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Clive Wigram, 1st Baron Wigram

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The Right Honourable
The Lord Wigram
GCB, GCVO, CSI, PC
Private Secretary to the Sovereign
In office
1931–1936
MonarchGeorge V
Preceded byThe Lord Stamfordham
Succeeded bySir Alexander Hardinge
Personal details
Born(1873-07-05)5 July 1873
Died3 September 1960(1960-09-03) (aged 87)
NationalityBritish
SpouseNora Wigram (née Chamberlain)
Children3
Alma materRoyal Military Academy, Woolwich
Military service
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Branch/serviceBritish Army
British Indian Army
RankColonel
Battles/warsTirah Expedition
Second Boer War

Clive Wigram, 1st Baron Wigram, GCB, GCVO, CSI, PC, FZS (5 July 1873 – 3 September 1960) was a British Indian Army officer and courtier. He was Private Secretary to the Sovereign from 1931 to 1936.

Parentage and education

Wigram was the son of Herbert Wigram. His grandfather the Reverend William Pitt Wigram was the ninth and youngest son of Sir Robert Wigram, 1st Baronet, who was a prominent merchant. Clive was educated at Winchester College, of which he later became a Fellow, and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.

Military career

After passing out from the Royal Military Academy in 1893, Wigram was commissioned a second lieutenant on 4 October.[1] Wigram served in the Royal Artillery between 1893 and 1897 and in the British Indian Army from 1897. He was promoted to lieutenant on 22 September 1897 (with rank from 4 October 1896).[2] Wigram joined the 18th (King George's Own) Bengal Lancers, and served on the Tirah Expedition in the North West Frontier from 1897 to 1898. From 1899 to 1904 he was Aide-de-Camp to the Viceroy of India Lord Curzon, an office he had already filled in 1895 (under the Earl of Elgin). He resigned (temporary) in January 1900 to serve with Kitchener's Horse in the Second Boer War,[3] for which he was mentioned in despatches. He was promoted to captain on 4 October 1902.[4]

Court positions

Between 1905 and 1906 Wigram served as Assistant Chief of Staff to the Prince of Wales in India. On 19 March 1906, he was promoted to the brevet rank of major[5] and was appointed Equerry to the Prince of Wales, an office he held until the Prince became King in 1910. Promoted to the substantive rank of major on 4 October 1911,[6] while in India he played first-class cricket for the Europeans club. Wigram then served as Assistant Private Secretary and Equerry to the King from 1910 to 1931. He was promoted to the brevet rank of lieutenant colonel on 3 June 1915.[7] In 1915 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and later to brevet colonel. In 1919 he was promoted to colonel.

In 1931 Wigram was promoted to Private Secretary to the Sovereign and held office until he retired in 1936. He also served as Keeper of the Archives from 1931 to 1945,[8] as an Extra Equerry from 1931 until his death, as a Permanent Lord in Waiting from 1936 to 1960 and Deputy Constable of Windsor Castle from 1936 to 1945. Apart from his careers in the Army and at court he was also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and of the Zoological Society of London, President of Westminster Hospital and Governor of Wellington College and Haileybury. He was the first president of the Gloucestershire Boy Scouts[9]

Wigram was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath 1918,[10] a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1931[11] and a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in 1933.[12] He also became a Member of the Royal Victorian Order in 1903,[13] a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1915,[14] a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order 1928[15] and a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in 1932 and made a Companion of the Order of the Star of India in 1911.[16] He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1932 and in 1935 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Wigram, of Clewer in the County of Berkshire.[17] He was further honoured in 1937 when he received the Royal Victorian Chain.[18]

Family

Lord Wigram married Nora Mary, the daughter of Sir Neville Francis Fitzgerald Chamberlain, in 1912. She died in 1956. He survived her by four years until he died in 1960 aged 87. The couple had three children:

References

  1. ^ London Gazette, 3 October 1893
  2. ^ London Gazette, 15 February 1898
  3. ^ "No. 27173". The London Gazette. 13 March 1900. p. 1714.
  4. ^ London Gazette, 16 January 1903
  5. ^ London Gazette, 20 March 1906
  6. ^ London Gazette, 21 November 1911
  7. ^ London Gazette, 3 June 1915
  8. ^ "No. 37019". The London Gazette. 6 April 1945. p. 1851.
  9. ^ www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
  10. ^ "No. 30723". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 June 1918. p. 6528.
  11. ^ "No. 33722". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 June 1931. p. 3626.
  12. ^ "No. 33946". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 June 1933. p. 3802.
  13. ^ "No. 27539". The London Gazette. 31 March 1903. p. 2140.
  14. ^ "No. 29024". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1915. p. 3.
  15. ^ "No. 33343". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 January 1928. p. 6.
  16. ^ "No. 28559". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 December 1911. p. 9358.
  17. ^ "No. 34175". The London Gazette. 28 June 1935. p. 4160.
  18. ^ "No. 34396". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 May 1937. p. 3083.
  19. ^ https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2604217/wigram,-the-hon.-francis-clive/
  20. ^ "WIGRAM, FRANCIS CLIVE". winchestercollegeatwar.com.
Court offices
Preceded by Private Secretary to the Sovereign
1931–1936 		Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Wigram
1935–1960 		Succeeded by
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