British philanthropist, political activist, fascist sympathizer, and suffragette (1857?1936)
Lucy Houston
|
---|
|
Born
| Fanny Lucy Radmall
(
1857-04-08
)
8 April 1857
|
---|
Died
| 29 December 1936
(1936-12-29)
(aged 79)
|
---|
Other names
| Poppy Radmall
|
---|
Known for
| Aviation pioneer, newspaper publisher
|
---|
Spouses
| -
Theodore Francis Brinckman
(
m.
;
div.
)
-
-
|
---|
Dame Fanny Lucy Houston, Lady Houston
,
DBE
(
nee
Radmall
; 8 April 1857 ? 29 December 1936) was a British
philanthropist
,
fascist
sympathizer, political activist and
suffragist
.
[1]
Beginning in 1933, she published the
Saturday Review
,
[1]
which was best known for its attacks on what the paper labelled the "unpatriotic"
National Governments
of
Ramsay MacDonald
and
Stanley Baldwin
. She has been acknowledged as an
aviation pioneer
and "the saviour of the
Spitfire
" because of her support for its predecessor, the Supermarine seaplane.
[2]
Early life
[
edit
]
Fanny Lucy Radmall was the fourth daughter of Thomas Radmall, a woollen warehouseman and draper, and Maria Isabella Clark.
[3]
She was born at 13 Lower
Kennington
Green,
Lambeth
, the ninth child of ten children.
[4]
This
Surrey
suburb was across the Thames from the city, but now forms part of
Inner London
. As a young woman, she was a professional dancer, a
chorus girl
known as "Poppy".
[3]
At the age of sixteen, she took up with a wealthy man twice her age, Frederick "Freddy" Gretton, whose family were co-owners of the
Bass Brewery
. She was his mistress for ten years. Gretton was a keen supporter of the
Turf
and owner of celebrated racehorses (such as
Isonomy
, winning the
Stayers' Triple Crown
). Gretton died in 1882 and left her a legacy of £6,000 per year, an enormous sum (equivalent to £656,000 in 2019), much to the disgust of his family.
Marriages to Brinckman and Byron
[
edit
]
Now set up in life, she wanted a stage career. However, only three weeks in to her first stage role in a production by the
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
, she
eloped
with Theodore Francis Brinckman, son of
Sir Theodore Brinckman, 2nd Baronet
.
[5]
On 3 September 1883 they married but the relationship did not flourish and the couple
divorced
on 14 January 1895 after a long separation. After a dramatic proposal on her part, she remarried on 1 March 1901, to the retiring and previously confirmed
bachelor
,
George Byron, 9th Baron Byron
. During their marriage, as Lady Byron, she was an active
suffragette
who used her wealth to support the cause and stood
bail
for
Emmeline Pankhurst
.
During the
First World War
she strongly supported the war effort, for example by sending matches to soldiers serving overseas, the boxes labelled 'A Match for Our Matchless Troops from Lady Byron', and her 'Give Him Socks' campaign.
[5]
Byron died on 30 March 1917. Later that year Lucy was appointed
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
(DBE) for her creation of the Bluebirds' Nest, a rest home on
Hampstead Heath
for nurses serving on the
Western Front
.
[6]
[7]
Marriage to Sir Robert Houston
[
edit
]
Her third and final marriage was to
Sir Robert Houston, 1st Baronet
, Member of Parliament for
West Toxteth
, and a shipping
magnate
. Houston is described in the
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
as "a hard, ruthless, unpleasant bachelor."
[3]
Nevertheless, Lucy Byron chased him for seven years, seeing off his old friend
F.E. Smith
, who opposed the marriage.
[5]
Lucy got her way and finally they married on 12 December 1924.
Houston established residence at Beaufield House,
Saint Saviour, Jersey
for the purposes of tax avoidance, and the couple divided their time between England, Jersey, and Houston's luxurious yacht,
SY
Liberty
. When Sir Robert showed her his will, Lady Houston reportedly tore it up, telling him that £1,000,000 (equivalent to £56 million in 2019) was insufficient. By the time of their marriage Sir Robert was an invalid who suffered from bouts of depression and believed that he was being poisoned. He died aboard
Liberty
on 14 April 1926, leaving his widow roughly £5.5 million (equivalent to £310 million in 2019).
[2]
Lady Houston was now England's second richest woman. Although not liable to pay death duties on Houston's estate she negotiated personally with
Winston Churchill
, then
Chancellor of the Exchequer
, to pay £1.6 million (equivalent to £90 million in 2019) without admitting liability.
[3]
Schneider Trophy
[
edit
]
Lady Houston gave generously to British aviation. In 1931, she donated £100,000 (equivalent to £6 million in 2019) to
Supermarine
, allowing them to win the
Schneider Trophy
in that year.
[3]
The
Royal Air Force
's entry for the 1931 race for the trophy was hindered by political opposition. On 15 January 1931, the
Air Ministry
refused a last-minute request by the
Royal Aero Club
for funds for an entry. With the
economic crisis
the Cabinet vetoed RAF involvement and Government funding in a sporting event.
Marshal of the Royal Air Force
, Sir
Hugh Trenchard
held the view that there was no advantage as aircraft development would continue whether or not the UK competed.
[8]
The Ministry forbade the use of the aircraft that competed in the 1929 race; forbade RAF pilots of the
High Speed Flight
who were trained to fly these seaplanes, to take part; and said that it would not police the race course in 1931 in the busy shipping lanes in the
Solent
. The Royal Aero Club sent a statement to the Cabinet on 22 January 1931, offering to raise £100,000, if the Government would rescind the Air Ministry's decrees on planes, pilots and policing.
Many newspapers backing the opposition
Conservative Party
wanted to put pressure on
Ramsay MacDonald
's
National government
. One newspaper sent a telegram to MacDonald stating that, "To prevent the socialist government from being spoilsports, Lady Houston will be responsible for all extra expenses beyond what Sir
Philip Sassoon
[9]
(President of the Royal Aero Club) says can be found, so that Great Britain can take part in the race for the Schneider trophy." The gift gave Lady Houston an opportunity to attack the Labour government, with the declaration "Every true Briton would rather sell his last shirt than admit that England could not afford to defend herself."
[3]
Later life
[
edit
]
In 1932, she offered to give £200,000 (equivalent to £12 million in 2019) to strengthen the
British Armed Forces
. The
National Government
refused. She hung a huge electric sign, "DOWN WITH MACDONALD THE TRAITOR", in the rigging of
Liberty
and sailed round Great Britain.
[10]
In a telegram to MacDonald, she wrote:
I alone have dared to point out the dire need for air defence of London. You have muzzled others who have deplored this shameful neglect. You have treated my patriotic gesture with a contempt such as no other government would have been guilty of toward a patriot.
She funded disruptive campaigns against the National Government at nine by-elections in 1933.
[3]
In 1933, she financed the
Houston?Mount Everest flight expedition
, in which aircraft flew over the summit of
Mount Everest
for the first time. This was to show opposition to granting
independence to India
. In October 1934 Lady Houston sent a cable to the winners of the
MacRobertson Air Race
,
Tom Campbell Black
and
C. W. A. Scott
; "Your achievement has thrilled me through, oh brave men of my heart... If this does not make the Government sit up, nothing will ... Sleep well and feel proud of yourselves, as we all are ...
Rule Britannia
. God bless you both."
[11]
Following her purchase of the
Saturday Review
in 1933 at the age of 76, she threw herself in a frenzy of activity as a newspaper proprietor determined to alert Britain to the weakness of its political leaders and the dangers of
Communist
infiltration of Britain. Frustrated by what she saw as the weakness of Ramsay MacDonald and then Stanley Baldwin as Prime Ministers she tried to push
Lloyd George
, Winston Churchill, and ultimately from 1935 the new king, her friend
Edward VIII
, into the role of virtual dictator of the country.
In that she believed that
Benito Mussolini
and
Adolf Hitler
were strong leaders who pulled their countries, Italy and Germany, round from a state of decay, she wanted a strong British leader to emulate them. She admired the stance of both Hitler and Mussolini against Soviet Russia, believing that its political ambitions presented the greatest threat to the power of Britain and its Empire.
[5]
She also considered funding
Oswald Mosley
and his
British Union of Fascists
with the £200,000 rejected by the Government; however, Mosley's publication,
The Blackshirt
, printed what she thought were insulting references to her and so she kept the money.
[5]
Death
[
edit
]
By the time of the
abdication of Edward VIII
in early December 1936, she was a semi-invalid who spent most of her time in bed, from where she edited and ran the
Saturday Review
. However, she was so distraught by the abdication, which she believed was the result of sinister forces coming from
Moscow
,
[5]
that she stopped eating and died of a
heart attack
on 29 December 1936, aged 79, at her home, Byron Cottage,
Highgate
.
[12]
[13]
She had no children and left no will.
[1]
In popular culture
[
edit
]
Lady Houston is depicted in the 1942 film
The First of the Few
, directed by
Leslie Howard
, showing her support for the development of British aircraft and her anti-government views. She is portrayed by actress
Toni Edgar-Bruce
.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
"Astonishing Exploits of England's "Lady Bountiful"
"
.
Milwaukee Sentinel
. 7 February 1937.
- ^
a
b
Almond, Peter (15 September 2010).
"Saviour of the Spitfire"
.
The Daily Telegraph
. Archived from
the original
on 7 May 2019
. Retrieved
14 November
2020
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Davenport-Hines, Richard
(2004). "Houston, Dame Fanny Lucy (1857?1936), adventuress".
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
doi
:
10.1093/ref:odnb/34015
.
(Subscription or
UK public library membership
required.)
- ^
"Index entry"
.
FreeBMD
. ONS
. Retrieved
14 November
2020
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Crompton, Teresa (2020).
Adventuress, The Life and Loves of Lucy, Lady Houston
. The History Press.
- ^
"No. 30250"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 24 August 1917. pp. 8794?8795.
- ^
Bedford Fenwick, Mrs
, ed. (19 June 1915).
"The Bluebirds' Nest"
(PDF)
.
The British Journal of Nursing
.
54
(1420): 529
. Retrieved
14 November
2020
.
- ^
"Schneider Trophy: Build-up to the 1931 Race. "
, archived from
the original
on 25 October 2008
- ^
Conservative MP and former
Under-Secretary of State for Air
who became Under-Secretary again in 1931 in the
National Government created that year
- ^
"People, Jan. 10, 1938"
.
Time
. 10 January 1938
. Retrieved
3 April
2011
.
- ^
Transcript from
The Daily Mirror
newspaper, Wednesday, 24 October 1934, p. 3. "Brave Men Of My Heart" telegram by Lady Houston to Mr CWA Scott.
- ^
"Index entry"
.
FreeBMD
. ONS
. Retrieved
14 November
2020
.
- ^
"No. 34387"
.
The London Gazette
. 9 April 1937. p. 2340.
- J. Wentworth Day
,
Lady Houston, DBE: The Woman Who Won the War
(Allan Wingate, 1958)
External links
[
edit
]