John Egerton, 4th Earl of Ellesmere


Lieutenant-Colonel John Francis Granville Scrope Egerton, 4th Earl of Ellesmere, MVO, KJStJ was a British peer and soldier from the Egerton family, known as Viscount Brackley before 1914.

Early life and background

Lord Brackley was the eldest son of the 3rd Earl of Ellesmere and his wife, Lady Katherine Phipps.

Military career

Lord Brackley was appointed a captain in the 3rd battalion of the Royal Scots on 10 March 1894. The battalion was embodied in December 1899, and in early March 1900 left Queenstown on the SS Oriental for South Africa to serve in the Boer War. Lord Brackley and most of the battalion left Cape Town for the United Kingdom in early May 1902, shortly before the end of the war. After his return, he was appointed Aide-de-camp to Sir William Knox, Commander of Royal Artillery for 3rd Army Corps. He later served with the 3rd Battalion, Royal Scots, stationed at Edinburgh, during World War I, when he was mentioned in despatches.

Family

On 28 October 1905, he married Lady Violet Lambton and they had seven children:
Lord Brackley inherited his father's titles in 1914. He sold his father's seat, St George's Hill House and its 964-acre estate, to master builder W. G. Tarrant, who went on to create Surrey's landmark St George's Hill estate. The new Earl then bought Hatchford End on the family's former estate at Hatchford Park for his unmarried sisters. He and Lady Violet moved to Burwood House in Surrey, now Notre Dame School.
On his own death in 1944, he was succeeded by his only son, John.

Cricket

A cricketer, he captained his own side to the West Indies in the winter of 1904–05.