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Claude Champion de Crespigny

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Captain
Claude Champion de Crespigny
DSO
Portrait of Capt Champion de Crespigny by Isobella M. Sutton
Born
Claude Champion de Crespigny

(1873-09-11)11 September 1873
Died18 May 1910(1910-05-18) (aged 36)
King's Cliffe, Northamptonshire
EducationEton College
Parent(s)Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny, 4th Baronet
Louisa Margaret McKerrall
RelativesSir Claude Champion de Crespigny, 3rd Baronet (grandfather)

Captain Claude Champion de Crespigny, DSO (11 September 1873 – 18 May 1910) was a British soldier and polo player.

Early life

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He was the eldest, and heir apparent, of nine children born to the former Louisa Margaret McKerrall,[1] and Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny, 4th Baronet (1847–1935), who went bankrupt in 1881.[2]

His paternal grandparents were Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny, 3rd Baronet, the first-class cricketer and British Army officer, and the former Mary Tyrell (a daughter of Sir John Tyrell, 2nd Baronet).[3] His paternal grandparents were Robert McKerrall, Emily Pauline Staveley.[4]

Claude was educated at Eton.[5]

Career

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Captain Claude Champion de Crespigny on 'Fillipeen'.

He joined the British Army when he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 2nd Life Guards on 3 July 1895, and was promoted to lieutenant on 5 August 1896.[6]

He served in the Second Boer War in South Africa from 1899 to 1900, and was twice wounded in action and twice recommended for the Victoria Cross for acts of immense bravery.[7][8] Though he never received this decoration, he was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his services in South Africa in November 1900.[9]

Following the war, he received the substantive rank of Captain in his regiment on 12 January 1902,[10][11] then served in West Africa in 1903.[5]

He later became the Aide-de-Camp to the Viceroy and Governor-General of India George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston.[5]

Sporting

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Claude was a member of a very sporting family and was a successful polo player, he was selected for the Hurlingham Club team that traveled to compete in America in 1910.[12] He won the Roehampton Cup in 1907 and 1908.[13] It was said that he "can hunt like a hound, swim like a fish, run like a hare, and box like Jeffries."[14]

Personal life

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The grave of Claude Champion de Crespigny in the churchyard of St Andrew's, Hatfield Peverel, Essex

In 1904, Crespigny served as best man at the wedding of Herbert Spender-Clay (who attended Eton at the same time as Crespigny)[15] to heiress Pauline Astor, the eldest daughter of William Waldorf Astor (later 1st Viscount Astor).[16]

On 18 May 1910, he died by suicide age 37. He was found dead early in the morning by the roadside at King's Cliffe in Northamptonshire, with a gunshot wound to the head and a revolver with him.[17] Claude had arrived at King's Cliffe from London the night before and upon his arrival, had "set out to walk in the direction of Apethorpe Hall, the residence of Leonard Brassey and Lady Violet Brassey, where he had been an occasional visitor."[14] The physician and coroner concluded that a temporary madness may have been caused by recent case of severe influenza and concussions from repeated heavy falls whilst playing polo.[17][18] His younger brother, Claude Raul,[19] became the fifth Baronet upon their father's death in 1935.[20][a]

References

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Notes

  1. ^ His youngest brother, Claude Philip Champion de Crespigny (1880–1939),[21] was accused in 1929 of having used "undue influence" over the will and codicils of Princess Clara E. von Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg (née Clara Elizabeth Prentice), the adopted daughter of American financier Collis P. Huntington.[22][23]

Sources

  1. ^ "LADY DE CRESPIGNY". The New York Times. 18 February 1935. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  2. ^ Beasley, John D. (15 May 2010). Origin of Placenames in Peckham and Nunhead. Amberley Publishing Limited. p. 564. ISBN 978-1-4456-2984-1. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  3. ^ Walford, Edward (1893). The County Families of the United Kingdom Or Royal Manual of the Titled and Untitled Aristocracy of Great Britain and Ireland. p. 184. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  4. ^ Walford, Edward (1893). The Windsor Peerage for 1890-1894. pp. 110–111. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Who's who: An Annual Biographical Dictionary. A. & C. Black. 1907. p. 316. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  6. ^ Hart′s Army list, 1900
  7. ^ "Faces and Facts January 1900 and March 1900". Coghlan.co.uk. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  8. ^ "The San Francisco call. (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, May 19, 1910, Page 2, Image 2 « Chronicling America « Library of Congress". Chroniclingamerica.loc.gov. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  9. ^ "No. 27359". The London Gazette. 27 September 1901. p. 6304.
  10. ^ "No. 27403". The London Gazette. 4 February 1902. p. 716.
  11. ^ "No. 27419". The London Gazette. 15 March 1902. p. 2071.
  12. ^ "HURLINGHAM POLO TEAM. - British Team Sails for United States April 10" (PDF). The New York Times. 3 March 1910. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  13. ^ Laffaye, Horace A. (6 March 2015). The Polo Encyclopedia, 2d ed. McFarland. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-4766-1956-9. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  14. ^ a b "De Crespigny a Suicide. - British Officer Who Recently Played Polo in America Self-Slain" (PDF). The New York Times. 19 May 1910. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  15. ^ College, Eton (1908). The Eton Register. Spottiswood, Privately Printed. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  16. ^ "MISS PAULINE ASTOR WEDS.; William Waldorf Astor's Daughter the Bride of Capt. Spender Clay". The New York Times. 30 October 1904. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  17. ^ a b "The Death of Captain Claude Champion de Crespigny". The Times. The Times Digital Archive. 20 May 1910. p. 10.
  18. ^ "De Crespigny Died to Save a Woman; Suicide Had Been Named as Co-respondent in a Divorce Suit" (PDF). The New York Times. 20 May 1910. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  19. ^ "Sir Claude de Crespigny; Retired War Hero Was Son of Noted-British Sportsman". The New York Times. 17 May 1941. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  20. ^ "DE Crespigny dead; BRITISH SPORTSMAN; Sir Claude in His 88 Years Had Many Narrow Escapes From Death Throughout World. SWAM CATARACT OF NILE Killed Fierce Beasts--Broke Legs in Ballooning at 77--Dived 30 Feet in Icy Water at 84". The New York Times. 27 June 1935. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  21. ^ "Claude Philip Champion de Crespigny (1880–1939)". artuk.org. Art UK. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  22. ^ "LAYS UNDUE INFLUENCE TO 4 IN WILL CONTEST; Grandnephew of the Princess von Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg Names Chief Beneficiaries". The New York Times. 15 October 1929. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  23. ^ "$5,000,000 CONTEST OVER WILL SETTLED; Testament of Princess Clara E. von Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg to Be Probated Here. AGREEMENT TERMS SECRET Ward of C.P. Huntington Cut Off Relatives and Left All to Friends and Employes". The New York Times. 25 October 1929. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
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