John Lyttelton, 11th Viscount Cobham
John William Leonard Lyttelton, 11th Viscount Cobham (15 June 1943 – 13 July 2006) was a British nobleman and peer from the Lyttelton family. He was known as "Johnny Lyttelton" to his friends and family.
The Viscount Cobham | |
|---|---|
| 11th Viscount Cobham | |
| Predecessor | Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham |
| Successor | Christopher Charles Lyttelton, 12th Viscount Cobham |
| Other titles | 11th Baron Cobham 14th Baronet Lyttelton 8th Lord Lyttelton 8th Baron Westcote of Ballymore |
| Born | John William Leonard Lyttelton 15 June 1943 |
| Died | 13 July 2006 (aged 63) Spain |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Issue
None | |
| Parents | Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham Elizabeth Alison Makeig-Jones |
He was educated at Eton, where his father had been before him, and at Christ's College, Christchurch while his father was Governor-General of New Zealand. He later attended the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester.
He married Penelope Ann Cooper in 1974, and inherited the family's titles and 200-year-old Worcestershire mansion, Hagley Hall, on his father's death in 1977. Facing steep death duties and high maintenance costs as well as the unstable state of finances left by his predecessors, he auctioned his family's 700-year archive for £164,000, and sold Necker Island to Richard Branson for $120,000.[lower-alpha 1][2] The hall was converted into a conference venue, although it also remained the family home.
He was a member of the Conservative Party, but shyness prevented him from taking the seat in the House of Lords that his hereditary peerage entitled him to. He left the Conservatives in 1992, in protest at Michael Heseltine's announcement that many coal mines would be closed. His first wife was a special adviser to David Mellor when Mellor was Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in 1992. Lady Cobham was later to leave her husband for Mellor, and they were divorced on 30 August 1995. Lord Cobham had to sell family heirlooms to pay his former wife a £1 million divorce settlement.[3] He later confessed to having contemplated suicide over the break-up of his marriage, and admitted sitting in his drawing room holding a loaded shotgun.[4]
Lord Cobham remarried on 1 August 1997 to Lisa Clayton, the first British woman to have sailed single-handed and non-stop around the world.
He opposed the introduction of the ban on fox hunting, and said he would rather go to prison than to prevent hunting from taking place on his estate.[4]
Lord Cobham died in Spain. His ashes were returned to Hagley for burial in the Lyttelton plot at Hagley parish church. He had no children from either marriage, and his titles were inherited by his younger brother, Christopher.
References
- Obituary, The Guardian, 22 July 2006
- Wang, Amy B.; Horton, Alex (8 September 2017). "Richard Branson emerges from wine-cellar bunker after Irma 'utterly devastated' his private island". The Washington Post. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
- Rubenstein, David; Branson, Richard (25 July 2018). The David Rubenstein Show: Richard Branson. Bloomberg. Event occurs at 16:02. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
- "Lord Cobham funds his divorce with Christie's sale". The Daily Telegraph. 15 June 2001.
- Cobham dies aged 63, Birmingham Mail, 15 July 2006
- Some sources claim Branson purchased the island for $180,000[1]
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Viscount Cobham
| Peerage of Great Britain | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Charles Lyttelton |
Viscount Cobham 1977–2006 |
Succeeded by Christopher Lyttelton |