Francis Richard Charteris, 10th Earl of Wemyss GCVO DL (pronounced weems, rhyming with seems) (4 August 1818 – 30 June 1914), styled as Lord Elcho between 1853 and 1883, was a British Whig politician. He founded the Liberty and Property Defence League.
He was the eldest son and heir of Francis Wemyss-Charteris, 9th Earl of Wemyss and Lady Louisa Bingham. Among his siblings was younger brother Richard Charteris (who married Lady Margaret Butler, a daughter of Richard Butler, 2nd Earl of Glengall) and sister Lady Louisa Wemyss-Charteris (wife of William Wells, MP for Beverley and Peterborough). [1]
His paternal grandparents were Francis Douglas, 8th Earl of Wemyss and the former Margaret Campbell (daughter of Scottish landowner Walter Campbell, 3rd of Shawfield and Islay and 9th of Skipness). His maternal grandparents were Richard Bingham, 2nd Earl of Lucan and Lady Elizabeth Belasyse, third daughter of Henry Belasyse, 2nd Earl Fauconberg and former wife of Bernard Howard, 12th Duke of Norfolk. [1]
He was educated at Eton and graduated from Christ Church, Oxford with a B.A. degree.
As Lord Elcho he was commanding officer of the London Scottish Rifles Volunteers regiment for 17 years from its formation in 1859, gaining the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He is credited with the design of the Elcho sword bayonet, which saw limited use in the Ashanti campaign of 1895-6.
Charteris was a member of the Canterbury Association from 27 March 1848, and belonged to the management committee. [2]
He developed an interest in the alternative medical practice of Homeopathy, even becoming President of the London Homeopathic Hospital until his death. The strength of his belief is evidenced by his writing in March 1914:
I wish all success to Homoeopathy, to which I attach my physical well-being in great measure. When I was 90 I was asked to what I attributed my well-being at that late period of life. My answer was, "To parentage and moderation". I should have added "AND HOMOEOPATHY," with which I have been treated since I was 20. [3]
Between 1836 and 1866, he was trustee of the National Portrait Gallery. Upon his father's death in 1883, he succeeded to the Earldom of Wemyss and March. Prior to then he was known as Lord Elcho. From 1881 to 1901, he was aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria, followed by aide-de-camp to King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. He also held the office of Deputy Lieutenant of Haddington and Selkirk.
On 29 August 1843, he married Lady Anne Frederica Anson, the second daughter of Thomas Anson, 1st Earl of Lichfield and the former Louisa Barbara Catherine Phillips (youngest daughter of Nathaniel Phillips of Slebech Hall). [2] In Edinburgh, they lived at 64 Queen Street, the only four-bay townhouse on this prestigious street in Edinburgh's First New Town. [4] Together, they were the parents of six sons and three daughters, including: [1]
After the death of his first wife on 22 Jul 1896, he remarried, to Grace Blackburn (c. 1857–1946) in December 1900. Grace was the third daughter of Major John Blackburn and the former Maria Warburton (a daughter of The Very Reverend Charles Warburton, Archdeacon of Tuam). [1]
Lord Wemyss died on 30 June 1914. The Dowager Countess of Wemyss died on 13 February 1946. [1]
Through his daughter Lady Evelyn, he was a grandfather of Mary Gertrude Vesey, the second wife of Aubrey Herbert (second son of Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon), whose daughter Laura Herbert married the writer Evelyn Waugh, and was the mother of Auberon Waugh. [6]
Charteris Bay in Lyttelton Harbour was chosen as a locality name to commemorate his role in the settlement of Canterbury in New Zealand. [2]
Earl of Wemyss is a title in the Peerage of Scotland created in 1633. The Scottish Wemyss family had possessed the lands of Wemyss in Fife since the 12th century. Since 1823 the earldom has been held with the Earldom of March, created in 1697. The holder of the title is sometimes known as the Earl of Wemyss and March, but the titles are distinct.
The Souls was a small loosely-knit but distinctive elite social and intellectual group in the United Kingdom from 1885 to the turn of the century. Many of the most distinguished British politicians and intellectuals of the time were members. The original group of Souls reached its zenith in the early 1890s and had faded out as a coherent clique by 1900.
Francis David Charteris, 12th Earl of Wemyss and 8th Earl of March, styled Lord Elcho from 1916 to 1937, was a Scottish peer, landowner and conservationist. From 1946 to 1991, he served as chairman and then president of the National Trust for Scotland.
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Francis Wemyss Charteris was a Scottish landowner who claimed to be 7th Earl of Wemyss.
Francis Wemyss-Charteris, 9th Earl of Wemyss, 5th Earl of March, was a Scottish peer.
Francis Wemyss Charteris Douglas, 8th Earl of Wemyss, 4th Earl of March, known as the Earl of March from 1810 to 1826 and as the Earl of Wemyss and March from 1826 to 1853, was a Scottish peer.
Clan Wemyss is a Lowland Scottish clan.
David Wemyss, 4th Earl of Wemyss, was a Scottish peer and Member of Parliament who served as Lord High Admiral of Scotland from 1706 to 1714.
John Henry Crichton, 4th Earl Erne,, styled Viscount Crichton from 1842 to 1885, was an Anglo-Irish peer and Conservative politician.
David Wemyss, Lord Elcho and de jure 6th Earl of Wemyss, was a Scottish peer and Jacobite, attainted for his part in the 1745 Rising was deprived of titles and estates.
Francis Richard Charles Guy Greville, 5th Earl of Warwick, styled Lord Brooke until 1893, was a British Conservative politician.
Hugo Richard Charteris, 11th Earl of Wemyss and 7th Earl of March DL, styled Lord Elcho from 1883 to 1914, was a British Conservative politician.
James Wemyss was a Scottish naval officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1763 to 1784.
James Donald Charteris, 13th Earl of Wemyss and 9th Earl of March,, also known as Jamie Neidpath, is a British peer and landowner.
Francis Wemyss Charteris, Lord Elcho was a Scottish nobleman and member of parliament.
George Harry Grey, 8th Baron Grey of Groby, was a British peer.
The Rt Hon. John Robert William Vesey, 4th Viscount de Vesci, 5th Baron Knapton and 1st Baron de Vesci, "Yvo", was an Anglo-Irish peer and British Army officer.
Mary Constance Charteris, Countess of Wemyss and March, styled Lady Elcho from 1883 to 1914, was an English society hostess and an original member of The Souls, an exclusive social and intellectual group.
Lady Violet Catherine Benson was an English aristocrat, artist and socialite.