- Sir Alfred Beit, 2nd Baronet
Sir Alfred Lane Beit, 2nd Baronet (1903–1994 [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2352277,00.html Diaries will stay secret 'to protect the Queen'] — "
The Times ",11 September 2006] ) was a British conservative politician, art collector and philanthropist and honorary Irish citizen.Family background
His uncle was
Alfred Beit , aSouth Africa n mining millionaire, after whom he was named when he was born in London on 19 January 1903. His fatherOtto Beit (1865-1930) was awarded theKCMG in 1920 and was created abaronet in February 1924. His mother was Lilian, daughter of Thomas Lane Carter ofNew Orleans , USA. On Sir Otto's death in 1930, Alfred inherited a large fortune as well as numerous works of art, including works by Goya, Vermeer, Rubens and Gainsborough. Having lived at 49 Belgrave Square, he bought a mansion onKensington Palace Gardens (the most exclusive address inLondon ) where these paintings were put on display.Beyond personal wealth, by 1930 the Beit family had philanthropically supported primarily the Imperial College of Science and Technology, the Rhodes Trust and the Beit Memorial Fellowship for Medical Research, besides many smaller donations to other groups.
Political career
Known from 1930 as Sir Alfred Beit, he was elected Conservative MP for St Pancras South East at the 1931 general election and re-elected in the 1935 general election.
When the Second World War started he joined the
Royal Air Force , where he worked in Bomber Command. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/09/01/db0101.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/09/01/ixportal.html Lady Beit] — "Daily Telegraph " obituary,9 September 2005.]Beit lost his seat in the 1945 general election, as well as his
Parliamentary Private Secretary appointment. Disillusioned with British politics and strongly opposed to the new Labour government, he and his wife moved to South Africa. However they were appalled by theapartheid system that developed there after 1948, and soon returned to the UK. [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20050827/ai_n14901108 Obituary: Clementine, Lady Beit] — "The Independent " obituary,27 August 2005.]Family life
In 1938 he married Clementine Mabell Kitty Freeman-Mitford, born on October 22 1915, who was the posthumous daughter of Major Clement Mitford (d.1915), a granddaughter of the 1st Lord Redesdale and a cousin of the celebrated
Mitford sisters . Another first cousin Clementine Hozier had marriedWinston Churchill .Clementine's widowed mother spent long periods in Africa after marrying Captain Courteney Brocklehust, a game warden. Clementine and her sister were frequently sent to stay with their cousins. She was a contemporary of
Unity Mitford at St Margaret's School, Bushey, and also went to Berlin to learn German, where she met Hitler through her cousin. She was occasionally escorted by a handsome young stormtrooper, and was asked by Unity to "waggle a flag" as "the darling Führer" passed in the street. Given the Beits' Jewish origins, this chance encounter with fascism did not last.Despite a happy marriage, the Beits had no children.
Later life
Alfred Beit bought
Russborough House inCounty Wicklow , Ireland in 1952, following a suggestion by Randal, 19th Lord Dunsany, and moved his art collection there. He had copied a mantelpiece from Russborough in his London home in the 1930s, and was aware of the beauty of the house long before they moved there.The Beits continued to visit Africa in the 1950s and, having no children of their own, they paid for schools, libraries and health clinics in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Botswana. However by the late 1970s they were saddened that many of these improvements had not been maintained by the post-colonial governments.
Living quietly in Ireland, their main interests centered on supporting the fine arts and the
Wexford Opera Festival .Art thefts
In 1974, an IRA gang led by English heiress
Rose Dugdale broke into Russborough House, making off with nineteen paintings, including a Goya, a Vermeer and a Gainsborough. The stolen paintings were notionally valued at more than IR£8 million. [http://www.rte.ie/news/2001/0626/paintings2.html Russborough House has history of art thefts] —RTÉ News ,26 June 2001.] In the process, the Beits, though elderly, were pistol-whipped, tied up and pushed down a flight of stone stairs. The IRA intended to hold the paintings to ransom in exchange for the transfer ofDolours Price andMarian Price , IRA members who had been convicted ofcar-bomb ings in England. All the stolen paintings were recovered inCounty Cork a few weeks later. [http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/article/0,13005,901021216-397469,00.html An Artful Dodge] — "Time" magazine article,8 December 2002.]In 1986, the house was robbed again, this time by the Dublin criminal
Martin Cahill (known in the tabloid media as "The General"). Cahill and his gang stole 18 paintings notionally valued at IR£30 million, all but two of which were recovered in police operations in Britain,Belgium andTurkey .In 2001, two more paintings (a Bellotto and a Gainsborough) were stolen in another robbery. Both were recovered in 2002. In 2002, another robbery took five paintings, including two Rubens.
A sad but necessary outcome of the thefts was that the Irish state had to move the unique collection to Dublin, making Russborough less attractive to tourists.
Award for unique donation
Beit was made an honorary Irish citizen in 1993, in recognition of his philanthropy, including a 1987 donation of seventeen masterpieces to the
National Gallery of Ireland . The paintings donated had an estimated value of between IR£50 million and IR£100 million. [ [http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/S/0118/S.0118.198801200006.html Seanad Éireann - Volume 118 - 20 January, 1988, Appropriation Act, 1987: Motion] — SenatorKatharine Bulbulia addressingSeanad Éireann .] The gallery described the donation as "among the greatest single gift to any Gallery in the world in that generation". The "Beit Wing" of the National Gallery onMerrion Square is named in honour of the Beits, who also served on the Board of Directors of the gallery. [http://www.nationalgallery.ie/html/paintings.html National Gallery of Ireland] —National Gallery of Ireland website, retrieved26 November 2006.]When his wife Clementine died in 2005, her will stated that Alfred Beit's diaries should be kept secret until 21 years after Queen Elizabeth II's death or 70 years after Lady Beit's own death, a clause which sparked speculation in the media that her diaries might refer to the private life of the queen. However, it was also typical of such a family to refer in their wills and trusts to a future unknown date that would be well-known, for example the date of death of a public personage. She and Sir Alfred are both buried in
Blessington , County Wicklow.Alfred Beit Foundation
The Beits' cultural work is carried on by the Alfred Beit Foundation, founded in 1976 and based at Russborough. [ [http://kildare.ie/heritage/historic-sites/russborough.asp Russborough House, Blessington ] ] In December 2006 the Foundation sold a collection of Italian medieval bronzes for £2,000,000 at Christies in London to support ongoing repairs at Russborough. [The Beit Collection of early Italian Bronzes (catalogue ref 7288A) October 2006.] =See also=
*Palladian architecture External sources
Official web site for Russborough House, www.russborough.ie [http://www.russborough.ie]
References
Persondata
NAME=Beit, Alfred Lane, Sir
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=20th century British politician, art collector and philanthropist
DATE OF BIRTH=1903
PLACE OF BIRTH=
DATE OF DEATH=1994
PLACE OF DEATH=
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