Frederick Perceval, 11th Earl of Egmont: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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{{shortShort description|Canadian farmer and peer (1914–2001)}}

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{{Infobox person

| honorific_prefix = [[The MostRight Honourable]]

| name = The Earl of Egmont

| image = [[File:Coronet of a British Earl.svg|100px|centre]] [[File:Perceval arms.svg|100px]]

| birth_name = Frederick George Moore Perceval

| birth_date = {{birth date|1914|04|14|df=y}}

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'''Frederick George Moore Perceval, 11th Earl of Egmont''' (14 April 1914 – 8 December 2001), was a Canadian farmer and peer. Born in [[Calgary]], uponPerceval the ascension of his father as theand [[Frederick Perceval, 10th Earl of Egmont|10thhis Earl of Egmontfather]], he and Perceval moved to Avon Castle in [[Ringwood, Hampshire]]. Whenupon the latter's ascension as the 10th [[Earl of Egmont]]. When he died in 1932, Perceval inherited his estate and title and promptly moved back to Canada, selling the castle. Marrying Geraldine Moodie in August, they soon built a home on a piece of land they bought right outside [[Priddis, Alberta]], where Perceval was raised. When a fire destroyed that home, they built a new one and sold Avon Castle. They bought the Two-Dot Ranch in 1959 at [[Nanton, Alberta]], where Perceval died in 2001. He was succeeded by his son Thomas as the 11th12th Earl of Egmontearl.

== Life and career ==

[[File:Avon Castle DSC 0017.jpg|thumb|left|250px|2010 photograph of Avon Castle, the Perceval family estate]]

Frederick George Moore Perceval was born on 14 April 1914 in [[Calgary]], Alberta, to [[Frederick Perceval, 10th Earl of Egmont|Frederick Joseph Travelyan]] and Cecilia Perceval.<ref name="ohler">{{cite news |last1=Ohler |first1=Shawn |title=He was rancher before he became an earl, daughter says |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/national-post-he-was-rancher-before-he-b/150819748/ |access-date=7 July 2024 |work=[[National Post]] |date=21 January 1999 |location=Toronto, Ontario, Canada |page=8 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref name="thedailytelegraph">{{cite news |title=The Earl of Egmont—Prairie rancher descended from a murdered prime minister, and the only member of the Lords capable of roping, throwing and branding a steer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-the-earl-of-egmont/150821540/ |access-date=7 July 2024 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=3 January 2002 |location=London, Greator London, England |page=25 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref name="vanrassel">{{cite news |last1=van Rassel |first1=Jason |title=Reluctant earl called Alberta home |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/calgary-herald-reluctant-earl-called-alb/150811236/ |access-date=7 July 2024 |work=[[Calgary Herald]] |date=12 December 2001 |location=Calgary, Alberta, Canada |page=A3 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>{{rp|n.pag.|quote=Perceval grew up on a ranch in Priddis with his widower father, Frederick Joseph, Travelyan Perceval,&nbsp;... following the death of Freddie's mother, Cecilia, in 1916.}} His parents had emigratedmigrated to Alberta in 1900, where they bought a ranch in [[Priddis, Alberta|Priddis]], Alberta, and where Perceval was raised. Cecilia died two years after the birth of Perceval in 1916, which led to a closer relationship between hehim and his father.<ref name="flavelle2016">{{cite journal |last1=Flavelle |first1=Ryan |editor1-last=Davies |editor1-first=Adriana A. |editor2-last=Keshen |editor2-first=Jeff |title=Alberta Remittance Men in the Great War |journal=The Frontier of Patriotism: Alberta and the First World War |date=19 September 2016 |pages=115–116111–112 |doi=10.1515/9781552388365-013 |publisher=[[University of Calgary Press]]|isbn=978-1-55238-836-5 }}</ref> In 1929, his father became the 10th [[Earl of Egmont]] after the death of their distant cousin [[Charles Perceval, 9th Earl of Egmont]].<ref name="flavelle2016" /><ref name="vanrassel" /> The now-10th Earl tookand thehis younger Perceval andson moved to England, where they residedlived at the family's seat Avon Castle in [[Ringwood, Hampshire|Ringwood]], Hampshire.<ref>{{cite news |title=Youth Coming Back to Canada Peer of Realm—Eleventh Earl of Egmont Leaves England for Alberta Ranch |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-montreal-star-youth-coming-back-to-c/150807818/ |access-date=7 July 2024 |work=[[Montreal Star]] |date=24 June 1932|location=Montreal, Quebec, Canada |page=1 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref name="vanrassel" /> After the inheritance, two people attempted to challenge the claim to both the title and land: a baker from [[Hornsey]] claiming he was born in Australia to the brother of the [[George Perceval, 6th Earl of Egmont|6th Earl of Egmont]]; and a retired [[optician]] from [[Lancaster, Lancashire|Lancaster]]. Both cases ended up beingwere dismissed in court,; however, the House of Lords did not recognise the Percevals' claim until 1939, several years after the death of the 10th Earl.<ref name="thedailytelegraph" /><ref name="vanrassel" /> The two were used to their lives in CanadaHe and the 10th EarlPerceval would often refusedo servants.chores Himaround andthe Perceval would often do chorescastle themselves; this earned the 10th Earl the nickname "the loneliest peer in England,", with Perceval being nicknamed "the loneliest boy in the world.".<ref name="vanrassel" /><ref name="ohler" />

In May 1932 the 10th Earl died in a car accident in [[Southampton]],<ref name="thedailytelegraph" /> with 18-year-old Perceval inheriting both the title and his roughly million-dollar estate.<ref name="vanrassel" /> As Earl of Egmont, Perceval was entitled to sit in the [[House of Lords]] from 16 May 1932 to 11 November 1999, when the [[House of Lords Act 1999]] was passed, excluding all but [[List of hereditary peers elected under the House of Lords Act 1999|ninety-two]] hereditary peers from the House.<ref>{{cite web |title=Earl of Egmont |url=https://members.parliament.uk/member/2813/career |publisher=[[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] |access-date=9 July 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/503329.stm |title=Snowdon leads Lords converts |work=BBC News |publisher=[[BBC|British Broadcasting Corporation]] |location=London |date=2 November 1999 |access-date=1 July 2024}}</ref> Perceval never ended up takingtook his seat, described as having rather sit on a horse than in the House.<ref name="vanrassel" /><ref name="vanrassel2002">{{cite news |last=van Rassel |first=Jason |title=Noble treasures on auction block |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/calgary-herald-noble-treasures-on-auctio/150867425/ |access-date=7 July 2024 |work=[[Calgary Herald]] |date=21 September 2002 |location=Calgary, Alberta, Canada |page=A1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/calgary-herald-noble-treasures-on-auctio/150867493/ A8] |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>{{rp|A8|quote=... never claiming the seat in the House of Lords that was rightfully his,&nbsp;... .}} Similar Like to his father, Perceval felt displeasureunhappy about residingliving in England and moved back to Canada in June.<ref name="vanrassel" />{{rp|n.pag.|quote=The elder earl's ambivalence for the trappings of his title persisted to his death in a car accident in May 1932,&nbsp;... Upon inheriting the title and an estate worth an estimated $1 million from his father, the 11th Earl of Egmont showed a similar unease with English country life and journeyed back to Canada by steamship the following month.}}<ref name="flavelle2016" />{{rp|112}}

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Two months after arriving, on 31 August 1932, he married his cousin<ref name="thedailytelegraph" />{{rp|n.pag.|quote=A few months later, after participating in the Stampede, Egmont married his cousin, Geraldine Moodie,&nbsp;... .}} Geraldine Moodie, an orthodontic nurse.<ref name="vanrassel" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Youthful Earl Avoids Interviewers; Refuses to Answer Questions |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-phoenix-youthful-earl-avoids-interv/150809224/ |access-date=7 July 2024 |work=[[The StarPhoenix]] |date=2 September 1932 |location=Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada |page=6 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> During their honeymoon, the couple was followed by journalists, and Perceval was described as being "the only member of the [[House of Lords]] who could rope, throw and brand a steer."<ref name="thedailytelegraph" />{{rp|n.pag.|quote=...&nbsp;who remained fascinated by 'the only member of the House of Lords who could rope, throw and brand a steer'.}} Perceval and Moodie had 8eight children: Thomas, Gordon, June Rose, Patrick, Frederick, Donald, Geraldine, and Elizabeth. They were also the [[Foster care|foster parents]] of a girl named, Connie.<ref name="vanrassel" />{{rp|n.pag.|quote=the birth of an heir, Viscount Thomas Frederick Gerald Perceval,&nbsp;... when a second son, Gordon Joseph Perceval,&nbsp;... two children, daughter June Rose and son Patrick,&nbsp;... He is survived by his sons Frederick and Donald, daughters Geraldine and Elizabeth, and foster daughter Connie.}} Moodie died in 1995.<ref name="ohler" />

For a brief momentwhile the newly-wed couple were indecisiveunsure where they wanted to residelive, and often moved between England and southern [[Alberta]].<ref name="ohler" /> They decided to livesettled in Alberta and bought roughly {{convert|680|acres|ha}} of land right ousideoutside Priddis on the intersection of Macleod Trail and Willow Park Drive, building a [[Tudor architecture|Tudor-styled]] home on it.<ref name="vanrassel" /><ref name="vanrassel2002" />{{rp|A8|quote=Fred, his three brothers and four sisters first grew up in a large, Tudor-style home&nbsp;... .}} After the home burned down in 1938, they temporarily moved to England, where Perceval bought a car he travelled the country with and planned to send his son to [[Eton College]]. Eventually, they decided to stay in Priddis where hePerceval built a new 26-room house, and soldselling Avon Castle for $378 thousand,000.<ref name="thedailytelegraph" /><ref name="vanrassel" />

In 1959 their current property, named Egmont Ranch, was threatened by [[urban sprawl]].<ref name="thealbertan">{{cite news |title=Earl of Egmont Buys Two-Dot Ranch |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-calgary-albertan-1959-05-14-two-dot/107816639/ |access-date=7 July 2024 |work=[[Calgary Sun|The Calgary Albertan]] |date=14 May 1959 |location=Calgary, Alberta, Canada |page=5 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> As a result, Perceval sold the ranch to the Kelwood Corporation, reported at a price to be roughly £350 thousand,000 ($980 thousand,000)<ref>{{cite news |title=The Earl of Egmont, 44-year-old British cowboy peer, is selling his huge ranch near Calgary, reports the London Daily Mail |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-vancouver-sun/150849915/ |access-date=7 July 2024 |work=[[Vancouver Sun]] |date=6 January 1959 |location=Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |page=3 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> and he bought the Two-Dot Ranch at [[Nanton, Alberta|Nanton]]—sized at {{convert|5080|acres|ha km2 sqmi|}}—from Claude Gallinger for $284 thousand,000.<ref name="vanrassel" /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Levett |first1=Bruce |title=Few Titled Canadians Attach Importance to Honors |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-phoenix-few-titled-canadians-attach/150808829/ |access-date=7 July 2024 |work=[[The StarPhoenix]] |agency=[[The Canadian Press]] |date=17 April 1961 |location=Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada |page=11 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref name="thealbertan" /> After the approval of the [[House of Lords Act 1999]]—an, act which excluded him from the House—PercevalPerceval reportedly expressed regrets about not taking his seat in the House.<ref name="thedailytelegraph" />

Perceval died at his ranch of heart failure on 8 December 2001.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Oliver |first1=Victor |title=The Record |workjournal=[[Alberta Report]] |volume=29 |issue=2 |date=21 January 2002 |page=55 |issn=1488-8092}}</ref> He was buried at St. Mary's Cemetery in [[Calgary]] in a private ceremony on 10 December.<ref name="vanrassel" /> He was succeeded by his son Thomas as the 12th Earl of Egmont and Two-Dot Ranch was auctioned off.<ref name="thedailytelegraph" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Thousands of buyers drawn to estate sale |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/calgary-herald-thousands-of-buyers-drawn/150855195/ |access-date=7 July 2024 |work=[[Calgary Herald]] |date=23 September 2002 |location=Calgary, Alberta, Canada |page=B3 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

== References ==

{{reflistReflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perceval, Frederick, 11th Earl of Egmont}}▼

▲{{DEFAULTSORT:PercevalEgmont, Frederick Perceval, 11th Earl of Egmont}}

[[Category:1914 births]]

[[Category:2001 birthsdeaths]]

[[Category:20th-century Canadian farmers]]

[[Category:Canadian peers]]

[[Category:Hereditary peers removed under the House of Lords Act 1999]]

[[Category:People from Calgary]]

[[Category:Earls of Egmont|11]]

[[Category:Farmers from Alberta]]