Louis Epstein
2018-01-12 15:54:55 UTC
The Financial Times (which he once headed) and others have announced the
death of Michael Hare,2nd Viscount Blakenham,on January 8th (he would have
turned 80 on January 25th).
His father was (not surprisingly) the 1st Viscount Blakenham(1913-1982),
a Cabinet minister under Harold Macmillan,a younger son of the 4th Earl of
Listowel(1866-1931).The family have been all over the map politically:
the 3rd Earl(1833-1924) was a Liberal,the 4th a Conservative,the 5th
(1906-1997) a Labourite who was in Attlee's cabinet as the last
Secretary of State for India and Burma),and the 6th now sits in the
Lords as a Cross-Bencher.
The late Lord Blakenham's mother was a daughter of the 2nd Viscount
Cowdray,a Pearson descended from the son of S. Pearson of S. Pearson and
Son Limited (now known as Pearson PLC).His sister Joanna is the wife of
SCOTUS Justice Stephen Breyer.
He headed Pearson as Managing Director and Chief Executive(1978-83),
Chairman and Chief Executive(1983-1993),then Chairman(1993-1997),
and also headed the Financial Times,then a Pearson subsidiary,
succeeding his paternal uncle Alan Hare(1919-1995) at the FT and
his maternal uncle the 3rd Viscount Cowdray at Pearson.
At home in Suffolk he was known as an environmental campaigner.
In January 1965 he married his 18-year-old first cousin,Alan's daughter
Marcia Persephone Hare,and they went on to have three children:
Cressida Cowell,author of the "How to Train Your Dragon" books
and other works;
Emily Faccini,a successful illustrator/mapmaker/painter;
and Caspar John Hare,a full professor of philosophy at MIT who recently
won an award there for outstanding teaching.
All three of his children had children;
I do not know if Caspar's children include an "heir male of the
body lawfully begotten" (biological son born in wedlock) who would
thus be in line to succeed Caspar as Viscount Blakenham and
(Lord Listowel,born 1964,having no son,and his brother,born 1966,
having no son) potentially eventually the earldom as well.
With the death of Sir (George) Jeremy Chance,baronet,
who was married to HIS father's brother's daughter from 1950
to her death in 2015,on Christmas Eve,the two contemporary
first-cousin marriages in the British aristocracy that I was
aware of have ended.
I believe that noting the death of the Hon. Alan Hare
(and receiving a squicky reaction to my noting that his
survivors included a daughter who was married to his nephew)
was one of my earliest posts to alt.obituaries.
-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.
death of Michael Hare,2nd Viscount Blakenham,on January 8th (he would have
turned 80 on January 25th).
His father was (not surprisingly) the 1st Viscount Blakenham(1913-1982),
a Cabinet minister under Harold Macmillan,a younger son of the 4th Earl of
Listowel(1866-1931).The family have been all over the map politically:
the 3rd Earl(1833-1924) was a Liberal,the 4th a Conservative,the 5th
(1906-1997) a Labourite who was in Attlee's cabinet as the last
Secretary of State for India and Burma),and the 6th now sits in the
Lords as a Cross-Bencher.
The late Lord Blakenham's mother was a daughter of the 2nd Viscount
Cowdray,a Pearson descended from the son of S. Pearson of S. Pearson and
Son Limited (now known as Pearson PLC).His sister Joanna is the wife of
SCOTUS Justice Stephen Breyer.
He headed Pearson as Managing Director and Chief Executive(1978-83),
Chairman and Chief Executive(1983-1993),then Chairman(1993-1997),
and also headed the Financial Times,then a Pearson subsidiary,
succeeding his paternal uncle Alan Hare(1919-1995) at the FT and
his maternal uncle the 3rd Viscount Cowdray at Pearson.
At home in Suffolk he was known as an environmental campaigner.
In January 1965 he married his 18-year-old first cousin,Alan's daughter
Marcia Persephone Hare,and they went on to have three children:
Cressida Cowell,author of the "How to Train Your Dragon" books
and other works;
Emily Faccini,a successful illustrator/mapmaker/painter;
and Caspar John Hare,a full professor of philosophy at MIT who recently
won an award there for outstanding teaching.
All three of his children had children;
I do not know if Caspar's children include an "heir male of the
body lawfully begotten" (biological son born in wedlock) who would
thus be in line to succeed Caspar as Viscount Blakenham and
(Lord Listowel,born 1964,having no son,and his brother,born 1966,
having no son) potentially eventually the earldom as well.
With the death of Sir (George) Jeremy Chance,baronet,
who was married to HIS father's brother's daughter from 1950
to her death in 2015,on Christmas Eve,the two contemporary
first-cousin marriages in the British aristocracy that I was
aware of have ended.
I believe that noting the death of the Hon. Alan Hare
(and receiving a squicky reaction to my noting that his
survivors included a daughter who was married to his nephew)
was one of my earliest posts to alt.obituaries.
-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.