Richard Barrett-Lennard

He was born in Brighton on 12 December 1898, the son of Richard Fiennes Barrett-Lennard, 4th Baronet. He entered Clare College, Cambridge in 1919,[3] obtaining a BA degree. He married Miss Una Kathleen Finora Fitzgerald at Aveley in July, 1922[4] He was appointed as a Justice of the Peace for Essex in October, 1926.[5] He inherited the baronetcy on the death of his father at Horsford manor in September, 1934.[6]

He worked in the financial services industry, being vice-chairman of Norwich Union, Chairman of the East Anglian Trustee Savings Bank. and a director of other insurance companies In 1950, he was chairman of the appeal committee that raised £35,000 for repairs to Norwich Cathedral.[7]

He died on 28 Dec. 1977 and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his distant cousin, Sir Hugh Barrett-Lennard, 6th Baronet, who was descended from the second son of the first baronet.

Barrett-Lennard owned a number of family pictures which he loaned to various exhibitions, including Fine Paintings from East Anglia[8] and 18th Century Italy and the Grand Tour.[9] His paintings were photographed and a list published by the Courtauld Institute of Art.[10] In 1974 he donated many of these family pictures to Essex County Council, although they remained with the family until 2009.[11] The collection included around 40 family portraits, including the donor, painted by Armin Horowitz in 1938.[12] There were also some topographical paintings of Belhus and a few other works.[13] A few paintings from the collection are on display in the search room at the Essex Record Office, including a portrait of the 5th Baronet. In 1922, the collection included portraits of Charles I and Catherine Mildmay, both by Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen, but these are not included in the Essex Record Offic List.[14]

The most valuable item in the collection was a portrait of Thomas Barrett-Lennard, 17th Lord Dacre, with his wife and daughter by Pompeo Batoni which was valued at £2.5m.[15] The Batoni portrait and many other works in the collection were discussed in a privately published family history.[16]

• Officer of the Order of the British Empire (1950)[17]
• Commander of the Venerable Order of Saint John (1955)[18]

Coat of arms of Richard Barrett-Lennard

Crest Out of a Ducal Coronet Or, an Irish Wolfdog's Head per fesse Argent and Ermine charged with an Escallop, barways nebule Gules and Sable Escutcheon Quarterly, 1st and 4th, Or on a fesse Gules three Fleur-de-Lis of the first (Lennard); 2nd and 3rd, per pale Argent and Gules Barry of four, counterchanged (Barrett); all within a Bordure wavy Sable Motto Pour bien desirer (The Noble Aim)