Raymond Asquith

Raymond Asquith (November 6, 1878 – September 15, 1916) was an English barrister and eldest son and heir of British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith by his first wife Helen Kelsall Melland (who died 1891).

Career and honours

Asquith was educated at Winchester College and won a scholarship to Balliol in 1896, bringing with him a reputation for brilliance. He won Ireland, Derby, and Craven scholarships, and was distinguished by first-class honours. Elected a fellow of All Souls in 1902, he was called to the bar in 1904. [http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/item/3110/ Asquith and the Conspiracy to Sink Titanic: ET Research (2004) by Senan Molony - 9 July 2004 ] ] The tall, handsome Asquith was a member of the "the Coterie," a group of Edwardian socialites and intellectuals.

Asquith was junior counsel in the North Atlantic Fisheries Arbitration and the investigation of the sinking of the "Titanic", and was considered a putative Liberal candidate for Derby. However, his rise was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. He was initially commissioned, on 17 December 1914, as a second lieutenant in the 16th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment. [LondonGazette | issue=29027 | startpage=132 | date=1915-01-01] He was transferred to the 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards, on 14 August 1915 [LondonGazette | issue=29262 | startpage=8024 | date=1915-08-13] and assigned as a staff officer. However, he requested to be returned to active duty with his battalion, a request granted before the Battle of the Somme. While leading the first half of 4 Company in an attack near Ginchy on 15 September 1916, at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, he was shot in the chest and died while being carried back to British lines. He was buried in Guillemont Road Cemetery.

Asquith's death exemplified the bloody collapse of the Edwardian era in World War I. The writer John Buchan devoted several pages of his autobiography, "Memory Hold-the-Door", to remembering Raymond Asquith and their friendship in some detail.

Family

Raymond Asquith was married on 25 July 1907 to the former [http://www.thepeerage.com/p1149.htm#i11482 Katharine Frances Horner] (1885-1976), [ [http://www.janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0014%2FDUFC%2012 Janus: The Papers of Alfred Duff Cooper (1st Viscount Norwich)] ] younger daughter [See [http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101049524/ Oxford DNB: Frances Horner] and [http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/item/3110/ Encyclopedia Titanica] . Her elder sister [http://jssgallery.org/Paintings/Cicely_Horner.html Cicely Horner] (1883-1972), wife since 1908 of the Hon. George Lambton (1860-1945), fifth son of the 2nd Earl of Durham was painted by John Singer Sargent.] of Sir John Francis Fortescue Horner, of Mells, Somerset, descended from 'Little Jack Horner' of nursery song fame. [ [http://www.andrewcusack.com/blog/2006/02/a_journey_to_me.php] and [http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2790264170062280673VedPmC Graves of Sir John and Lady Horner] with reference again to the nursery rhyme.] Her mother Lady Horner (d. 1940) was the former [http://victorianweb.org/painting/bj/drawings/31.html Frances Jane Graham] , elder daughter of William Graham, MP, a wealthy merchant, passionate art collector, and [http://www.theglasgowstory.com/image.php?inum=TGSA00012 Liberal MP for Glasgow 1865-1874] . She was a notable hostess and patron of the arts, especially the Pre-Raphaelites and John Singer Sargent. The Horners had four children - Cicely (b. 1883), Katharine (b. 1885), Mark (who died in his teens), and Edward (b. 1888).

Asquith and his wife had three children:
*Lady Helen Frances Asquith (1908-2000), who died unmarried
*Lady Perdita Rose Mary Asquith (1910-1996) who married the 4th Baron Hylton (d 1967)
*Julian Edward George Asquith, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Asquith (b. 1916), nicknamed Trim, [ [http://www.thepeerage.com/p1107.htm The Peerage: Edward Julian George Asquith, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Asquith] ,] who was born a few months before his father's death in action. The young baby was reputedly named "Trim" for the Roman gourmand Trimalchio, after his father saw his newborn son breastfeeding.Fact|date=April 2007.

Raymond Asquith died nearly a decade before his father was raised to the House of Lords in 1925 as Earl of Oxford and Asquith. Katharine inherited Mells when her younger but only surviving brother Edward Horner (1888-1917) also died in the war.cite web |title=Apollo Magazine, 7 August 2007,|url=http://www.apollo-magazine.com/email/april-2006/75996/dulce-et-decorum.thtml|accessdate=2008-02-05] He was buried in France, but his memorial at Mells was designed by his mother's friend Edwin Lutyens, who was a patron of Monsignor Ronald Knox. She converted to Roman Catholicism as a widow, and became a friend of Siegfried Sassoon who also converted to Catholicism following her example. [ [http://www.warpoets.org/events/mellsreport.htm "Mells Report"] She also remained in touch with Evelyn Waugh, another convert. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2003/05/27/bodeedes27.xml&page=3 "Without Waugh, there would be no adventure - Telegraph"] ] All her three children were raised Roman Catholic.

References

ources

* Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. K. D. Reynolds, ‘Horner , Frances Jane, Lady Horner (1854/5–1940)’, first published September 2004, 580 words, with portrait illustration. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101049524/ Oxford DNB: Frances Horner (citation only)] , [http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/49524 full article] available via subscription only.

External links

* [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp71990 Photographs of Raymond Asquith and his wife at the NPG] taken by Lady Ottoline Morrell.
* [http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/item/3110/ A fuller profile of Raymond Asquith] including text of his Times obituary.
* [http://www.andrewcusack.com/blog/2006/02/a_journey_to_me.php Mells, Somerset]