Frederick Perceval, 11th Earl of Egmont: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia
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[[File:Avon Castle DSC 0017.jpg|thumb|left|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, ... following the death of Freddie's mother, Cecilia, in 1916.}} His parents had emigrated to Alberta in 1900, where they bought a ranch in [[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=111–112 |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 took the younger Perceval and moved to England, where they resided at the family's seat Avon Castle in [[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 being 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 Canada and the 10th Earl would often refuse servants. He and Perceval would often do chores 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 taking 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, ... .}} Similarly to his father, Perceval felt displeasure about residing 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, ... 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}}