilege."

Which begs the question, why did he not disclaim and go by the name Mr Mond?

[marquess]

Yes my sentiments exactly, it is a pity that there is no system for his son to petition the crown and have the title somehow restored in his favour like the Russian system.

[G. Willis]

On the one hand, I can respect the man's views- after all, we're all entitled to our own; on the other (with all due respect to the deceased), what a bloody bore such views are! Granted it wasn't really a venerable and notable title, but still. Shame to wipe out an hereditary title just on some- in my opinion- misguided principle. Enough of them are becoming extinct as it is!

[sven_me...@web.de]

Such nonsense you are talking. It makes me angry. 

[G. Willis]

Oh, hello Sven; it's been quite a while, I hope you've been well. Becoming angry on reading my post and disagreeing with me is entirely your prerogative, as it is mine to neglect to be particularly invested in your opinion on the subject. I would, in closing, however, question your presence in, and numerous contributions to, a group the purpose of which is the cataloguing of events pertaining to the peerage and gentry, if you are of a similar line of thought to Lord Melchett and view 'inherited privilege' of that kind as valueless and deserving of abolition. I do hope there is not a language barrier issue at hand that has led me to misconstrue your rather vehement previous post; I recall there was some trouble in that line before when you were a more regular poster. If I, misinterpreting your tone, have in turn responded in undue haste, my sincerest apologies.

[John Horton]

For a man who was interested in conserving things that had reached us from our ancestors and then passing them on to the future, there does seems an odd hypocrisy about his view.

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[Henry W]

In order to give a few possible reasons for his motivations/decisions:

- He inherited in 1973 and was a government minister by late 1974. It is possible that he might have considered disclaiming, but was talked out of it by the Labour leadership as they historically had fewer peers at that time, and we had not yet reached the times where it seemed acceptable to create life peerages at higher rates.  Once one year has passed from succession, you can no longer disclaim.

- He opposed the inheritance of seats in the House of Lords, but not necessarily the inheritance of titles themselves. With his children being born in 1981/83 he might be forgiven for thinking that the system of hereditary seats in the Lords would not end in his lifetime.

Even with a disclaim of the peerage, he could not technically have disclaimed the baronetcy but of course could easily have not followed the necessary process to go on to the Roll of the Baronetage.

[Richard R]

Lord Melchett died on 29 August 2018.

Daily Telegraph obit

EXTRACT

...A great-grandson of Sir Alfred Mond, founder of Britain’s chemicals giant ICI, Lord Melchett turned his back on a privileged upbringing at Eton and Cambridge to become a socialist, a vegetarian and a radical environmental activist.
A man of obdurate certainties (among other things, he never married the mother of his children so that no son of his could inherit a title), Melchett became a hate figure to many farmers and industrialists who regarded him as an irresponsible crackpot.
...In 1973, when he was 25, Peter Mond succeeded to the peerage, on his father’s sudden death from a heart attack. By now thoroughly at odds with the establishment, he considered renouncing the title, but found himself being courted by Labour politicians desperate to improve their representation in the House of Lords. His maiden speech was about cruelty to animals in zoos.
...[In 1986,] announcing himself sick of the “lying game” of Westminster politics, he withdrew from Parliament to become chairman of Greenpeace. He only returned briefly to the House of Lords to vote for the abolition of hereditary peers.

[Jonathan]

Thanks Henry and Richard for your analysis. I think that pretty much sums up his thinking at the time with regards to depriving his sons of the title, despite having taken his seat in the Lords.

While the extinction of any title is a pity, as G. Willis said, it wasn't a particularly historic or notable one. Indeed, I can't be the only one whose first thought on hearing it is of Stephen Fry's character in Blackadder!

[Jonathan]

Obituary (open access) in the Guardian today.

Environmental campaigner who as executive director of Greenpeace UK headed action against GM crop trials

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/03/peter-melchett-lord-melchett-obituary