View source for Eric Alexander, 5th Earl of Caledon

{{Short description|British Army officer, and Irish peer (1885–1968)}}
[[File:Earl of Caledon (1) (6984689963).jpg|thumb|The 5th Earl of Caledon in 1932]]
'''Eric James Desmond Alexander, 5th Earl of Caledon''' (9 August 1885 &ndash; 10 July 1968) was a soldier and the eldest son of [[James Alexander, 4th Earl of Caledon]] and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Graham-Toler.
== Early life ==
He was born at his family's home in [[Carlton House Terrace]], [[London]], and succeeded to the title of [[Earl of Caledon]] upon the death of his father in 1898.<ref>{{Cite news |date=11 May 1898 |title=Distinguished People Dead |pages=6 |work=The Uttoxeter New Era, and General Advertiser |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/831519824/?terms=%22Earl%20of%20Caledon%22&match=1 |access-date=22 September 2022 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=29 April 1898 |title=Death of the Earl of Caledon |pages=1 |work=The Birmingham Daily Post |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/815387659/?terms=%22Earl%20of%20Caledon%22&match=1 |access-date=26 September 2022 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> He went to [[Eton College]] from 1899 to 1903,<ref>{{Cite news |date=4 June 1903 |title=The Young Earl of Caledon |pages=2 |work=[[The Nottingham Evening Post]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/806307196/?terms=%22Earl%20of%20Caledon%22&match=1 |access-date=26 September 2022 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> and then to [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]. He was one of the pages at the coronation of Edward VII in 1910.<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 August 1911 |title=Club and Society Gossip: Earl of Caledon |pages=5 |work=The Birmingham Daily Mail |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/784914261/?terms=%22Earl%20of%20Caledon%22&match=1 |access-date=26 September 2022 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>
== Military service ==
Lord Caledon fought and was wounded in the [[First World War]], served in the [[Baltic region|Baltic]] from 1919 to 1921, and gained the rank of Major in the service of the [[Life Guards (British Army)|Life Guards]].
== Personal life ==
Giving an interesting insight into the period, [[Mark Bence-Jones]] writes: "Her [Lady Caledon, his mother] eldest son Eric, now the Earl of Caledon, was unmarried. He had a lady-love, a marchioness with a husband and children; his mother would not have her at Caledon, so when she came to visit him she stayed at Glaslough, being given the best guest bedroom, the Mauve Room. Unfortunately for the Leslies she injured her leg motoring while she was here and was laid up in the Mauve Room for weeks, with the lovesick Eric walking over for every meal."<ref>''Life In An Irish Country House'', Mark Bence-Jones (Constable, London 1996).</ref>
== Legal issues ==
The Earl of Caledon was multiple times fined for reckless driving, sometimes in connection with his chauffeur,<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 June 1906 |title=An Earl and His Motor |pages=9 |work=The Western Daily Press |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/813089826/?terms=%22Earl%20of%20Caledon%22&match=1 |access-date=26 September 2022 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=12 July 1907 |title=The Earl of Caledon and His Motor |pages=5 |work=The Western Daily Press |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/813113282/?terms=%22Earl%20of%20Caledon%22&match=1 |access-date=26 September 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=12 July 1907 |title=Over Forty Miles an Hour. The Earl of Caledon Fined 30 for Dangerous Driving |pages=5 |work=The Nottingham Evening Post |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/806310648/?terms=%22Earl%20of%20Caledon%22&match=1 |access-date=26 September 2022 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=18 July 1907 |title=Earl of Caledon Again Fined |pages=7 |work=The Nottingham Evening Post |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/806297010/?terms=%22Earl%20of%20Caledon%22&match=1 |access-date=26 September 2022}}</ref> and in December 1909 he was fined for aiding and abetting his chauffeur in driving an unregistered motor-car in Hampton-place, Piccadilly which had been involved in a collision with a bus in Hamilton-place.<ref>{{Cite news |date=21 December 1909 |title=Peer's Motoring Record: Earl of Caledon Before a Magistrate |pages=20 |work=Evening Standard and St. James's Gazette |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/765744805/?terms=%22Earl%20of%20Caledon%22&match=1 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=22 December 1909 |title=Earl of Caledon Fined |pages=13 |work=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/820477832/?terms=%22Earl%20of%20Caledon%22&match=1 |access-date=26 September 2022 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> He was also involved in a legal dispute with his mother, the Dowager Countess, over the ownership of an early copy of Holbein's ''[[Portrait of Thomas Cromwell]]'' which had apparently been sold to an American for £30,000 in 1914.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Ownership of a Holbein |pages=6 |work=The Tewkesbury Register |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/811793317/?terms=%22Earl%20of%20Caledon%22&match=1 |access-date=26 September 2022 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>
== Death and legacy ==
Lord Caledon died unmarried in Belfast on 10 July 1968, aged 82.{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}} The funeral took place on 16 July in the family vault in Caledon churchyard. The Archbishop of Armagh, James McCann, took part in the service with other clerics of the Church of Ireland.<ref>{{Cite news |date=17 July 1968 |title=Funeral: Earl of Caledon |pages=15 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/833392939/?terms=%22Earl%20of%20Caledon%22&match=1 |access-date=26 September 2022 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>
A prominent Irish landowner, Lord Caledon died with about 30,000 acres.<ref>{{Cite news |date=11 July 1968 |title=Obituary: Earl of Caledon |pages=18 |work=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/833392527/?terms=%22Earl%20of%20Caledon%22&match=1 |access-date=26 September 2022 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> The family estate was subsequently broken down to 3,000 acres and narrowly avoided complete break-up when inherited by the late Earl's nephew, Denis James Alexander, 6th Earl of Caledon.<ref>{{Cite news |date=21 September 1968 |title=Ulster Estate Escaped Break-Up |pages=14 |work=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/833393713/?terms=%22Earl%20of%20Caledon%22&match=1 |access-date=26 September 2022 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
===Book===
*{{cite book |last=Hesilrige |first=Arthur G. M. |date=1921| title=Debrett's Peerage and Titles of courtesy| url=https://archive.org/details/debrettspeeraget00unse/page/163 | location=160A, Fleet street, London, UK |publisher=London: Dean & son, limited|page=163}}
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{{succession box | before=[[James Alexander, 4th Earl of Caledon|James Alexander]] | title=[[Earl of Caledon]] | after=[[Denis Alexander, 6th Earl of Caledon|Denis Alexander]] | years=1898&ndash;1968}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Caledon, Eric Alexander, 5th Earl of}}
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:1885 births]]
[[Category:1968 deaths]]
[[Category:British Life Guards officers]]
[[Category:Alexander family (British aristocracy)|Eric]]
[[Category:Earls of Caledon|5]]