Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, 1st Baron Hesketh

Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, 1st Baron Hesketh (17 November 1881 – 20 July 1944), known as Sir Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, Bt, from 1924 to 1935, was a British peer, soldier and Conservative Member of Parliament.

The Right Honourable
The Lord Hesketh
Hesketh, 1927
High Sheriff of Northamptonshire
In office
1932–1932
Preceded byPercy Lester Reid
Succeeded byWilliam Thomas Sears
Member of Parliament for Enfield
In office
1922–1923
Preceded byHenry Bowles
Succeeded byWilliam Henderson
Personal details
Political partyConservative
Spouse
Florence Louise Breckinridge
​
​
(after 1909)​
Parent(s)Sir Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, 7th Baronet
Florence Emily Sharon
EducationEton College
Alma materRoyal Military College, Sandhurst
Trinity College, Cambridge

Early life

Hesketh was the son of Sir Thomas George Fermor-Hesketh, 7th Baronet, and Florence Emily Sharon,[1] daughter of U.S. Senator William Sharon.[2] Among his siblings was Frederick Fermor-Hesketh, a Lieutenant in the 9th Lancers who went missing in 1910.[3]

He was educated at Eton, the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and Trinity College, Cambridge.

Career

He achieved the ranks of 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Horse Guards, Captain in the Lancashire Hussars Yeomanry and Honorary Major in the Territorial Army and also served as a Justice of the Peace for Lancashire and for Northamptonshire. Hesketh sat briefly as a Member of Parliament for Enfield from 1922 to 1923 and was later High Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1932.

He succeeded his father as eighth Baronet of Rufford in 1924 and in 1935 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Hesketh, of Hesketh in the County Palatine of Lancaster.[4]

Personal life

On 9 September 1909 Lord Hesketh married Florence Louise Breckinridge (1881–1956) at the British Embassy Church in Paris.[5] She was the daughter of John Witherspoon Breckinridge and the former Louise (née Tevis), who married Thomas' uncle, Frederick W. Sharon, after divorcing her father. Her paternal grandfather was General John C. Breckinridge, the former Vice-President of the United States, and her maternal grandfather was Lloyd Tevis, the President of Wells Fargo Bank. They had three sons and two daughters:[6]

Lord Hesketh died in July 1944, aged 62. As his eldest son Thomas was killed in an airplane accident in France in 1937, he was succeeded in his titles by his second son Frederick.[6] Florence, the Dowager Lady Hesketh died 1956.[2]

Descendants

His grandson Alexander Fermor-Hesketh, 3rd Baron Hesketh, is a former Conservative government minister.[7]

Arms
Coat of arms of Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, 1st Baron Hesketh
Crest
1st A garb Or banded Azure (Hesketh); 2nd Out of a ducal coronet Or a cock’s head Gules combed and wattled Gold.
Escutcheon
Quarterly 1st & 4th Argent on a bend Sable three garbs Or (Hesketh); 2nd & 3rd Argent a fess Sable between three lions' heads erased Gules (Fermor).
Supporters
On either side a griffin Or gorged with a collar Gules thereon a fleur-de-lis Gold and charged on the shoulder with a rose also Gules barbed and seeded Proper.
Motto
Hora E Sempre [8]

References
  1. "LADY FERMOR-HESKETH; Daughter of Late Senator Sharon of Nevada Dies Suddenly in England". The New York Times. 28 September 1924. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  2. "Hesketh, Baron (UK, 1935)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  3. "SEEK LIEUT HESKETH HERE.; Lady Hesketh's Son, Who Married Miss Breckenridge of Kentucky, Gone". The New York Times. 18 December 1910. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  4. Kuhn Jr, Ferdinand (1 January 1935). "KING'S HONORS GIVE HEIR 3 NEW TITLES; Making the Prince of Wales Admiral, General and Air Marshal Stirs Gossip". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  5. TIMES, Special Cable to THE NEW YORK (12 September 1909). "AN EMBASSY WEDDING.; Miss Breckinridge Becomes the Bride of an Englishman In Paris". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  6. Northamptonshire Libraries (1985). Roland Holloway's Northamptonshire. 27 Guildhall Road, Northampton NN1 1EP: Northamptonshire Libraries. pp. not numbered - however see pictures and text pp 130–133. ISBN 0-905391-10-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  7. Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
  8. Burke's Peerage. 1949.
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