Sir William Eden, 7th Baronet

Sir William Morton Eden, 7th and 5th Baronet JP DL (4 April 1849 – 20 February 1915) was a British politician and artist. His third son was Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Sir William Eden
Bt JP DL
Personal details
Born
William Morton Eden

(1849-04-04)4 April 1849
Windlestone Hall, County Durham
Died20 February 1915(1915-02-20) (aged 65)
London, England
Spouse
Sybil Frances Grey
​
(m. 1886)​
RelationsRobert Eden (uncle)
George Morton Eden (uncle)
Sir Charles Eden (uncle)
Sir Frederick Eden, Bt (grandfather)
ChildrenElfrida Greville, Countess of Warwick
Jack Eden
Sir Timothy Eden, Bt
Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon
Nicholas Eden
Parent(s)Elfrida Iremonger Eden
Sir William Eden, Bt

Early life
Portrait of his wife, Sybil Frances Grey, by John Singer Sargent, 1905.

William Morton Eden was born at Windlestone Hall in County Durham on 4 April 1849.[1] He was the second son of eleven children born to the former Elfrida Susanna Harriet Iremonger (1825–1885)[2] and Sir William Eden, 4th Baronet (1803–1873), who was described as "a sober and pious man".[3]

On his paternal side, he had many prominent relatives including aunt Caroline Eden Parker (wife of Vice-Admiral Hyde Parker), and uncles: the Rt. Rev. Robert Eden (Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church), Lt. Gen. George Morton Eden, and Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Eden, Second Naval Lord. His maternal grandfather was William Iremonger, Esq. of Wherwell Priory.[4]

Baronetage

After the death of his twenty-year-old uncle, Sir Frederick Eden became 3rd Baronet, in 1814, his then eleven-year-old father (the second son of scholar and social justice advocate Sir Frederick Eden, 2nd Baronet) became the 4th Baronet of Maryland. The baronetcy of Maryland had been created in 1776 for his great-grandfather, Sir Robert Eden, the last Royal Governor of Maryland.[lower-alpha 1] In 1844, Sir William's father also succeeded as the 6th Baronet of West Auckland after the death of his first cousin once removed, Sir Robert Johnson-Eden, 5th Baronet.[6] The baronetcy of West Auckland had been created in 1672 for Sir Robert Eden, MP for County Durham, whose father was a Royalist supporter during the English Civil War.

Upon his father's death on 21 October 1873, he became the 7th Baronet of West Auckland and 5th Baronet of Maryland as his elder brother died without male issue before him.[7]

Career

Sir William, who was described as an eccentric and often foul-tempered man, was a former colonel and local magistrate. He was also a talented watercolourist and exhibited regularly in London and Paris.[8] He was also a collector of Impressionists,[9][10] and owned a chalk drawing of Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, c. 1750-1754, which is today in the collection of the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City.[11] He was a cornet in the 8th Hussars.

He was known as a daring traveler during his Grand Tour. He was a sportsman who served as Master of the Durham Hunt and gardener.[3]

Personal life
His only daughter, Marjorie Eden, Lady Brooke, later Countess of Warwick, by John Singer Sargent.
His third son, Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

In 1886, he was married with Sybil Frances Grey (1867–1945), a daughter of Sir William Grey and a member of the famous Grey family of Northumberland.[12] After their marriage, they lived at Windlestone Hall and his wife was a popular figure. However, her profligacy reportedly ruined the family fortunes.[10] Together, they were the parents of five children who survived infancy, including:[13]

In 1892, he commissioned the American artist James McNeill Whistler to paint a portrait of his wife, Lady Eden.[8] After the portrait was completed, Eden and Whistler fought over a fair price before the dispute ended up in the press, followed by a court proceeding brought by Eden in Paris in 1895. While Eden won the suit, Whistler destroyed the painting and in 1899 published Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly. A Valentine with a Verdict[22] "skewering the knight with his own pride".[3]

Sir William died in London on 20 February 1915, and was succeeded by his eldest son Timothy,[6] who sold Windlestone in 1936.[23] Sir William was originally buried at Windlestone Hall Mausoleum, but was later reinterred at St. Helen's Churchyard in December 1984. Lady Eden died in 1945.[5]

Descendants

Through his only surviving daughter, he was a grandfather of Charles Greville, 7th Earl of Warwick, the first British aristocrat to star in a Hollywood movie.[15] Through his son Timothy, he was a grandfather of John Eden, Baron Eden of Winton (born 1925), a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Bournemouth West. Through his son Anthony, he was the grandfather of three, including Nicholas Eden, 2nd Earl of Avon.[24]

Notes
  1. His great-grandfather, Sir Robert Eden, 1st Baronet, of Maryland (husband of Caroline Calvert), was the second son of Sir Robert Eden, 3rd Baronet, of West Auckland. His older brother was Sir John Eden, 4th Baronet and his younger brothers included William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland and Morton Eden, 1st Baron Henley.[5]
  1. Purdue, A. W. (2004). "Eden, Sir William, seventh baronet and fifth baronet (1849–1915), sportsman and artist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/53248. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. "Elfrida Susanna Harriet (née Iremonger), Lady Eden". www.npg.org.uk. National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  3. "The Tribulations of a Baronet, by Timothy Eden (1933)". The Neglected Books Page. 26 October 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  4. Lloyd, Jacob Youde William (1882). The History of the Princes, the Lords Marcher, and the Ancient Nobility of Powys Fadog, and the Ancient Lords of Arwystli, Cedewen, and Meirionydd. T. Richards. p. 247. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  5. Lloyd, Chris (15 April 2015). "In search of the Edens". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  6. "Current English Baronetcies". cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  7. Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
  8. "William Eden, 1849-1915". www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk. The Correspondence of James McNeill Whistler: The Correspondence. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  9. Aster 1976, p. 2
  10. Rhodes James 1986, pp 9–14
  11. "Giovanni Battista Piazzetta". themorgan.org. The Morgan Library & Museum. 1 July 2014. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  12. "Sybil Frances Eden, 1867-1945". www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk. The Correspondence of James McNeill Whistler: Biography. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  13. Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage. Burke's Peerage Limited. 1898. p. 502. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  14. "EDEN JOHN". thefallenservicemenofsouthwestcountydurham.com. The Gaunless Valley in World War 1. 26 April 2017. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  15. "Warwick, Earl of (GB, 1759)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  16. "Casualty Details". CWGC. 1914. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  17. The Tribulations of a Baronet, by Timothy (later Sir Timothy) Eden. London: Macmillan, 1933.
  18. Thorpe, D. R. (2011). Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977. Random House. p. 53. ISBN 978-1-4464-7695-6. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  19. "Nicholas William Eden (1900-1916)". www.durhamatwar.org.uk. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  20. "Casualty Details". CWGC. 1916. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  21. Gilbert, Martin (2014). The First World War: A Complete History. Rosetta Books. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-7953-3723-9. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  22. Whistler, James McNeill, "Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly. A Valentine with a Verdict", Paris and New York, 1899.
  23. Rhodes James 1986, p6
  24. "Papers Report Former Prime Minister's Son Died of AIDS". AP NEWS. 25 August 1985. Retrieved 27 November 2019.

References
  • Aster, Sidney (1976). Anthony Eden. London: St Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-04235-6. Online free
  • James, Robert Rhodes. "Anthony Eden and the Suez Crisis," History Today, November 1986, 36#11 pp 8–15
  • James, Robert Rhodes. Anthony Eden: A Biography (1986), detailed scholarly biography
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