John Egerton, 6th Duke of Sutherland
DL | |
---|---|
Born | John Sutherland Egerton, Viscount Brackley 10 May 1915 |
Died | 21 September 2000 | (aged 85)
Education | Eton Trinity College, Cambridge |
Occupation(s) | Peer, politician |
Political party | Conservative |
Spouses | Lady Diana Percy
(m. 1939; died 1978)Evelyn Moubray
(m. 1979) |
Parent(s) | John Egerton, 4th Earl of Ellesmere Lady Violet Lambton |
John Sutherland Egerton, 6th Duke of Sutherland,
Background and education
The son of John Egerton, 4th Earl of Ellesmere, and Lady Violet Lambton, he was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He travelled to France with the British Expeditionary Force and was captured at St Valery in 1940. He spent four years in a prisoner of war camp. Upon his return in 1944, he succeeded his father as Earl of Ellesmere.
Career
In 1963,
Estate duty forced the Duke to sell many pieces from the family's renowned collection of paintings and drawings. The family's wealth had shifted from landholdings to an estimated £120m collection of paintings which included Raphaels, Titians, Tintorettos, Poussins, and a large part of the famous
Despite the hundreds of paintings the Duke was forced to sell, he retained the Dutch masters for Mertoun. The Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh had a number of notable paintings in its possession on long-term loan from the Duke of Sutherland's estate, including pieces by Titian, El Greco, Raphael and van Dyck (one of which, the Venus Anadyomene, was bought by the gallery after his death towards inheritance tax). The Duke made it clear, by selling Bridgewater House in London, that he was abandoning metropolitan pursuits. He maintained the family horse racing tradition.
A Conservative, he took his seat in the Lords in 1945, but eschewed his right to vote or speak for more than half a century.[1] He did find his political voice as a Berwickshire county councillor.
The sixth duke kept a very local profile. In 1984 he sold four masterpieces to fund improving his 20-acre (0.081 km2) garden for opening to the public. In 1994 he disagreed when the National Gallery of Scotland sought to rehouse some of his paintings in a new gallery in Glasgow, preferring them to be dispersed around Scotland.
Family
Sutherland married Lady Diana Percy (23 November 1917 – 16 June 1978), daughter of Alan Percy, 8th Duke of Northumberland, on 29 April 1939. Following the death of his first wife, on 16 August 1979 he married Evelyn Moubray, a former interior decorator who shared his love of fishing. There were no children from either marriage.
References
Citations
- ^ HL Deb (6 December 1945) vol. 138. col. 401. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
Sources
- Roth, Andrew (5 October 2000). "Obituary: The Duke of Sutherland". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
- "Parliamentary career for Duke of Sutherland". UK Parliament. Retrieved 7 January 2020.