Sir Wroth Periam Christopher Lethbridge
5th Baronet Lethbridge
What’s in a name?
Captain Sir Wroth Periam Christopher Lethbridge, 5th Baronet is quite a name… this is how it came about …
Captain – Wroth was made a Captain of the Grenadier Guards on 1st January1898.
Sir – when he inherited the Baronet title, he was known as ‘Sir’.
Wroth – named after his father
Periam – the surname of his 5 x great-grandfather, John Periam.
Christopher – the Christian name of his 5 x great-grandfather, Christopher Lethbridge.
Lethbridge – family surname.
5th Baronet – the title he inherited from his father in 1902.
Wroth Lethbridge M71Y-9D1 was born in Sussex to Ann Williams Benyon and Sir Wroth Acland Lethbridge on 19th December 1863. He was baptised on 28th January 1864 at St. Andrew’s, Hove, Sussex. As a child he was a student at Eton College and was devoted to sport. He joined the Militia in 1883 and in 1885 he was in the 1st Battalion of The Leicestershire Regiment at Aldershot and then transferred to the 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards. He was a Lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards and between 1892- 1897 he was a signalling officer in the Home District and finally became a Captain on 1st January 1898.
On 22nd October 1892 he married Alianore Chandos-Pole, who was the daughter of Lady Anna Caroline Stanhope and Edward Sacheverell Chandos-Pole of Radbourne Hall, Derbyshire. Edward held the office of High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1867.
Wroth and Alianore had three children; Torfida Alianore born in Kensington, London
in 1896 and twins Hector Wroth and Dulcibel Margaret who were born in Mayfair, London in 1898. The family were living at Hinton Firs in Bournemouth when the 1901
census was taken along with 5 servants.
In 1902, Wroth’s father, Sir Wroth Acland Lethbridge passed away. This meant that the baronetcy passed to his son, therefore Wroth became the 5th Baronet of the Lethbridge family on 26th November 1902.
Just over ten years after their wedding, the marriage between Sir Wroth and Alianore was in decline. He had left her and spent his time at his London gentleman’s club, Arthur’s on James Street, at his home 17 Hyde Park Street or abroad at the Grand Continental Hotel in Milan and the Atlantic Hotel in Hamburg. Alianore petitioned the courts for his return to the family home in June 1910 and he was ordered to go back. However, he did not comply with this order and so Alianore divorced Sir Wroth on the grounds of adultery and desertion in December 1910, the final decree being ordered on 4th December 1911. Only five days later, on 9th December 1911, Sir
Wroth married the twice divorced Kathleen O’Hara.
Kathleen was recently divorced from her second husband Richard Cecil Leigh who was the son of Henrietta Dorothy Hawkes and Henry Blundell Leigh. Henry was the cousin of Reverend Thomas Blundell Hollinshead Blundell, Rector of Halsall.
Kathleen and Richard divorced in March 1911. Richard Leigh had commenced divorce proceedings against his wife Kathleen around the same time as Alianore Lethbridge had done so against Sir Wroth. In the divorce proceedings Richard Leigh cited Sir Wroth Lethbridge as committing adultery with his wife Kathleen at the Atlantic Hotel in Hamburg, Germany on numerous occasions – even specifying the room numbers! Both Sir Wroth and Kathleen denied these allegations at the time but the fact that they were married (Kathleen for the third time) as soon as they were both divorced from their respective partners, perhaps tells another story………
In 1914, Sir Wroth gained the rank of Deputy Assistant Censor in the British Expeditionary Force and in 1917 he was with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force and then the Military Mission to the USA in 1918. During WW1, Sir Wroth placed Sandhill
Park, his seat near Taunton (which was built in 1720 by Thomas Lethbridge) at the disposal of the War Office and it was converted into a camp for German prisoners of war. He later sold the mansion and 150 acres of parkland in December 1920 for
£16,000 (approximately £600,103 in today’s money). The property was converted to a children’s home by Somerset County Council.
In addition to his military career, Sir Wroth held the office of Justice of the Peace for Somerset and in 1926 he was a Special Constable during the General Strike.
In the late 1920s, his second marriage broke down and Kathleen, his second wife, petitioned for divorce on the grounds of adultery by her husband. A decree nisi was granted followed by the decree absolute in 1928. On 29th September of the same year Sir Wroth married Hilda Blundell Hollinshead Blundell of La Mancha Hall. Their marriage was reported as ‘a secret county wedding’ by the Liverpool Echo newspaper at the time. Although it was also said that the residents of Halsall were not too surprised as Sir Wroth had been a frequent visitor to La Mancha Hall over the previous twelve months. Off on his travels again, he took the third Lady Lethbridge to Paris for their honeymoon and on their return, he moved into La Mancha Hall,
Shirdley Hill.
Sir Wroth took an active interest in the life of Halsall and the surrounding districts. He was president of the Halsall, Scarisbrick and Downholland Ex-servicemen’s Association. He also had an interest in bowling and donated the ‘Sir Wroth Lethbridge Cup’ to the Ormskirk and District Bowling League. In addition he was the president of the Lancashire Beekeeper’s Association. He also enjoyed literature and read in French as well as English.
Hilda and Wroth remained married until his death on 20th February 1950 at La Mancha Hall. He was 86 years old. At his funeral which was held at St. Cuthbert’s Halsall, the path to the church was lined with ex-servicemen and his coffin was borne by Messrs. J.M. Oswald, W. Oswald, J. Johnson, R. Houghton, T. Sutton and H. Grimshaw – all local men (mostly employees) who obviously respected Sir Wroth.
The probate records tell us that Sir Wroth left his effects to his wife Hilda, Lady
Lethbridge. He was reported to have also left annuities to two of his wife’s servants at La Mancha Hall.
In his obituary, Sir Wroth was described as a person of ‘distinguished appearance’ and ‘great personal charm’. He certainly lived a full life!
And finally … a claim to fame…
Sir Wroth Periam Christopher Lethbridge’s great, great grandfather, Sir John Lethbridge, 1st Baronet, was the grandfather of Lord Byron’s daughter Allegra.
Sir John had had an affair with Mary Jane Godwin which resulted in the birth of Claire Clairemont (step-sister of Mary Shelley) who had a child with Lord Byron – Allegra.
Read more about the Lethbridge baronets by clicking on the links below
The Peerage – Sir John Lethbridge 1st Baronet
