Thomas Agar-Robartes

Thomas Charles Reginald Agar-Robartes (known as Tommy) (22 May 1880 – 30 September 1915) was a British Liberal politician.

Thomas Agar-Robartes MP, circa 1906

Background and education

Tommy Agar-Robartes was the eldest son and heir of Thomas Agar-Robartes, 6th Viscount Clifden, and his wife Mary (née Dickenson) and was brought up at Lanhydrock House, Bodmin. He was the eldest of ten (including a twin sister).[1] Educated at Oxford and a keen horseman, he played in the Oxford University polo team that beat Cambridge in 1903.[2]

Memorial in Truro Cathedral
Agar-Robartes (right) memorialised in stained glass at Selsey Abbey

Public life

He was elected a Member of Parliament for Bodmin in the 1906 general election, but lost his seat in June 1906 following a controversial election petition by the defeated candidate alleging illegal payments to potential voters. He was elected to the St Austell Division of Cornwall in a by-election in 1908 and held the seat until his death.

Military career

He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Royal 1st Devon Imperial Yeomanry on 4 June 1902.[3] At the outbreak of World War I he joined the Royal Bucks Hussars as an officer. Tommy then joined the Coldstream Guards and was subsequently posted to France & Flanders. Captain The Honourable Thomas Charles Reginald Agar-Robartes, in command of No. 2 Coy, 1st Bn, the Coldstream Guards, was wounded in the Battle of Loos on 28 September and killed by a sniper on 30 September 1915 after rescuing a wounded comrade under heavy fire for which he was recommended for the Victoria Cross.

Memorials

Agar-Robartes is buried in Lapugnoy Military Cemetery, near Béthune.[4] He is commemorated by a memorial in Truro Cathedral[5] and in stained glass at Selsey Abbey, Wimpole[6] and Church Norton.[7]

Unveiling in November 1922 of a memorial seat at St Austell, Cornwall, commemorating Agar-Robartes. This photograph shows Sir Clifford Cory MP speaking before the unveiling

Agar-Robartes is commemorated on Panel 8 of the Parliamentary War Memorial in Westminster Hall, one of 22 MPs who died during World War I to be named on that memorial.[8][9] Agar-Robartes is one of 19 MPs who fell in the war who are commemorated by heraldic shields in the Commons Chamber.[10] A further act of commemoration came with the unveiling in 1932 of a manuscript-style illuminated book of remembrance for the House of Commons, which included a short biographical account of the life and death of Agar-Robartes.[11][12] As Agar-Robartes never married and had no children, his younger brother Francis later succeeded their father in the viscountcy.

List of memorials

Granite memorial seat at Truro Road, St Austell
A memorial plaque at the Luxulyan Institute

Notes

  1. "Births, Marriages, Deaths". The Cornishman. No. 99. 3 June 1880. p. 8.
  2. "The Polo Monthly" (PDF). 19 January 1911: 334. Retrieved 16 October 2015. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. "No. 27439". The London Gazette. 3 June 1902. p. 3611.
  4. "Casualty Details: Agar-Robartes, The Hon. Thomas Charles R." Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  5. "Captain the Hon. Thomas Charles Reginald Agar-Robartes Memorial, Truro Cathedral, Cornwall". Archived from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 1 January 2008.
  6. Wimpole Parish Church at www.wimpole.info
  7. West Sussex County Council: Heritage at victorians.westsussex.gov.uk
  8. "Recording Angel memorial Panel 8". Recording Angel memorial, Westminster Hall. UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk). Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  9. "List of names on the Recording Angel memorial, Westminster Hall" (PDF). Recording Angel memorial, Westminster Hall. UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk). Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  10. "Agar-Robartes". Heraldic shields to MPs, First World War. UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk). Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  11. "House of Commons War Memorial: Final Volumes Unveiled by The Speaker". The Times. No. 46050. London. 6 February 1932. p. 7.
  12. Moss-Blundell, Edward Whitaker, ed. (1931). The House of Commons Book of Remembrance 1914–1918. E. Mathews & Marrot.
  13. "Remembering Tommy Agar Robartes 30 September 1915". 30 September 2015.
  14. "Captain T C Agar Robartes". Imperial War Museums.
  15. "CAPT THE HON T C R AGAR ROBARTES - War Memorials Online". www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk.
  16. "St Hydroc's Church". National Trust.
  17. "Redirect Page". www.wimpolepast.co.uk.
  18. "Captain J Wingfield and Captain The Honourable T Agar Robartes". Imperial War Museums.
  19. "Agar-Robartes". UK Parliament.
  20. "Thomas Charles Reginald Agar-Robartes - War Memorials Online". www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk.

References

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