Social Victorians/People/Guest

Also Known As

• Family name: Guest
• Baron Wimborne of Canford Magna
  • Ivor Bertie Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne of Canford Magna (30 April 1880 – )
• Lady Wimborne of Canford Magna
  • Lady Cornelia Henrietta Maria Spencer-Churchill (30 April 1880 – )

Overview

When Ivor Churchill Guest was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the Chief Secretary Augustine Birrell “thought him naive and the type who ‘if not backed up in one direction, will go a-whoring in the other’ (Ó Broin, The chief secretary, 135).” H.H. Asquith’s 2nd son, Hon. Herbert Asquith, married Cynthia Charteris Asquith:

Lady Cynthia Asquith, on a visit to Dublin, noted in her diary that the lord lieutenant was ‘a fairly frank bounder . . . [with] a terrible way of flapping his furry eyelids at one', and an inveterate womaniser who ‘really ought to restrain himself with the natives’ (Asquith, 127–8).

Like a true colonizer, by "the natives" Lady Asquith is referring here to the Irish people.

Acquaintances, Friends and Enemies

Friends

• It was rumored in the newspapers in the 1860s that Lady Violet Greville and Ivor Bertie Guest were to be married, but they married others.

Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Bertie Guest Schreiber

• Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Bertie considered marrying Benjamin Disraeli.
• Augusta Hall, Baroness Llanover

Organizations

Ivor Churchill Guest

• Eton
• Trinity College, Cambridge (no degree)
• Captain and “honorary major,” Dorset Imperial Yeomanry, Boer War
• Conservative Party (until 1906)

Timeline

1868 May 25, Ivor Bertie Guest and Lady Cornelia Spencer-Churchill married.

1880 April 30, Ivor Bertie and Lady Cornelia Guest became 1st Viscount and Lady Wimborne.

1897 July 2, Friday, Montague Guest, the Hon. Ivor Guest, and probably his brother the Hon. F. Guest, Ivor Bertie Guest's sons, attended the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball at Devonshire House. (Montague Guest is #115 on the list of people who attended; Ivor Guest is #295; Frederick Guest is #345.)

1905 June 28, Freddie (Frederick Edward) Guest and Amy Phipps married.

1915 to 1918 (except May–August 1916), Ivor Churchill Guest was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

Montague John Guest in costume as Montague Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey, K.G. ©National Portrait Gallery, London.

Coat of arms of Sir Montagu Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey, showing the K.G. garter

Costume at the Duchess of Devonshire's 2 July 1897 Fancy-dress Ball

Montague Guest

At the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball, Montague Guest was dressed

• as "(Montague Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey), leather jerkin, black steel cuirass, leather baldric, red cloth breeches, and buff boots."
• "As Montague Bertie, second Earl of Lindsey, copied from an old picture by Vandyck, in [leather?] jerkin, black steel cuirass, leather baldric embroidered gold, red cloth breeches elaborately embroidered, and buff boots."

Henry Van der Weyde's portrait of "Montague John Guest as Montague Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey, K.G." in costume is photogravure #52 in the album presented to the Duchess of Devonshire and now in the National Portrait Gallery. The printing on the portrait says, "Mr. Montague Guest as Montague Bertie, second Earl of Lindsey, K.G."

Montague Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey (1608 – 25 July 1666) supported Charles I during the English Civil War, surrendered and was imprisoned in Warwick Castle, returning to Charles I after he was freed. After the Restoration, he was rewarded for his loyalty and officiated at the coronation of Charles II; he was made Knight of the Garter on 1 April 1661. Montague John Guest is presumably wearing the insignia in this portrait, since they went to the trouble to identify him as "K.G." He has something around his neck that might be the badge on a ribbon. The coat of arms of Montagu Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey show the insignia of the Garter (right, below the portrait).

Hon. Ivor Guest

Hon. Ivor Guest, was dressed as

• Marco (Re di Cipri) in the Venetians procession
• a "Venetian nobleman"
• a "Venetian noble"

The Hon. Ivor Guest is likely to be Ivor Churchill Guest rather than Ivor Bertie Guest.

Frederick Guest

Freddie (Frederick Edward) Guest, the Hon. F. Guest, was dressed as

• one of the Mousquetaires et Militaires de l'Epoque in the Quadrille of the Louis XV. and Louis XVI.

Demographics

• Nationality
  • Sir Josiah John Guest, 1st Bt., Welch
  • Freddie Guest, British
  • Amy or Anne Phipps, American

Family

• Sir Josiah John Guest, 1st Bt. (2 February 1785 – 26 November 1852)
• Maria Elizabeth Ranken ( – January 1818)
• Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Bertie (19 March 1812 – 15 January 1895)
  1. Constance Rhiannon Guest ( – 22 March 1916)
  2. Blanche Vere Guest ( – 11 October 1919)
  3. Katharine Gwladys Guest ( – 5 December 1926)
  4. Mary Enid Evelyn Guest (1 July 1834 – 1 November 1912)
  5. Charlotte Maria Guest (3 July 1834 – 5 June 1902)
  6. Ivor Bertie Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne of Canford Magna (29 August 1835 – 22 February 1914)
  7. Thomas Merthyr Guest (18 January 1838 – 5 November 1904)
  8. Montague John Guest (29 March 1839 – 9 November 1909)
  9. Augustus Frederick Guest (12 August 1840 – 23 May 1862)
  10. Arthur Edward Guest (7 November 1841 – 17 July 1898)
• Charles Schreiber (10 May 1826 – 31 March 1884) [married Lady Charlotte Guest]

• Ivor Bertie Guest (29 August 1835 – 22 February 1914)
• Lady Cornelia Henrietta Maria Spencer-Churchill (17 September 1847 – 22 January 1927)

1. Hon. Rosamond Cornelia Gwladys Guest ( – 2 December 1947)
2. Hon. Corisande Evelyn Vere Guest ( – 1 September 1943)
3. Hon. Elaine Augusta Guest Villiers ()
4. Hon. Frances Charlotte Guest (22 March 1869 – 24 September 1957)
5. Ivor Churchill Guest, 1st Viscount Wimborne (16 January 1873 – 14 June 1939)
6. Hon. Christian Henry Charles Guest (15 February 1874 – 9 October 1957)
7. Hon. Freddie (Frederick Edward) Guest (14 June 1875 – 28 April 1937)
8. Lionel George William Guest (16 November 1880 – 27 September 1935)
9. Major Hon. Oscar Montague Guest (24 August 1888 – 8 May 1958)

• Freddie (Frederick Edward) Guest (14 June 1875 – 28 April 1937)
• Amy or Anne Phipps (1873 – 7 October 1959)
  1. Winston Frederick Churchill Guest (20 May 1906 – 1982)
  2. Raymond Richard Guest (25 November 1907 – 1991)
  3. Diana Guest (1 November 1909 – 1996)

Relations

• Cornelia Henrietta Maria Spencer-Churchill was the oldest daughter of John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough.
• Through Cornelia Henrietta Maria Spencer-Churchill, the family was also related to the Innes-Kers, the family of the Duke of Roxburghe.

Questions and Notes

1. Because the newspapers call him the Hon. Ivor Guest, unless the newspapers erred in the honorific, the man who attended the ball was Ivor Churchill Guest, the son of Ivor Bertie Guest, who was also father of the Hon. Freddie Guest, Ivor Churchill Guest’s brother. It is less likely that Ivor Guest is Ivor Bertie Guest, whose brother Montagu Guest also attended. Ivor Bertie Guest was Baron Wimborne in 1880, so would he have been called by the honorific The Right Honourable. His son would have been addressed as Honorable.
2. It was rumored in the newspapers that Lady Violet Greville and Ivor Bertie Guest were to be married, but they married others.
3. Sir Josiah John Guest, 1st Bt. owned Dowlais Ironworks, which made his fortune.