View source for Victor Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol

{{Short description|British peer (1915–1985)}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = [[The Most Honourable]]
| name             = The Marquess of Bristol
| office           = Member of the [[House of Lords]]
| status           = Lord Temporal
| term_start       = 5 April 1960
| predecessor      = [[Herbert Hervey, 5th Marquess of Bristol|The 5th Marquess of Bristol]]
| term_end         = 10 March 1985
| successor        = [[John Hervey, 7th Marquess of Bristol|The 7th Marquess of Bristol]]
| image            = Lord Bristol.jpg
| caption          = Lord Bristol and [[Lady Juliet Tadgell|Lady Juliet Wentworth-Fitzwilliam]] on their wedding day, 1960
| birth_name       = Victor Frederick Cochrane Hervey
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1915|10|6|df=y}}
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1985|3|10|1915|10|6|df=y}}
| parents          = [[Herbert Hervey, 5th Marquess of Bristol]]<br>[[Lady Jean Cochrane]]
| spouse           = {{Plainlist|
* {{marriage|Pauline Bolton|1949|1959|end=div}}
* {{marriage|[[Lady Juliet Tadgell|Lady Juliet Wentworth-Fitzwilliam]]|1960|1972|end=div}}
* {{marriage|[[Yvonne Hervey, Marchioness of Bristol|Yvonne Marie Sutton]]|1974}}
}}
| children         = {{Plainlist|
* [[John Hervey, 7th Marquess of Bristol]]
* [[Lord Nicholas Hervey]]
* Lady Anne Hervey
* [[Lady Victoria Hervey]]
* [[Frederick Hervey, 8th Marquess of Bristol]]
* [[Lady Isabella Hervey]]
}}
}}
'''Victor Frederick Cochrane Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol''' (6 October 1915 – 10 March 1985), was a British [[Aristocracy (class)|aristocrat]], [[hereditary peer]] and businessman. He was a member of the [[House of Lords]], Chancellor of the [[International Monarchist League]], and an active businessman who later became a [[tax exile]] in Monaco.<ref name=peer>Haden-Guest, Anthony. [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,,1691342,00.html "The end of the peer"], ''The Observer'', 22 January 2006. Accessed 17 May 2008.</ref>
Victor Hervey was the only son of [[Herbert Hervey, 5th Marquess of Bristol]]. He acquired a notorious reputation as a playboy and petty criminal in the 1930s, which culminated in him being imprisoned for jewellery theft in 1939. He inherited the Marquessate on his father's death in 1960, and acquired a large fortune through this and his business dealings. He was married three times and is the father of [[John Hervey, 7th Marquess of Bristol]], [[Frederick Hervey, 8th Marquess of Bristol]], [[Lord Nicholas Hervey]], [[Lady Victoria Hervey]], and [[Lady Isabella Hervey]]. He spent his final years in Monaco to avoid income tax with his third wife and three youngest children.
==Early life==
Victor Hervey was born on 6 October 1915, the only son of [[Herbert Hervey, 5th Marquess of Bristol|Lord Herbert Hervey]], later 5th [[Marquess of Bristol]], and [[Lady Jean Cochrane]], a daughter of [[Douglas Cochrane, 12th Earl of Dundonald]],<ref name=times_obit>{{cite news |first=Michael |last=Wynne-Parker |title=The Marquess of Bristol |newspaper=The Times |location=London |date=19 March 1985 |page=16 |access-date=25 September 2016 |url=http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=kccl&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=CS271814771&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0}}</ref> and [[Winifred, Countess of Dundonald]]. His [[godparent|godmother]] was Queen [[Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg|Victoria Eugenie of Spain]].
He was educated at [[Eton College|Eton]] and the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]], but was asked to leave the latter, because of bad temperament.<ref name=hd/>
Until 1951, he had no title, as his father was a younger son and inherited the family titles and estates from his older brother in that year.<ref name=burkes/>
== Crime and imprisonment ==
Victor Hervey became involved in theft and small crime as a young adult;{{fact|date=July 2022}} he has been called the Pink Panther of his day and the ringleader of a gang of former [[public school (United Kingdom)|public school]] boys known as the Mayfair Playboys,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/how-playboy-thieves-lured-cartier-11498251 |title=How playboys almost got away with vicious diamond ring robbery |last=McLaren |first=Angus |date=2017-11-10 |work=mirror |access-date=2017-11-11}}</ref> who, whilst drunk, and as a dare, assaulted and robbed a jeweller from [[Cartier (jeweler)|Cartier]], as a result of which two of them (but not Hervey) were sentenced to being flogged with the [[cat o' nine tails]].<ref>Day, Peter. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080513113748/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article2511962.ece "It girls' father was Pink Panther thief"], ''The Sunday Times'', 23 September 2007. Accessed 17 May 2008.</ref><ref>Bale, Joanna.[https://web.archive.org/web/20110514000559/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article569655.ece "Junkie marquess died penniless after spending millions on drugs"], ''The Times Online'', 23 September 2005. Accessed 17 May 2008.</ref> Hervey seems not to have actually taken a direct part in that robbery himself.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/suffolk-aristocrat-s-criminal-career-1-86200 |title=Suffolk aristocrat's 'criminal career' |work=East Anglian Daily Times |access-date=2017-11-11 |language=en}}</ref> It has been said that he is remembered mainly for having taken part in a jewel robbery which he did not in fact commit, though he ''was'' convicted of a similar offence, in the same decade and in the same part of London (Mayfair).<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/6872144/Splendour-and-Squalor-by-Marcus-Scriven-review.html |title=Splendour & Squalor by Marcus Scriven: review |last=Silvester |first=Christopher |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=2009-12-23 |access-date=2017-11-11 |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}}</ref>
In July 1939, Hervey was arrested and charged with stealing jewellery, rings and a mink fur coat with a total value of £2,500 from a premises in Queen Street, [[Mayfair]], and £2,860 of jewellery from a property on [[Park Lane]]. He was refused bail,<ref>{{cite news |title=Jewel Theft Charges |newspaper=The Times |location=London |date=2 May 1939 |page=11 |access-date=25 September 2016 |url=http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=kccl&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=CS185414818&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0}}</ref> and imprisoned for three years.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2006/jan/22/features.magazine37 |title=The end of the peer |author=Anthony Haden-Guest |work=The Observer |date=22 January 2006 |access-date=9 June 2016}}</ref> The [[Recorder (judge)|recorder]] of the court observed: "The way of the amateur criminal is hard. But the way of the professional is disastrous".<ref name=peer/> He later sold an article about his life and exploits to a newspaper.<ref>{{cite book |title=Splendour and Squalor |author=Marcus Scriven |year=2009}}</ref> His father, who had led a respectable life, as had been the case for all the men of the Hervey family since the Victorian era, broke down in tears on hearing the sentence.<ref name=hd>{{cite news |title=Heirs and Disgraces |newspaper=The Times |date=19 February 1994 |pages=10–12 [S2] |access-date=16 September 2016 |url=http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=kccl&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=&docId=IF502018332&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
==Business dealings==
Prior to receiving his trust income, Victor Hervey declared bankruptcy in 1937 with debts of £123,955, (approximately £{{Formatprice|{{Inflation|UK|123955|1937|r=-3}}|0}} today).{{Inflation/fn|UK|df=y}} He had been selling guns during the [[Spanish Civil War]] to both sides, hoping to receive £30,000 as a bribe which failed and led to the debts.<ref name=hd/> He nevertheless continued in his [[arms industry|arms-dealing]] activities and was [[Francisco Franco|Franco]]'s principal agent for many years. Bristol went on to amass a fortune, both inherited and earned, estimated to be in excess of £50 million.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}}
In 1941, Victor Hervey claimed to have been listed in a secret document written by [[Heinrich Himmler]] as an enemy of the [[Third Reich]], but there is no evidence that such a document ever existed.<ref name=hd/>
From 1951, he held the [[courtesy title]] of Earl Jermyn, by which name he was known until inheriting the Marquessate in 1960, when he became also Earl of Bristol and Baron Hervey of [[Ickworth House|Ickworth]] in Suffolk, Hereditary High Steward of the Liberty of [[Bury St Edmunds]], and patron of thirty [[Church of England]] [[benefice]]s, with landed estates in Suffolk, [[Essex]], [[Lincolnshire]], and [[Dominica]] in the [[West Indies]].
In 1973, he was recorded as having a great many business interests, with estates in Suffolk, Lincolnshire and Essex. He was then Chairman of Sleaford Investments Limited, Eastern Caravan Parks Ltd., Estates Associates Ltd., Ickworth Forestry Contractors Ltd., Cyprus Enterprises Co., V.L.C. Associates Ltd., Marquis of Bristol & Co., The Bristol Publishing Company, Radio Maria Ickworth Automatic Sales Ltd., Bristol International Airways Ltd., Dominca Enterprises Co., World Liberty Plots and other companies. He owned the Ickworth Stud, [[Suffolk]], and the Emerald Hillside Estates in [[Dominica]].<ref name="Kelly p.300">''Kelly's Handbook 1973'', London, 99th edition, p. 300.</ref>
He was sometime President of the National Yacht Harbour Association, a member of the [[House of Lords Yacht Club]], the [[Hurlingham Club]], and the East Hill Club, Nassau, Bahamas.<ref name="Kelly p.300"/>
==Family==
On 6 October 1949, Mr Victor Hervey, as the future Bristol then was, married Pauline Mary Bolton, daughter of Herbert Coxon Bolton; they were divorced in 1959. They had one son, [[John Hervey, 7th Marquess of Bristol]] (15 September 1954 – 10 January 1999), who married Francesca Fisher in 1984 (and divorced in 1987).<ref name=burkes/>
Lord Bristol was alleged to have been a harsh father to his eldest son, according to friends of the latter. "He treated his son and heir with indifference and contempt", said journalist [[Anthony Haden-Guest]]. The [[James Spencer-Churchill, 12th Duke of Marlborough|Marquess of Blandford]] summed up the relationship: "Victor created the monster that John became."<ref name=peer/>
On 23 April 1960, eighteen days after his father's death, he married secondly [[Lady Juliet Tadgell|Lady Juliet Wentworth-Fitzwilliam]], daughter of [[Peter Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 8th Earl Fitzwilliam]], and twenty years his junior.<ref name=burkes/> The Fitzwilliam family were not happy about the marriage, owing to Victor's reputation.<ref name=hd/> The couple were divorced in 1972, having had one son, [[Lord Nicholas Hervey]] (26 November 1961 – 26 January 1998),<ref name=burkes>{{cite web |url=http://www.burkespeerage.com/distinguishedFamilies_Bristol.php |title=Featured Families - Bristol |publisher=[[Burke's Peerage]] |access-date=22 September 2016}}</ref> and one daughter, Lady Anne Hervey (stillborn, 26 February 1965). Both marriages failed because of Victor's infidelity; Lady Juliet subsequently saying "If you want to screw hookers when you are married, you make damn sure you are not caught".<ref name=hd/>
His third wife was [[Yvonne Hervey, Marchioness of Bristol|Yvonne Marie Sutton]], whom he married on 12 July 1974 at [[Caxton Hall]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Marriages |newspaper=The Times |date=13 July 1974 |page=14 |access-date=16 September 2016 |url=http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=kccl&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=CS235764461&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0}}</ref> They had a son, [[Frederick Hervey, 8th Marquess of Bristol]] (born 1979), and two daughters: [[Lady Victoria Hervey]] (born 1976) and [[Lady Isabella Hervey]] (born 1982), who married Christophe de Pauw.<ref name=burkes/> Victor’s eldest son, John, by then Earl Jermyn, did not like Yvonne, and was upset about the third marriage, and with his brother Lord Nicholas unsuccessfully sued his father, after his will named Yvonne and her children as his main beneficiaries.<ref name=peer/>
==Monaco and other interests==
In early 1979, Bristol, with his third wife and young children, moved to [[Monte Carlo]], as [[tax exile]]s. He reportedly lowered the [[Union Flag]] at his home in [[Belgravia]] before leaving, vowing never to set foot on English soil again.<ref>{{cite news |title=Monte Carlo or Bust |newspaper=The Times |location=London |date=5 March 1983 |access-date=17 September 2016 |url=http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=kccl&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=CS386239589&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0}}</ref> Although living in Monte Carlo in an apartment, he continued to employ a butler and a nanny.<ref>Michael Wynne-Parker, ''If My Table Could Talk: Insights into Remarkable Lives'' (Authorhouse, 2011), p. 45.</ref>
Bristol was vice-president of the [[UK Taxpayers Union]], was a member of the [[West India Committee]], and was considered an expert on Central American affairs.<ref name="Kelly p.300"/> He was also Vice-President of the English-Speaking Union (East Region), and a generous donor to the Ambulance Corps in Northern Ireland.<ref>''The Monarchist'', edited by Jeffrey Finestone, London, no. 66, 1985 edition, p. 6.</ref>
He was a member, until his death, of the [[International Monarchist League]], joining its Grand Council in 1964,<ref name="Kelly p.300"/> from which time he also became a patron. In 1975 he was elected as the League's Chancellor.<ref>''The Monarchist'', edited by Guy Stair Sainty, London, nos. 46–47, Winter-Spring 1975–76 edition, p. 5.</ref><ref>''The Sunday Times'', 23 September 2007.</ref> He was also a long-standing member of the [[Conservative Monday Club]].
The Marquess was a patron of the arts and a collector, an acknowledged authority on the painters [[Lawrence Alma-Tadema]] and [[James Tissot]], and "a lover of art and beauty in all its forms".<ref>''The Monarchist'', edited by Jeffrey Finestone, London, no. 66, 1985 edition, pp. 5–6.</ref> He had acquired a substantial amount of 19th-century artwork at the time of his death.<ref name=times_obit/>
==Death==
[[File:Formentor Monaco.jpg|thumb|150px|Formentor, Monaco]]
The 6th Marquess of Bristol died in [[Monaco]] on 10 March 1985, aged 69, and was buried in [[Menton]], France. On his grave was inscribed his motto "Je n'oublieray jamais" ("I shall never forget"). At the time of his death, he was living at 1E [[Le Formentor|Formentor]], [[Avenue Princesse Grace]], [[Monte Carlo]].<ref name=probate>[https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar?surname=Cochrane&yearOfDeath=1985&page=2#calendar ”COCHRANE most honourable marquis Victor Frederick”] in ''Probate Index for England and Wales 1985'', online at probatesearch.service.gov.uk, accessed 7 April 2020.</ref>
On 30 August, [[probate]] was granted in London for Bristol’s estate in England and Wales, valued at only £7,508. His name was stated as “Most Honourable Marquis Victor Frederick COCHRANE”.<ref name=probate/>
In October 2010, Bristol's last surviving son, the 8th Marquess of Bristol, repatriated his father’s remains,<ref>{{cite news |title=Marquess of Bristol's body to be dug up after 25 years |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/7996668/Marquess-of-Bristols-body-to-be-dug-up-after-25-years.html |newspaper=Daily Telegraph |date=12 September 2010}}</ref> which were reburied in the family vault at the [[parish church]] of [[Ickworth]], after a memorial service in St Leonard's Church, [[Horringer]], Suffolk.<ref>Jo Thewliss, [https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/hervey-family-gather-in-suffolk-for-marquess-funeral-1993082 Hervey family gather in Suffolk for marquess’ funeral], ''East Anglian Daily Times'', 8 October 2010.</ref>
==See also==
* [[Marquess of Bristol]] for the history of the Hervey family
==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
==Sources==
*''[[Burke's Peerage|Burkes Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage]]''. Edited by Peter Townend, 105th edition. London, 1970, p.&nbsp;345.
*''The Monarchist'', 1985, number 66, Norwich, UK (Memorial on p.&nbsp;3).
*De-la-Noy, Michael. ''The House of Hervey''. London, 2001. {{ISBN|1-84119-309-7}}
*{{cite news |title=The police file on Victor Hervey |url=http://extras.timesonline.co.uk/hervey.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724102151/http://extras.timesonline.co.uk/hervey.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 July 2008 |location=London |work=The Times}}
*[http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-real-pink-panther-lord-victor-hervey The Real Pink Panther: Lord Victor Hervey] – a TV documentary aired on Channel 4 on 2 March 2009.
==External links==
*{{Hansard-contribs | mr-victor-hervey | Victor Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol }}
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{{s-reg|gb}}
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{{s-end}}
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[[Category:1915 births]]
[[Category:1985 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century English criminals]]
[[Category:English expatriates in Monaco]]
[[Category:English prisoners and detainees]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]
[[Category:Hervey family|Victor]]
[[Category:Marquesses of Bristol|106]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:20th-century English nobility]]
[[Category:British monarchists]]