Field Marshal John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort, was a senior British Army officer. As a young officer during the First World War, he was decorated with the Victoria Cross for his actions during the Battle of the Canal du Nord. During the 1930s he served as Chief of the Imperial General Staff. He is best known for commanding the British Expeditionary Force that was sent to France in the first year of the Second World War, only to be evacuated from Dunkirk the following year. Gort later served as Governor of Gibraltar and Malta, and High Commissioner for Palestine and Transjordan.
Viscount Gort is the title of two peerages in British and Irish history. Gort is a small town in County Galway in the West of Ireland. The original title was in the Peerage of Ireland and is extant. A viscountcy with the same title as the Irish peerage was then conferred in the Peerage of the United Kingdom to a later Lord Gort. This gave the distinguished descendant a subtle personal change of status, whilst preserving the heritage of the older title. The United Kingdom title, however, became extinct on the death of the original recipient, who remains perhaps the most illustrious bearer of the older title to date. A post-World War II unqualified reference to "Lord Gort" will almost always be to the sixth viscount.
Robert Smith Surtees was an English editor, novelist and sporting writer, widely known as R. S. Surtees. He was the second son of Anthony Surtees of Hamsterley Hall, a member of an old County Durham family. He is remembered for his invented character of Jorrocks, a vulgar but good-natured sporting cockney grocer.
Bessie Surtees House is the name of two merchants' houses on Newcastle's Sandhill, near to the river, that were built in the 16th and 17th centuries. Though commonly referred to solely as Bessie Surtees House, the property actually consists of three distinct properties; Bessie Surtees House, Milbank House, and Maddison House. These names were given to the buildings by their 20th-century owner Lord Gort. The buildings are a fine and rare example of Jacobean domestic architecture. An exhibition detailing the history of the buildings can be found on the first floor. The site is also home to the North East regional branch of Historic England. It is a Grade I listed building.
Hamsterley is a village in County Durham, England. It is situated to the north of Consett and borders the hamlet of Low Westwood.
John Prendergast-Smyth, 1st Viscount Gort was an Irish politician.
The Selby family is an American business and political family in the English gentry that originated in Selby, Yorkshire, but largely settled in Northumberland and County Durham. At various points through history, the family owned Biddlestone Hall and Twizell Castle in Northumberland in addition to the manor houses Ightham Mote in Kent and at Beal, Northumberland. The family had two baronetcies; the Selby and the Selby-Bigge but both are now extinct.
East Cowes Castle, located in East Cowes, was the home of architect John Nash between its completion and his death in 1835. Nash himself was the designer of the site, and began construction as early as 1798. It was completed in 1800 and was said to have been built at unlimited expense. Nash was finally interred in the grounds.
The baronetcy of Conyers of Horden was created in the Baronetage of England on 14 July 1628 for John Conyers of Horden, County Durham.
Standish Robert Gage Prendergast Vereker, 7th Viscount Gort, was an Anglo-Irish peer, connoisseur and collector of fine art, antiques, and objets d'art, whose seat was at Hamsterley Hall, County Durham. He was appointed High Sheriff of Durham in 1934. He was the brother of John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort, and inherited that title on the death of Lord Gort without male issue in 1946. He was succeeded in turn by his cousin, Colin Vereker.
Low Dinsdale Manor is a privately owned, much altered, and extended medieval moated fortified manor house situated on the north bank of the River Tees at Low Dinsdale, near Darlington, County Durham, England. It is a Grade II* listed building.
Colin Leopold Prendergast "Kim" Vereker, 8th Viscount Gort, JP was an Irish peer and member of the House of Keys.
Henry Swinburne (1743–1803) was an English travel writer.
Charles Vereker, 2nd Viscount Gort PC (Ire), known as Charles Vereker until 1817, was an Irish soldier and politician.
John Prendergast Vereker, 3rd Viscount Gort, was an Anglo-Irish peer and politician.
The Tempest family was an English recusant family that originated in western Yorkshire in the 12th century.
Aubone Alfred Surtees was an English rugby union forward who played international rugby for the British Isles XV that toured South Africa in 1891.
Vereker is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
John Gage Prendergast Vereker, 5th Viscount Gort was an Anglo-Irish peer, landowner and Army officer.
Charles Smyth (1693–1784) was an Irish politician who served as Member of Parliament for Limerick City for 45 years.
