Grey Gowrie
Hereditary Peerage | |
---|---|
Preceded by | The 1st Earl of Gowrie |
Succeeded by | Seat abolished |
Personal details | |
Born | Alexander Patrick Greysteil Hore-Ruthven 26 November 1939 Dublin, Ireland |
Died | 24 September 2021 Llanfechain, Wales | (aged 81)
Nationality | British |
Political party | Conservative |
Spouses | Alexandra Bingley
(m. 1962; div. 1973)Adelheid
Gräfin von der Schulenburg (m. 1974) |
Children | 1 |
Parents |
|
Alma mater | |
Alexander Patrick Greysteil Hore-Ruthven, 2nd Earl of Gowrie,
Gowrie was a
He published several volumes of poetry, with a collected edition released in 2014, and a volume on the artist Derek Hill; he was also a contributing author for a book on British painting. He underwent a heart transplant at Harefield Hospital in his early sixties. He died at his home in Llanfechain, Powys, Wales, in September 2021.
Life
Early life and education
Alexander Patrick Greysteil Hore-Ruthven was born on 26 November 1939,
His parents were both active in
When his grandfather, who had been the Governor-General of Australia, was created Earl of Gowrie in January 1945, reviving a title suppressed in 1600, Grey became known by the courtesy title Viscount Ruthven of Canberra.[1] His family moved for a time to a tower at Windsor Castle,[5] where the 1st Earl was deputy constable,[2] and then returned to Ireland, living in Dublin and Kilcullen, County Kildare. His mother remarried in 1952, to her partner Major Derek Cooper,[5][7] and the family moved to a Regency lodge on a 4,000-acre country estate[8] at Dunlewey, a village at the edge of the Poisoned Glen in Gweedore, County Donegal.[5]
Titles and university
The young Lord Ruthven of
After Eton, Gowrie attended Balliol College, Oxford, and while there he succeeded Paul Foot as editor of The Isis Magazine.[4][2] In 1962 he was given charge of the arts budget for the junior common room of his college, and he purchased an early work by David Hockney, who was still in art college. Entitled The Most Beautiful Boy in the World, it cost £75 but was unpopular with some at Balliol, having a cup of tea thrown at it. Gowrie arranged an interpretative talk about it, but the JCR declined to retain it, and its dealer bought it back for £80;[9] it was later sold for £13,800.[10]
Academic and art dealer
Gowrie worked for the
Gowrie returned from the US in 1969, as lecturer in English and American Literature at University College London;[2][1] he also trained as an art dealer in Bond Street, working with Thomas Gibson Fine Art.[1] Early deals included a portrait of Peter Lacy by Francis Bacon, which Gowrie offered first, at no commission, to the National Gallery of Ireland. When the gallery rejected the work of "this disgraceful artist", he sold it to Elton John.[11] He dealt in Old Masters, Picassos, and David Hockney at an early stage, and on one occasion sold a Jackson Pollock to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., for $2 million. He produced his first volume of poetry, A Postcard from Don Giovanni, in 1972;[2] David Hockney produced a sketch of Gowrie for its front cover.[4]
Political career
Whip and front bench
Gowrie became a member of the
His first ministerial post was under Margaret Thatcher, as Minister of State for Employment between 1979 and 1981, a time of industrial unrest. His Secretary of State was Jim Prior.[2][4]
Northern Ireland
Gowrie followed his senior minister to Northern Ireland, where he was Minister of State and Deputy Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) from 1981 to 1983, during the period of IRA hunger strikes; he was noted as "expressing quiet admiration for what he saw as the dying men’s misguided courage".[2][4] He described himself as an "Irishman with a Scots name and a German wife, working, somewhat to his surprise, for a very English government".[6] He was involved in the legalisation of homosexual acts in Northern Ireland in 1982, remarking to Ian Paisley, who led delegations opposed to the move, "We're not proposing to make it compulsory". Paisley labelled him "the little green Lord", apparently only partially a sartorial comment. He also played a part in discussions about restoring devolved government and proposed a model using a formal arrangement between the two main communities of Northern Ireland, somewhat like that which was eventually introduced under the Good Friday Agreement.[14] He is said to have "made little secret of his support for Irish unity" and he proposed joint British and Irish citizenship for Northern Irish people, the option of which was also enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement.[15] He also commented that "Orange and Green both had an appetite for public spending undreamed of by Grantham or Finchley".[6]
The Arts and the Duchy of Lancaster
In 1983, Thatcher appointed Gowrie as the
Later career
After leaving government, Gowrie in 1985 took up a post as chairperson of
Following the division of the work of the
Gowrie took up a role as a non-executive director of major betting firm Coral Ladbrokes and in 1995 he became non-executive chairman of property company Development Securities plc.
Gowrie opened the first Bacon exhibition in the Soviet Union, in 1988 at the
Gowrie was a patron of the
Writing
Early writings
Gowrie published one volume of poetry in his 20s, A Postcard from Don Giovanni,[36] after a period working as an assistant to American poet Robert Lowell, and later contributed the chapter on 20th century painting to a book on British painting, The Genius of British Painting, published in 1975.[37] In 1987 he published a biography and artistic profile of the artist Derek Hill, Derek Hill: An Appreciation.[38]
Health and later writings
In the summer of 1999, having been diagnosed with a serious heart condition, he received a
Personal life
Residences
Gowrie inherited Castlemartin House and Estate at Kilcullen in County Kildare, Ireland, from his great-aunt, Sheelagh Blacker, in 1967, and later sold it to Tony O'Reilly.[2] He lived partly in Ireland until 1983, and then, selling his Kildare house to Ronnie Wood,[6] moved to the Welsh Marches village of Llanfechain[42] in what was formerly Montgomeryshire.[3] Lord Gowrie presided over the local show in Llanfechain in 1998,[43] and attended the regional literary festival.[42] He maintained a London home for much of his adult life, during his time in ministerial office in Covent Garden,[6] latterly a house in Kensington.[44]
Family
Gowrie married Xandra (Alexandra) Bingley, daughter of Colonel Robert Bingley, on 1 November 1962. They had one son, Patrick Leo Brer Hore-Ruthven, born 4 February 1964. Generally known as Brer Ruthven, he became a database developer and musician.[4] Brer Ruthven married Julie Goldsmith and had one son, Heathcote Patrick Cornelius Ruthven, born 28 May 1990.[2] Gowrie and Alexandra Bingley, who became a writer and editor, divorced in 1973.[4][21]
On 2 November 1974, Gowrie married Adelheid
Friends
Gowrie remained friends with Lowell, his poetic mentor, and was a pallbearer at his funeral.[47] He has also been closely associated with Edward Plunkett, the Anglo-Irish painter.[48] He described Margaret Thatcher, Francis Bacon and Andrew Lloyd Webber as among his best friends.[49] He had come to know Bacon later in life, but discovered that they had both partly grown up around the same small town, Kilcullen in County Kildare.[11] He was also friends with Boris Johnson, leading the pre-wedding dinner for Johnson's first marriage.[50] He participated in a television documentary about another friend, Guinness heir Garech Browne.[27] Auberon "Bron" Waugh pursued a decades-long public vendetta with Gowrie, over a romantic competition at Oxford which Gowrie had won;[51] despite this, when Waugh died, Gowrie described him as "the greatest journalist of my generation".[52]
Death
Lord Gowrie died at his home in
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i (Telegraph Obituaries) (24 September 2021). "Lord Gowrie, politician, poet and leading figure in the arts who served under Edward Heath and Margaret Thatcher – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 24 September 2021. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Bates, Stephen (24 September 2021). "Lord Gowrie obituary". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 September 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
- ^ a b c d "Grey Gowrie". Sheep Meadow Press. Archived from the original on 11 August 2018. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Lord Gowrie obituary". The Times (of London). 24 September 2021. Archived from the original on 24 September 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f McAnailly Burke, Molly (13 February 1994). "For Love Alone". The Sunday Independent.
- ^ a b c d e f "Obituaries: Dublin-born Tory moved easily in different worlds – Grey Gowrie". The Irish Times. 9 October 2021.
- ^ ISBN 0971196621.
- ^ "Obituary – Major Derek Cooper, MC, OBE, World War II hero who espoused the Palestinian cause". The Independent (UK). 31 May 2007.
- ISBN 9781409023661.
An early client was Grey Gowrie ... it caused a great deal of uproar .... agreed to buy it back for 80
- ^ David Hockney (auction catalogue). London, UK: Bonham's. 2011.
The Most Beautiful Boy in the World Lithographic tusche on cartridge, signed and dated, 497 x 388mm (19 1/2 x 15 1/4in) ... 13,800 pounds
- ^ a b Keane, Madeleine (3 May 1992). "Art and Impulse". The Sunday Independent. p. 30.
- ^ a b Steven, Alasdair (6 October 2021). "Obituary: Lord Gowrie, a flamboyant figure at Westminster and in the arts world". The Herald (Scotland).
- ISBN 0192118153.
biographical note on back cover
- ^ Fergusson, George (29 September 2021). "Appreciation: Lord Gowrie's time as a Northern Ireland minister". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
- ^ a b Lexden, Lord (1 October 2021). "Lives remembered: Lord Gowrie and Amanda Holden". The Times.
- ^ Lister, David. "Notes towards the brief from hell: A new year brings a new chairman of the Arts Council. How does Lord Gowrie, who takes over in April, measure up to the job? Profile by David Lister". The Independent (UK).
I approach arts funding as an economist. ... But maybe we should not take Lord Gowrie at his word ... Four years ago .. he said that his former job of arts minister should not exist .. The problem with having a minister is that he is in competition with highly political areas like health or social security .. I think every year there should be a type of Church Commissioner thing where the money is just handed out. ...
- ^ Makin, Rex (8 April 1994). "Our arts debt to noble lord". The Liverpool Echo.
Lord Gowrie conceived the idea of creating the National Galleries and Museums on Merseyside ... independent of local government...
- ^ Luke, Ben (1 November 2014). "Conversations with Bacon: Marking Grey Gowrie's 75th birthday with his poem on the artist". Archived from the original on 2 October 2021. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
- ^ Reif, Rita (24 October 1985). "Sotheby's picks new chairman". The New York Times. p. C16. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
- ^ Gott, Richard (21 September 1998). "Park Life". The Independent (UK).
- ^ a b Lambert, Angela (23 October 2011). "Affair with Literature". The Independent (UK). London, UK. Archived from the original on 28 September 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
- ^ Pincombe, Simon (22 October 1995). "Gowrie gets his teeth into the property world". The Independent (UK).
...Gowrie has embraced another nightmare .. former Arts Minister and unpaid chairman of the Arts Council has taken .. Martin Landau .. and signed on as the pounds 25,000- a-year non-executive chairman of Development Securities.
- ^ The Arts Council of England Annual Report 1995-1996. London, UK: The Arts Council of England. 1996. p. 48.
- ^ Sokolov, Mikhail (1 November 1988). "Francis Bacon in Moscow". Art Monthly. No. 121.
- ^ Smiley, Xan (24 September 1988). "An alien culture comes to Moscow". The Daily Telegraph (Weekend).
- ^ "Francis Bacon: A Brush with Violence (2017)". BFI. 2017. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
on-screen participant: Grey Gowrie
- ^ a b McGreevy, Ronan (17 December 2019). "Garech Browne: The spendthrift Irish aristocrat who burned through millions". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
- ^ Burns, John (22 December 2019). "Atticus: Garech de Brún happy to lose count at Luggala". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
- ^ "Ian Hislop's Changing of the Bard". BBC Programme Index genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. BBC Four. 16 May 2009. Archived from the original on 3 October 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
The film also throws light on the shadowy process by which the appointment is made. Lord Gowrie, the arts minister in Mrs Thatcher's cabinet, reveals how Ted Hughes came to be Thatcher's choice for Laureate, when many people were still hostile towards him due to his wife Sylvia Plath's suicide.
- ^ "Search – BBC Programme Index". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021. – According to this search in BBC's website, Lord Gowrie has appeared 5 times in "Question Time": Thu 4th Mar 1982, 22:25 on BBC One London, Thu 31st Mar 1983, 22:20 on BBC One London, Thu 5th Apr 1984, 22:15 on BBC One London, Thu 14th Jun 1984, 22:25 on BBC One London, and Thu 18th Apr 1985, 22:00 on BBC One London.
- ^ "Elton John AIDS Foundation patrons". Archived from the original on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
- ^ "The Wilfred Owen Association, official site". Archived from the original on 22 January 2018. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
- ^ "International Friends of the National Gallery of Ireland Limited". Find and update company information service. Companies House (HMG). Archived from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
- ^ Iran Heritage Foundation – 2008 in review. Iran Heritage Foundation. 2009. p. 3,4.
- ^ "Advisory Council". London Symphony Orchestra. Archived from the original on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
- ISBN 0192118153.
- Jisc (formerly the Joint Information Services Committee). Archivedfrom the original on 29 September 2021. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
Editor: David Piper .. .The middle ages / Jonathan Alexander – Tudor and early Stuart painting / David Piper – Painting under the Stuarts / Oliver Millar – The eighteenth century / Mary Webster – The Romantics / Alan Bird – The Victorians / Alan Bowness – The twentieth century / Grey Gowrie
- ^ Bruce Arnold (8 August 1987). "The Two Lives of Derek Hill". The Irish Independent. p. 11.
- ^ Pleasantville, Mount Pleasant, New York: Reader's Digest, October 2008, "Heartfelt: Grey Gowrie on living with another man's heart"
- ^ "Power Couplet". Bonhams Magazine. Bonhams. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
Lord Gowrie has been Minister for the Arts and Chairman of the Arts Council of England ... published three books of poetry. His Collected Poems were published in the USA in 2014, with a new edition in 2017.
- ^ "Royal Society of Literature All Fellows". Royal Society of Literature. Archived from the original on 5 March 2010. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
- ^ a b "Montgomeryshire Literary Festival". WalesandBorders.com. Archived from the original on 3 October 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
- ^ "Llanfechain Show – Presidents 1966–2018". Archived from the original on 28 September 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
- ^ Taylor, Noreen (19 January 2002). "My New Heart Gave Me Purpose – Grey Gowrie". The Daily Mail Weekend Magazine. pp. 19–20.
- ^ Leo van der Pas. "Descendants of Herbert von Bismarck: Generation 21": Part XXI-88 (XX-49-1) Archived 6 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine and "Descendants of Herbert von Bismarck: Generation 22": XXII-88 (XXI-88-1) Archived 20 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine; this however, mentions only two children out of six, per Countess Elisabeth von der Schulenburg's Daily Telegraph obituary. Count Fritz-Dietlof was himself fourth son (out of five sons) of Count Friedrich von der Schulenburg (d. 1939) by his wife Freda-Marie von Arnim.
- ^ The Daily Mail (Weekend), 19 January 2002, pp. 19–20, "How my new heart gave me purpose", the Earl of Gowrie in conversation with Noreen Taylor
- ^ Shepard, Richard F. (17 September 1977). "Majestic Service Marks Farewell To Robert Lowell". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
- ^ Dublin, The Irish Times, 4 June 2011: Artist will be seen as 'very important if rather austere' – Edward John Carlos Plunkett Archived 18 May 2018 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Lord Gowrie obituary". The Times (of London). 26 September 2021. Archived from the original on 24 September 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
Gowrie would describe Thatcher as one of his best friends, along with the artist Francis Bacon and the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.
- ^ "Lord Gowrie obituary". The Times (of London). 26 September 2021. Archived from the original on 24 September 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
The two were on friendly terms, so friendly that in 1987 Gowrie hosted Johnson's pre-wedding dinner when he married Allegra Mostyn-Owen, his first wife.
- ^ Geoffrey Wheatcroft (18 January 2001). "Auberon Waugh". The Guardian (UK). Archived from the original on 19 August 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
- ^ Eddie Holt (27 January 2001). "Brutish and British". Irish Times. Archived from the original on 3 October 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
- ^ "Grey Gowrie (The Earl of Gowrie)".
- ^ Ruthven, Heathcote (25 September 2021). "Gowrie, Grey". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.