Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, 1st Baron Hesketh

The Right Honourable
The Lord Hesketh
The Right Honourable The Lord Hesketh
	Hesketh, 1927
High Sheriff of Northamptonshire
	In office; 1932–1932
Preceded by	Percy Lester Reid
Succeeded by	William Thomas Sears
Member of Parliament for Enfield
	In office; 1922–1923
Preceded by	Henry Bowles
Succeeded by	William Henderson
Personal details
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Florence Louise Breckinridge; (after 1909)
Parent(s)	Sir Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, 7th Baronet; Florence Emily Sharon
Education	Eton College
Alma mater	Royal Military College, Sandhurst; Trinity College, Cambridge

Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, 1st Baron Hesketh (17 November 1881 – 20 July 1944), known as Sir Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, Bt, from 1924 to 1935, was a British peer, soldier and Conservative Member of Parliament.

Early life

Hesketh was the son of Sir Thomas George Fermor-Hesketh, 7th Baronet, and Florence Emily Sharon,^[1] daughter of U.S. Senator William Sharon.^[2] Among his siblings was Frederick Fermor-Hesketh, a Lieutenant in the 9th Lancers who went missing in 1910.^[3]

He was educated at Eton, the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and Trinity College, Cambridge.^{[citation needed]}

Career

He achieved the ranks of 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Horse Guards, Captain in the Lancashire Hussars Yeomanry and Honorary Major in the Territorial Army and also served as a Justice of the Peace for Lancashire and for Northamptonshire. Hesketh sat briefly as a Member of Parliament for Enfield from 1922 to 1923 and was later High Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1932.

He succeeded his father as eighth Baronet of Rufford in 1924 and in 1935 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Hesketh, of Hesketh in the County Palatine of Lancaster.^[4]

Personal life

On 9 September 1909 Lord Hesketh married Florence Louise Breckinridge (1881–1956) at the British Embassy Church in Paris.^[5] She was the daughter of John Witherspoon Breckinridge and the former Louise (née Tevis), who married Thomas' uncle, Frederick W. Sharon, after divorcing her father. Her paternal grandfather was General John C. Breckinridge, the former Vice-President of the United States, and her maternal grandfather was Lloyd Tevis, the President of Wells Fargo Bank. They had three sons and two daughters:^[6]

Hon. Thomas Sharon Fermor-Hesketh (1910–1937), a Lieutenant who was killed in an airplane accident in France in 1937.^[2]
Hon. Louise Fermor-Hesketh (1911–1994), who married Sir Edmund Stockdale, 1st Baronet, in 1937.^[2]
Hon. Flora Breckinridge Fermor-Hesketh (1913–1970), who married Rupert Baring, 4th Baron Revelstoke in 1934. They divorced in 1944 and she married Lt.-Cmdr Arnold Derek Arthur Lawson.^[2]
Hon. Frederick Fermor-Hesketh, 2nd Baron Hesketh (1916–1955)^[2]
Hon. John Breckinridge Fermor-Hesketh (1917–1961), who married Patricia Macaskie Cole in 1946.^[6]

Lord Hesketh died in July 1944, aged 62. As his eldest son Thomas was killed in an airplane accident in France in 1937, he was succeeded in his titles by his second son Frederick.^[6] Florence, the Dowager Lady Hesketh died 1956.^[2]

Descendants

His grandson Alexander Fermor-Hesketh, 3rd Baron Hesketh, is a former Conservative government minister.^[7]

Arms

Coat of arms of Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, 1st Baron Hesketh
	Crest 1st A garb Or banded Azure (Hesketh); 2nd Out of a ducal coronet Or a cock’s head Gules combed and wattled Gold. Escutcheon Quarterly 1st & 4th Argent on a bend Sable three garbs Or (Hesketh); 2nd & 3rd Argent a fess Sable between three lions' heads erased Gules (Fermor). Supporters On either side a griffin Or gorged with a collar Gules thereon a fleur-de-lis Gold and charged on the shoulder with a rose also Gules barbed and seeded Proper. Motto Hora E Sempre ^[8]

References

^ "LADY FERMOR-HESKETH; Daughter of Late Senator Sharon of Nevada Dies Suddenly in England". The New York Times. 28 September 1924. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Hesketh, Baron (UK, 1935)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
^ "SEEK LIEUT HESKETH HERE.; Lady Hesketh's Son, Who Married Miss Breckenridge of Kentucky, Gone". The New York Times. 18 December 1910. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
^ Kuhn Jr, Ferdinand (1 January 1935). "KING'S HONORS GIVE HEIR 3 NEW TITLES; Making the Prince of Wales Admiral, General and Air Marshal Stirs Gossip". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
^ TIMES, Special Cable to THE NEW YORK (12 September 1909). "AN EMBASSY WEDDING.; Miss Breckinridge Becomes the Bride of an Englishman In Paris". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c Northamptonshire Libraries (1985). Roland Holloway's Northamptonshire. 27 Guildhall Road, Northampton NN1 1EP: Northamptonshire Libraries. pp. not numbered - however see pictures and text pp 130–133. ISBN 0-905391-10-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
^ Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
^ Burke's Peerage. 1949.

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Lord Hesketh
Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages ^{[self-published source]} ^{[better source needed]}

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Henry Bowles	Member of Parliament for Enfield 1922–1923	Succeeded by William Henderson
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baron Hesketh 1935–1944	Succeeded by Frederick Fermor-Hesketh
Baronetage of Great Britain
Preceded by Thomas George Fermor-Hesketh	Baronet (of Rufford) 1924–1944	Succeeded by Frederick Fermor-Hesketh
Honorary titles
Preceded by Percy Lester Reid	High Sheriff of Northamptonshire 1932	Succeeded by William Thomas Sears

[1924LadyFH-1] "LADY FERMOR-HESKETH; Daughter of Late Senator Sharon of Nevada Dies Suddenly in England". The New York Times. 28 September 1924. Retrieved 1 March 2021.

[BaronHesketh-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Hesketh, Baron (UK, 1935)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 1 March 2021.

[1910Missing-3] "SEEK LIEUT HESKETH HERE.; Lady Hesketh's Son, Who Married Miss Breckenridge of Kentucky, Gone". The New York Times. 18 December 1910. Retrieved 1 March 2021.

[Kuhn1935-4] Kuhn Jr, Ferdinand (1 January 1935). "KING'S HONORS GIVE HEIR 3 NEW TITLES; Making the Prince of Wales Admiral, General and Air Marshal Stirs Gossip". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 March 2021.

[1909Wedding-5] TIMES, Special Cable to THE NEW YORK (12 September 1909). "AN EMBASSY WEDDING.; Miss Breckinridge Becomes the Bride of an Englishman In Paris". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 March 2021.

[Roland_Holloway-6] Northamptonshire Libraries (1985). Roland Holloway's Northamptonshire. 27 Guildhall Road, Northampton NN1 1EP: Northamptonshire Libraries. pp. not numbered - however see pictures and text pp 130–133. ISBN 0-905391-10-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)

[Kidd1990-7] Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.

[8] Burke's Peerage. 1949.

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