4th Baron Swansea, DL, CStJ (1925-2005)

[Michael Rhodes]

The 4th Baron Swansea died 24 June, 2005, at St George's Nursing Home,
Westminster. He was aged 80, and had held the peerage for over 70
years.

Lord Swansea was the fourth holder of the peerage (created 1893), and
was a Baronet (created 1882).

John Hussey Hamilton Vivian was born 1 January, 1925, son of the 3rd
Baron Swansea, DSO, MVO, TD, by his wife the former Hon. Winifred
Hamilton (d. 1944), 4th daughter of the 1st Baron Holm Patrick., and
was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.

Career-- - ->> Deputy Lieutenant for Powys (formerey Brecknock) from
1962; CStJ, 1994; succeeded his father in the peerage and baronetcy,
1934.

Lord Swansea married firstly, 1956, Mirian Antoinette (divorced 1973,
and she died 1975), second daughter of A.W.F. Caccia-Birch, MC, of
Guernsey Lodge, Marton, New Zealand; married secondly, 1982, Mrs Lucy
Temple-Richards (nee Gough).

He leaves a widow, a son Richard (b. 24 Jan 1957, who now succeeds to
the family honours), 2 daughters, Amanda and Louisa, and a
step-daughter, Olivia.


Private burial, followed at 2.30 p.m. by Service of Thanksgiving on
Thursday 7th July, 2005, at St Mary's Church, Builth Wells. Memorial
service in London at later date.


Source: Daily Telegraph, 28 Jun 2005

[Louis Epstein]

In alt.obituaries Michael Rhodes <***@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
: The 4th Baron Swansea died 24 June, 2005, at St George's Nursing Home,
: Westminster. He was aged 80, and had held the peerage for over 70
: years.
:
: Lord Swansea was the fourth holder of the peerage (created 1893), and
: was a Baronet (created 1882).
:
: John Hussey Hamilton Vivian was born 1 January, 1925, son of the 3rd
: Baron Swansea, DSO, MVO, TD, by his wife the former Hon. Winifred
: Hamilton (d. 1944), 4th daughter of the 1st Baron Holm Patrick., and
: was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.
:
: Career-- - ->> Deputy Lieutenant for Powys (formerey Brecknock) from
: 1962; CStJ, 1994; succeeded his father in the peerage and baronetcy,
: 1934.
:
: Lord Swansea married firstly, 1956, Mirian Antoinette (divorced 1973,
: and she died 1975), second daughter of A.W.F. Caccia-Birch, MC, of
: Guernsey Lodge, Marton, New Zealand; married secondly, 1982, Mrs Lucy
: Temple-Richards (nee Gough).
:
: He leaves a widow, a son Richard (b. 24 Jan 1957, who now succeeds to
: the family honours), 2 daughters, Amanda and Louisa, and a
: step-daughter, Olivia.

His death leaves Lord Colwyn (b. 1942) as the only hereditary
peer with a New Year's Day birthday,while his son joins Lord
Savile (born 1919,and also one of the remaining holders of a
peerage since before the present reign) as having January 24th
as a birthday.

: Private burial, followed at 2.30 p.m. by Service of Thanksgiving on
: Thursday 7th July, 2005, at St Mary's Church, Builth Wells. Memorial
: service in London at later date.
:
:
: Source: Daily Telegraph, 28 Jun 2005

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.

[Michael Rhodes]

<<Lord Swansea>>

(Daily Telegraph 6 July 2005)

The 4th Lord Swansea, who has died aged 80, was one of the finest
marksman of his generation and a dogged champion of the shooting lobby
in the aftermath of the Hungerford and Dublane shootings.

Singlemindedly listing his recreations in Who's Who as "shooting,
fishing, rifle shooting", Swansea was the chairman of the British
Shooting Sports Council and a vice-chairman of the National Rifle
Association involved in a vain defence of law-abiding shooters against
restrictive legislation. In speeches delivered in the House of Lords
and letters to The Daily Telegraph, he supported the banning of
Kalashnikov rifles and the requirement for shotguns not in use to be
locked up.

But no Home Secretary was prepared to draw on the expertise of the
shooting lobby, and Swansea resigned the Conservative whip to sit on
the crossbenches before being removed from the House by Tony Blair's
reforms in 1999.

As he fought the steady stream of government Bills that included a ban
on the private possession of pistols, so that marksmen had to go abroad
to practise for international competitions, he argued that the
government was shooting at the wrong target. It should turn its
attention to the vast underground pool of illegally held weapons, he
declared, though he also put his finger on the problem by remarking:
"You cannot legislate for nutters." One consequence of his losing
battle was that, as captain of the Lords shooting team, he saw the
Parliamentary gun club, which met under the Palace of Westminster,
closed down after 80 years.

The descendant of a baronet who was created the 1st Lord Swansea after
long service as a Liberal MP in the 19th century, John Hussey Hamilton
Vivian was born on New Day's Day 1925. He succeeded his father, a game
and clay pigeon shooter who had won the DSO in the First World War, at
the age of nine. Young John's passion for shooting developed at Eton,
where he was in the VIII and took a hand, during the war, in turning
out pivots for two-pounder anti-tank guns.

After going up to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read French and
German, he worked for a land agent, and concentrated on the
11,000-acre-family estate outside Builth Wells, where he bred Welsh
mountain ponies, ran a shoot and had a pub and 1,000 yards of fishing
on the River Wye, though it was sold in 1966; he also worked for the
publisher Alvin Redman.

But it was in competitive rifle shooting that Swansea excelled for more
than 30 years. He regularly captained both Great Britain and Wales, won
a gold medal at the Commonwealth games at Kingston, Jamaica, in 1966,
and a silver at Brisbane in 1982. He represented Wales 37 times in the
short range National Match and 34 times in the Mackinnon long range. He
also won the Bisley Grand Aggregate in 1957 and 1960 and the Match
Rifle Aggregate in 1971 and 1974, and competed in the Queen's Prize 18
times, coming second in 1958 and 1968. When an elbow injury curtailed
his rifle shooting, he proved a dab hand with a pistol.

In his maiden speech in the Lords, Swansea waded into the contentious
waters surrounding the Welsh language by suggesting that necessary
Midlands workers would not be attracted to new industries in Wales if
their children were compelled to learn Welsh. He took a dim view in the
Telegraph of the BBC's plan to include accounts of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki in a round-the-world programme on Christmas Day 1954. In
addition, he took an interest in road safety, remarking that it was "a
curious aspect of human psychology that no one will ever admit to being
a bad driver".

A reserved man who could talk to anybody who showed the smallest
interest in shooting, Swansea was provincial grand master for the
masonic province of South Wales eastern division and holder of the
Grand Master's Order of Service to Masonry.

Lord Swansea, who died on June 24, married, in 1956, Miriam
Caccia-Birch. After a divorce, he married, in 1982, Mrs Lucy Temple
Richards, who survives him with, from his first marriage, two daughters
and a son, Richard (born in 1957), who succeeds to the titles.

[Michael Rhodes]

Lucy, Lady Swansea, widow of the 4th Baron, died 9 Oct, 2022, aged 91.