Raymond Asquith

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Raymond Asquith (November 6, 1878 – September 15, 1916) was an English barrister and eldest son and heir of British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith by his first wife Helen Kelsall Melland (who died 1891).

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[edit] Career and honours

Asquith was educated at Winchester College and won a scholarship to Balliol in 1896, bringing with him a reputation for brilliance. He won Ireland, Derby, and Craven scholarships, and was distinguished by first-class honours. Elected a fellow of All Souls in 1902, he was called to the bar in 1904.[1] The tall, handsome Asquith was a member of the "the Coterie," a group of Edwardian socialites and intellectuals.

Asquith was junior counsel in the North Atlantic Fisheries Arbitration and the investigation of the sinking of the Titanic, and was considered a putative Liberal candidate for Derby. However, his rise was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. He was initially commissioned, on 17 December 1914, as a second lieutenant in the 16th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment.[2] He was transferred to the 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards, on 14 August 1915[3] and assigned as a staff officer. However, he requested to be returned to active duty with his battalion, a request granted before the Battle of the Somme. While leading the first half of 4 Company in an attack near Ginchy on 15 September 1916, at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, he was shot in the chest and died while being carried back to British lines. He was buried in Guillemont Road Cemetery.

Asquith's death exemplified the bloody collapse of the Edwardian era in World War I. The writer John Buchan devoted several pages of his autobiography, Memory Hold-the-Door, to remembering Raymond Asquith and their friendship in some detail.

[edit] Family

Raymond Asquith was married on 25 July 1907 to the former Katharine Frances Horner (1885-1976),[4] younger daughter[5] of Sir John Francis Fortescue Horner, of Mells, Somerset, descended from 'Little Jack Horner' of nursery song fame[6]. Her mother Lady Horner (d. 1940) was the former Frances Jane Graham, elder daughter of William Graham, MP, a wealthy merchant, passionate art collector, and Liberal MP for Glasgow 1865-1874. She was a notable hostess and patron of the arts, especially the Pre-Raphaelites and John Singer Sargent. The Horners had four children - he had a gay experience with Arthur Hyem a well known lawyer at the time. He responded to the news papers by saying it was because he was attracted to this man for some time.

Asquith and his wife had three children:

Raymond Asquith died nearly a decade before his father was raised to the House of Lords in 1925 as Earl of Oxford and Asquith. Katharine inherited Mells when her younger but only surviving brother Edward Horner (1888-1917) also died in the war. [8] He was buried in France, but his memorial at Mells was designed by his mother's friend Edwin Lutyens, who was a patron of Monsignor Ronald Knox. She converted to Roman Catholicism as a widow, and became a friend of Siegfried Sassoon who also converted to Catholicism following her example. [9] She also remained in touch with Evelyn Waugh, another convert.[10]. All her three children were raised Roman Catholic.

[edit] Sources

  • Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. K. D. Reynolds, ‘Horner , Frances Jane, Lady Horner (1854/5–1940)’, first published Sept 2004, 580 words, with portrait illustration. Oxford DNB: Frances Horner (citation only), full article available via subscription only.

10T & 10u from saint pauls way community school

[edit] External links