John_Butler-Bowdon,_25th_Baron_Grey_de_Ruthyn

John Butler-Bowdon, 25th Baron Grey de Ruthyn

John Butler-Bowdon, 25th Baron Grey de Ruthyn

British peer

John Lancelot Wykeham Butler-Bowden JP (25 October 1883 – 25 October 1963) was a British peer: the 25th Lord Grey de Ruthyn. He died without issue and the barony is in abeyance.

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Early life

Butler-Bowden was born near Sheffield on 25 October 1883. He was the only child of Lancelot George Butler-Bowden (1851–1909) and Hon. Ella Cicely Mary Clifton (1856–1912), who married in 1879.[1]

His paternal grandparents were John Butler-Bowdon of Pleasington Hall and Amelia (née Whitgreave) Butler-Bowdon. His maternal grandparents were Augustus Wykeham Clifton (brother of John Talbot Clifton of Lytham Hall, MP for North Lancashire) and Bertha Clifton, suo jure 22nd Baroness Grey de Ruthyn (née Rawdon-Hastings).[1]

He was educated at rural Mount St Mary's College. The Jesuit order had been operating in the Sheffield area since 1620 and, after the Catholic Emancipation of 1829, they were allowed to educate the local youth openly. This led to the founding of "The Mount," as it is familiarly known, in 1842.[2]

Career

After graduating, Butler-Bowden took up residence at the village of Barlborough, Derbyshire, and served on the bench of magistrates, including as Justice of the Peace for Derbyshire.[1]

Lord Grey de Ruthyn served as chairman of the influential 5,000 member League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports, which was created in 1924 to oppose blood sports – such as fox, hare and deer hunting. Following the 108th Grand National Steeplechase, that took place at Aintree Racecourse, where four horses died or where destroyed after injuries on the thirty jumps of the course, Lord Grey called the race "scandalous" saying "It is a great blot on civilization. I wonder if this is a much better society than it was two or three hundred years ago. Instead of cock fighting and bear baiting, we have these races."[3]

Peerage

His title, which dated back to 1324, descended through his maternal grandmother, Bertha, Baroness Grey de Ruthyn (who claimed the barony following the death of her younger brother, Henry Rawdon-Hastings, 4th Marquess of Hastings, in 1885). His uncles, the 23rd and 24th Barons,[4] both died without issue.[1] In 1934, the title fell into abeyance following the death of his uncle, the 24th Baron, as Butler-Bowdon and his aunt, Lady Bellingham (née Lelgarde Harry Florence Clifton, wife of Sir Henry Bellingham, 4th Baronet) as neither could assume the title while the other was living since the title could descend in the female line. Following the death of Lady Bellingham in 1939, the Barony was called out of abeyance in his favour in 1940.[5]

In 1953, Lord Grey de Ruthyn, who described himself as "Britain's poorest peer", did not attend Queen Elizabeth II's coronation "because he said he could not afford it" and "declined his hereditary right to carry the golden spurs at the Queen's coronation because, he said, the cost of the robes and coronet–$1,400–was prohibitive."[6][7][8]

Personal life

Lord Grey de Ruthyn died, unmarried and without issue, at his home, Barlborough House, on his eightieth birthday, 25 October 1963.[6] On his death, the barony fell into abeyance between the sisters of the 22nd Baroness.[1]

Hints of Baron Grey's life and character were recorded by his neighbor and fellow nobleman Osbert Sitwell in the book Queen Mary and Others.[9]

References

  1. [1]
    Pine, Leslie Gilbert (1973). The New Extinct Peerage, 1884-1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant & Suspended Peerages with Genealogies and Arms. Genealogical Publishing Company. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-8063-0521-9. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  2. [2]
    "About | Mount St Mary's College and Barlborough Hall School". www.msmcollege.com/. Mount St Mary’s College. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  3. [3]
    "NEW ATTACK MADE ON AINTREE CHASE; Grand National Ban Asked as Royal Family Is Called 'Enemy of Animals'". The New York Times. 31 March 1954. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  4. [4]
    "RANCHER BECOMES A PEER.; Cecil Talbot Clifton of Montana Now Baron Grey de Ruthyn". The New York Times. 1 September 1912. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  5. [5]
    TIMES, Special Cable to THE NEW YORK (23 May 1934). "LORD GREY DE RUTHYN DIES IN ENGLAND AT 72; Title Dating Buck to 1324 Now in Abeyance -- Peer Once Rancher Near Butte". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  6. [6]
    "Lord Grey De Ruthyn, 80, 'Britain's Poorest Peer'". The New York Times. 26 October 1963. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  7. [7]
    "A CORONATION COURT.; Curious Claims Include a Gold Baton and a Silver Harp". The New York Times. 12 February 1911. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  8. [8]
    Price, Clair (2 May 1937). "WHO WILL CARRY THE KING'S SPURS?". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  9. [9]
    Sitwell, Osbert Queen Mary and Others (New York: The John Day Company, 1974).
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