John, Third Earl Kimberley, Killed by Enemy Action 1941.

Headstone in the Churchyard of St Peter, Kimberley

 

John

Third Earl of Kimberley

C.B.E MC

Born November 11 1885

Killed by Enemy Action

April 16 1941

 

From his Wikipedia article.

 

John Wodehouse, 3rd Earl of Kimberley, CBE, MC (11 November 1883 – 16 April 1941), styled Lord Wodehouse from 1902 to 1932, was a British peer and Liberal politician. He was a champion polo player.

 

Wodehouse was the eldest son of John Wodehouse, 2nd Earl of Kimberley. He attended Eton College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. At Cambridge, he was a committee member of the University Pitt Club. He started playing polo at university, where he was a member of the Light Blue team. He later played for the Old Cantabs team. He holds the unique distinction of being the only person to win a Gold Medal at the Olympics in 1920 and a Silver Medal in 1908, both for polo.

 

Political career and military service

 

Wodehouse was Member of Parliament for Mid Norfolk between the General Elections of 1906 and January 1910. Aged 22 years and 2 months at election, throughout his service he was Baby of the House of Commons. In the former year he became JP for the county of Norfolk.

 

Lord Wodehouse was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Norfolk Yeomanry in 1911 and served with them until the beginning of the First World War in 1914. He served as a Captain in the 16th Lancers during the war, when he was wounded and twice mentioned in despatches. He was at the Western Front in France from 1914 to 1917, and on the Italian Front during 1917-18. He won the MC in the latter year, and also received the Italian War Merit Cross. From 1921 to 1933 he was on the Reserve of Officers.

 

From outside Parliament he served as unpaid Assistant Private Secretary to the Colonial Secretary, then Winston Churchill, in 1921-22, and was awarded the CBE in 1925.

He succeeded in his father's titles in 1932, enabling him to sit in the House of Lords.

 

Family

 

Lord Kimberley married the twice-divorced Frances Margaret Montagu, daughter of Leonard Irby, on 5 May 1922.

 

In April 1941, aged fifty-seven, he was killed in The Blitz at 48 Jermyn Street, Westminster, London, and was succeeded by his only child, John.

 

It is also said (Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable) that his kinsman P. G. Wodehouse based the character of Bertie Wooster on him.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wodehouse,_3rd_Earl_of_Kimberley

 

A painting of him on a Polo Pony by Alfred Munnings can be seen here

uk.pinterest.com/pin/216665432047732806/

And a photograph of him and the rest of the 1908 polo team

thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2016/08/12/obscure-olympi...

 

Although he was 36 years old, Jack Wodehouse was the youngest member of the British team which won the gold medals in the 1920 polo tournament, held at Ostend, After leaving Eton, Lord Wodehouse went up to Trinity Hall, Cambridge and after being on the losing side in the polo match against Oxford in 1903 then captained the winning Cambridge team for the next two years. He was a Liberal Member of Parliament for Mid-Norfolk from 1906 to 1910 and it was during his period in the House that he won an Olympic silver medal with the Hurlingham team at the 1908 Olympics. He also played in three Westchester Cup matches and was a member of the old Cantab’s team which won the Champion Cup six times between 1908 and 1914. In the 1914-18 War, Lord Wodehouse served with the 16th Lancers, winning the Military Cross, the Croix de Guerre and the Italian War Cross. After the war, he was assistant private secretary to the Colonial Secretary, Winston Churchill, and was awarded the CBE in 1925. He succeeded his father to the Earldom in 1932 and in 1941, while paying one of his rare visits to London from his Norfolk estates, he was killed in an air raid.

www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/wo/jack-lord-w...

 

1883 – Birth

 

The birth of a John Wodehouse was recorded in the Smallburgh District of Norfolk in the October to December quarter, (Q4), of 1883.

 

1891 Census of England and Wales

 

The 7 year old John, born Witton, North Walsham, Norfolk, was recorded living at The Hall, Witton. This was the household of his parents, John, Lord Wodehouse, (aged 42 and living on own means from Marylebone, London) and Isabel G, (aged 37 and from Brighton, Sussex). As well as John their other children are:-

Phillip….aged 4……born Witton

Isabel…..aged 2……born Witton

As well as two visitor from Australia, there are 9 live in servants and a governess.

 

1901 Census of England and Wales

 

The 17 year John Wodehouse from Walsham, Norfolk, was recorded living in one of the Houses that make up Eton College. His head of house was Thomas C Porter, a married Science Teacher.

 

It would appear this was the house known as The Hopgarden.

collections.etoncollege.com/coll-le-0104

www.etoncollege.com/Hopgarden.aspx

 

His parents were still living at Witton Hall. Living with them are daughter Isabel, (12) and son Edward, (2, born Witton). As well as a visitor and a Governess, there are 10 live in servants.

 

1911 Census of England and Wales

 

The 27 year old Lord Wodehouse, from Witton, Norfolk was recorded as a guest of Hugh Gurney Barclay, a Bank Director, at Colney Hall, Colney, Norfolk. He was staying there along with his father, the Earl of Kimberley. Lord Wodehouse was then still single.

 

Great War years

 

The award of John’s Military Cross was gazetted in the Supplement to the London Gazette dated 3rd June 1918.

www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30718/supplement/6495/d...

 

Postscript

 

Headshot can be seen here

geneall.net/en/name/548695/john-wodehouse-3rd-earl-of-kim...

and here

www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw59135/John-W...

www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw59137/John-W...

(On the latter site these are stated to have been taken on the 18th February 1920)

 

1922 Marriage

 

The marriage of a John Wodehouse to a Frances M Montagu, previously Crofton nee Irby, was registered in the St George Hanover Square District of London in the April to June quarter, (Q2), of 1922.

 

New York Times

 

Lord Wodehouse weds Mrs Frances Montagu

 

Bride of Polo Player and ex-Member of Parliament Had Been Married Twice Before.

 

London, May 5 – Lord Wodehouse, member of the English polo team which played against America last Summer, was married today at the Registry Office to Mrs. Frances Montagu. The bride, who is descended from the second Lord Boston, has been married twice before – to Sir Morgan George Croften, Bart., and to James Fountayne Montagu. She divorced the latter last year.

 

Only a number of relatives were present at the ceremony.

 

Lord Wodehouse was a member of the British polo team that played in the international match at Meadow Brook in 1918. He is the scion of a family which has always been renowned for its radicalism. For four years he was Radical member of Parliament for one of the divisions of his native county of Norfolk.

 

The ancestral home of the Wodehouses, Kimberley House, is an ancient place, with towers at the angles, built some four centuries ago. Among the many historical treasures in the house is the bedroom furniture used by Queen Elizabeth during her several stays there. Lord Kimberley also has extensive estates in Devonshire and Cornwall.

query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9805E...

freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cbye/brandling...

 

 

This picture is captioned Winston Churchill and Lord Wodehouse departing for Paris, 1925.

l7.alamy.com/zooms/fc5f34d107f24966b4991235df0fec90/winst...

 

From his sons obituary

 

John Wodehouse was born on May 12 1924. His father, the 3rd Earl, was a well-known polo player and former MP who had won an MC on the Marne. His kinsman, P G Wodehouse, stood godfather to young Johnny.

 

Both of Johnny's parents had an eye for the opposite sex. His mother had already been twice married, and Johnny was her third child. He had a rather lonely childhood, spending large parts of his school holidays on his own with his nanny at Kimberley, which had been visited in 1578 by Elizabeth I.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1395628/The-Earl-of-K...

 

WW2

 

His entry on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database records him as dying on the 17th April 1941.

www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/3123857/WODEHOUSE,%20...

 

On 17 April 1941, a Luftwaffe parachute mine exploded on Jermyn Street at around 3.10am. The damage was atrocious. The Hammam Turkish Baths (1862) at 76 Jermyn Street and No 50 Jermyn Street were both completely destroyed. Nos 77-79 Jermyn Street were severely damaged. Other premises to suffer included Fortnum & Mason, the Cavendish Hotel, Dunhill's and the southern end of Piccadilly Arcade.

 

By 3.16am the number of casualties was still unclear at the Westminster Report Centre. However, many requests for ambulances came from Jermyn Street, Duke Street St James's, Piccadilly and St James's Street. At 3.24am, a request for an ambulance was sent from the Devonshire Club, a gentlemen's club on St James's Street, stating that there were two women injured by blast. About the same time, at the Ritz Hotel, not far from Jermyn Street, the assistant manager reported an injured man. At 4.37am, another four casualties were found at 16 Bury Street. Jermyn Street and Duke Street St James's were reported blocked by debris at around 5.28am. A similar report at 9am noted that St James's Street was also blocked.

 

At 6am local residents requested a rescue team to help people who were trapped under the buildings. Mortuary vans went in and out of Jermyn Street. At 6.32am residents in Duke Street St James's and Piccadilly requested a mortuary van for five bodies. Around 10.20am, at the Unicorn Public House on Jermyn Street, a resident requested a mortuary van to collect two bodies.

 

While the mortuary vans and ambulances were assisting the casualties, more problems arrived. At 3.35pm the water-main in Jermyn Street and Duke Street St James's stopped working. A fire broke out in 48 Jermyn Street at 5pm. The fire soon spread to Jermyn Street, King's Street, Bury Street, and Duke Street St James's. The whole area up to Piccadilly was now threatened. Because the fires were so widespread, the fire service faced being overwhelmed. Two hours after the first report of fire, additional pumps were sent to the Jermyn Street area and finally brought the fires under control.

 

In this bomb incident 23 people were injured and 7 were killed. One of the fatalities was the popular 1930s singer Al Bowlly. Different stories are told about his death. The most popular version suggests that on 16 April 1941, the night before the incident, Al Bowlly was performing at the Rex Cinema in Oxford Street. Although he was offered an overnight stay in Oxford Street he insisted on going back to his flat at 32 Dukes Court (at the corner of Duke Street St James's and Jermyn Street). After he got back to Dukes Court, the parachute mine detonated outside. His bedroom door was reputedly blown off from its hinge by the blast, hitting his head. The impact was fatal.

(The article also has then and now pictures of Jermyn Street)

www.westendatwar.org.uk/page_id__236_path__0p28p.aspx

 

Done