William Craven, 6th Earl of Craven

Lieutenant The Right Honourable The Earl of Craven
Born	William Robert Bradley Craven (1917-09-08)8 September 1917
Died	27 January 1965(1965-01-27) (aged 47)
Education	Downside School Northamptonshire Institute of Agriculture
Spouses	Irene Meyrick ​ ​ (m. 1939;div. 1954)​ Elizabeth Johnstone-Douglas ​ ​ (m. 1954)​
Children	4
Parent	William Craven, 5th Earl of Craven
Relatives	William Craven, 4th Earl of Craven (grandfather) Cornelia, Countess of Craven (grandmother)

William Robert Bradley Craven, 6th Earl of Craven (8 September 1917 – 27 January 1965) was a British peer.

Early life

Craven was born on 8 September 1917 and was the only child of William Craven, 5th Earl of Craven and the former Mary Williamina George, who married in 1916. ^{[lower-alpha 1]} His parents later separated and, in 1925, his mother sued his father for divorce citing the latter's relationship with Vera, Countess of Cathcart. ^[2] His father died of peritonitis at the age of thirty-five in 1932. ^[3] His maternal grandfather was William George, the town clerk of Invergordon. His paternal grandparents were William Craven, 4th Earl of Craven ^[4] and his American wife, the former Cornelia Martin. ^{[5] [6]} His grandmother was the only daughter of Bradley Martin and his wife Cornelia, who were famed as the hosts of the Bradley-Martin Ball. ^[7]

Lord Craven was educated at Downside School and at the Northamptonshire Institute of Agriculture. ^[8]

Career

Upon the death of his father on 15 September 1932 at the age of thirty-five, he inherited the earldom of Craven as well as the subsidiary titles Baron Craven of Hamstead Marshall and Viscount Uffington. ^[8]

He served as a Second Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards and then as a Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve during World War II. Lord Craven was a member of the East Sussex County Council in 1957 and was created a Knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in 1959. ^[8]

Personal life

On 3 May 1939, Lord Craven married Gwendoline Irene Meyrick, a daughter of Dr. Ferdinand Richard Holmes Meyrick and the former Katherine Evelyn Nason, the infamous owner of the 43 Club. Two of Irene's sisters also married into the British nobility, Mary Meyrick, to the 14th Earl of Kinnoull, and Dorothy Meyrick to the 26th Baron de Clifford. ^[9] Before their divorce in 1954, they were the parents of one daughter: ^[8]

• Lady Sarah Jane Craven (b. 1940), who married South African David Thomson Glover, a son of Col. John William Thomson-Glover, in 1961. ^[8]

After his divorce, Lord Craven married Elizabeth Gwendolen Teresa Johnstone-Douglas (1916–2011), a daughter of Sholto Johnstone Douglas, on 25 September 1954. A granddaughter of Arthur Johnstone-Douglas, she was a direct descendant of Charles Douglas, 6th Marquess of Queensberry. Together, they were the parents of three children: ^[8]

• Thomas Robert Douglas Craven, 7th Earl of Craven (1957–1983), who did not marry but left natural issue; he died by suicide. ^[8]
• Lady Ann Mary Elizabeth Craven (born 9 April 1959), who married Professor Lionel Tarassenko, in 1978. ^[8]
• Simon George Craven, 8th Earl of Craven (1961–1990), who married Teresa Downes in 1988; he was killed in a road accident at Eastbourne. ^[8]

Lord Craven died in 1965 and was succeeded in the earldom by his elder son, Thomas. ^[8]

Descendants

Through his youngest son Simon, he was a grandfather of Benjamin Robert Joseph Craven (b. 1989), who became the 9th Earl of Craven as an infant upon his father's death in 1990. ^[8]

Coat of arms of William Craven, 6th Earl of Craven

Coronet A Coronet of an Earl Crest On a Chapeau Gules turned up Ermine a Griffin statant wings elevated Ermine beaked and foremembered Or Escutcheon Argent a Fess between six Cross Crosslets fitchée Gules Supporters On either side a Griffin wings elevated Ermine beaked and foremembered Or Motto Virtus In Actione Consistit (Virtue consists in action)

References

Notes

1. In 1922, shortly after his father inherited the earldom following his grandfather's 1921 drowning, the 5th Earl was named in the divorce suit between George Cathcart, 5th Earl Cathcart and Lady Cathcart, the former Vera Estelle ( née Fraser) Warter. The Earl obtained a "decree dissolving his marriage with Lady Cathcart, upon proof being given of her indiscretions with the Earl of Craven". ^[1]

Sources

1. "EARL CATHCART DIVORCED.; Evidence Is Offered That Involved the Earl of Craven". The New York Times . 25 February 1922. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
2. TIMES, Special Cable to THE NEW YORK (14 July 1925). "WIFE SUES EARL OF CRAVEN; Divorce Action Follows His Elopement With Countess of Cathcart". The New York Times . Retrieved 14 June 2022.
3. Peter W. Hammond, editor, The Complete Peerage or a History of the House of Lords and All its Members From the Earliest Times, Volume XIV: Addenda & Corrigenda (Stroud, Gloucestershire, U.K.: Sutton Publishing, 1998), page 217.
4. "EARL OF CRAVEN DROWNED IN SOLENT; Believed to Have Fallen Off His Yacht in the Fight While His Crew Were Asleep. MARRIED CORNELIA MARTIN A Member of the Royal Household, He Was Well Known to Americans". The New York Times . 11 July 1921. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
5. "COUNTESS OF CRAVEN". The New York Times . 24 May 1961. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
6. "WEDDED IN GRANDEST STYLE; NUPTIALS OF MISS MARTIN AND THE EARL OF CRAVEN. Grace Church, Where the Marriage was Celebrated, Filled with Fashionable Peo- ple -- The Occasion Marred by the Break- ing In of the Outside Crowd -- Decora- tions in Lavish Profusion at Church and House -- A Hundred-Pound Wedding Cake -- Value of the Presents". The New York Times . 19 April 1893. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
7. Cokayne, George (1982). The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant. Vol. III. Gloucester England: A. Sutton. p. 506. ISBN   0-904387-82-8.
8. Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 1, page 949.
9. "EARL OF CRAVEN WEDS MEYRICK DAUGHTER; Is Third Child of 'Night Club Queen' to Marry a Nobleman". The New York Times . 27 July 1939. Retrieved 14 June 2022.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Craven

Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by William Craven	Earl of Craven 1932–1965	Succeeded by Thomas Craven