| Anthony Vivian | |
| Office1: | Member of the House of Lords |
| Term1: | 28 December 1940 - 24 June 1991 |
| Birth Date: | 4 March 1906 |
| Father: | George Vivian |
| Relatives: | Vivian family Daphne Fielding (sister) |
| Children: | 3, including Nicholas |
Anthony Crespigny Claude Vivian, 5th Baron Vivian (4 March 1906 – 24 June 1991) was a British impresario-restaurateur[1] from the Vivian family who came to public notice in 1954 when he was shot in the abdomen by Mavis Wheeler (née Mabel Winifred Mary Wright, 1908–1970), the former wife of Horace de Vere Cole and of Sir Mortimer Wheeler, and a former mistress of Augustus John.[2]
Anthony Crespigny Claude Vivian, 5th Baron Vivian was born on 4 March 1906. He was the son of George Crespigny Brabazon Vivian, 4th Baron Vivian and Barbara Fanning.[3]
In 1952, he was the producer with John Clements of The Happy Marriage at the Duke of York's Theatre, London.[4]
He was a member of the House of Lords from 28 December 1940 until his death on 24 June 1991. He made 90 speeches there; his first recorded speech was on 13 March 1967 and his last on 4 April 1984.[5]
Vivian commanded tabloid headlines in 1954, when his lover, Mavis Wheeler, the former wife of both Sir Mortimer Wheeler and Horace de Vere Cole, and the mistress of Augustus John, was jailed for six months for shooting him in the abdomen.[1]
At Wheeler's trial, the prosecuting counsel said that her love for Lord Vivian was overpowering and that she was jealous of any attention he showed to other women. This love, the prosecution claimed, had led her to shoot him, on 30 July 1954, at a range of three inches, with intent to murder him at her country cottage at Potterne, Wiltshire.[6]
Lord Vivian married Victoria Ruth Mary Rosamund Oliphant (10 May 1907 - 1985), daughter of Captain Henry Gerard Laurence Oliphant and Ruth Barry, on 8 March 1930.[3] They had three children:[7]