Thomas Agar-Robartes

Thomas Agar-Robartes MP, circa 1906

Thomas Charles Reginald Agar-Robartes (known as Tommy) (22 May 1880 – 30 September 1915) was a British Liberal politician.

Tommy Agar-Robartes was the eldest son and heir of Thomas Agar-Robartes, 6th Viscount Clifden, and his wife Mary (née Dickenson) and was brought up at Lanhydrock House, Bodmin. Educated at Oxford and a keen horseman, he played in the Oxford University polo team that beat Cambridge in 1903.[1]

Memorial in Truro Cathedral
Agar-Robartes (right) memorialised in stained glass at Selsey Abbey

He was elected a Member of Parliament for Bodmin in the 1906 general election, but lost his seat in June 1906 following a controversial election petition by the defeated candidate alleging illegal payments to potential voters. He was elected to the St Austell Division of Cornwall in a by-election in 1908 and held the seat until his death.

He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Royal 1st Devon Imperial Yeomanry on 4 June 1902.[2] At the outbreak of World War I he joined the Royal Bucks Hussars as an officer. Tommy then joined the Coldstream Guards and was subsequently posted to France & Flanders. Captain The Honourable Thomas Charles Reginald Agar-Robartes, in command of No. 2 Coy, 1st Bn, the Coldstream Guards, was wounded in the Battle of Loos on 28 September and killed by a sniper on 30 September 1915 after rescuing a wounded comrade under heavy fire for which he was recommended for the Victoria Cross.

He is buried in Lapugnoy Military Cemetery, near Béthune.[3] He is commemorated by a memorial in Truro Cathedral[4] and in stained glass at at Selsey Abbey, Wimpole[5] and Church Norton.[6]

Unveiling in November 1922 of a memorial seat at St Austell, Cornwall, commemorating Agar-Robartes. This photograph shows Sir Clifford Cory MP speaking before the unveiling

Agar-Robartes is commemorated on Panel 8 of the Parliamentary War Memorial in Westminster Hall, one of 22 MPs that died during World War I to be named on that memorial.[7][8] Agar-Robartes is one of 19 MPs who fell in the war who are commemorated by heraldic shields in the Commons Chamber.[9] A further act of commemoration came with the unveiling in 1932 of a manuscript-style illuminated book of remembrance for the House of Commons, which included a short biographical account of the life and death of Agar-Robartes.[10][11] His younger brother Francis later succeeded their father in the viscountcy.

Notes

  1. "The Polo Monthly" (PDF). 19 January 1911: 334. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  2. The London Gazette: no. 27439. p. 3611. 3 June 1902.
  3. "Casualty Details: Agar-Robartes, The Hon. Thomas Charles R.". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  4. http://ww1cemeteries.com/british_cemeteries_memorials/agar_robartes_mem_truro.htm
  5. Wimpole Parish Church at www.wimpole.info
  6. West Sussex County Council: Heritage at victorians.westsussex.gov.uk
  7. "Recording Angel memorial Panel 8". Recording Angel memorial, Westminster Hall. UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk). Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  8. "List of names on the Recording Angel memorial, Westminster Hall" (pdf). Recording Angel memorial, Westminster Hall. UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk). Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  9. "Agar-Robartes". Heraldic shields to MPs, First World War. UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk). Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  10. "House of Commons War Memorial: Final Volumes Unveiled by The Speaker". The Times (46050). London. 6 February 1932. p. 7.
  11. Moss-Blundell, Edward Whitaker, ed. (1931). The House of Commons Book of Remembrance 1914–1918. E. Mathews & Marrot.

References

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Sir Lewis Molesworth
Member of Parliament for Bodmin
19061906
Succeeded by
Freeman Freeman-Thomas
Preceded by
William Alexander McArthur
Member of Parliament for St Austell
19081915
Succeeded by
Sir Francis Layland-Barratt
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