Gervas Pierrepont, 6th Earl Manvers explained

Gervas Evelyn Pierrepont, 6th Earl Manvers, MC, JP (15 April 1881 – 13 February 1955), known as Gervas Pierrepont until 1940, was a British nobleman, soldier, landowner and member of the House of Lords.

Early life and education

The eldest son of the Honourable Evelyn Henry Pierrepont, second son of Sydney Pierrepont, 3rd Earl Manvers, Pierrepont was educated at Winchester College and the Royal Indian Engineering College, Coopers Hill.

Military service

Pierrepont served in the British Army, on the General List, in the First World War from 1914 to 1919, reaching the rank of Captain. He also served on the Claims Commission in Belgium from 1916 - 1917. He was decorated with the Military Cross, the Order of the Crown of Belgium,^[1] and the Croix de Guerre.

Later life

After the First World War, Pierrepont served as a Justice of the Peace for the County of London. He represented Brixton as a Municipal Reform Party member of the London County Council from 1922 to 1946. He unsuccessfully contested Broxtowe as a Conservative in 1929.

In 1940 he succeeded his cousin Evelyn Robert Pierrepont, 5th Earl Manvers in the earldom and became a member of the House of Lords.

Marriage & Children

In 1918 Pierrepont married Marie-Louise Roosevelt Butterfield (1889–1984), daughter of Sir Frederick Butterfield of Cliffe Castle, Keighley. They had three children:^[2]

• Mary Helen Venetia Pierrepont (born 22 May 1920, died 21 February 1930)
• Evelyn Louis Butterfield Pierrepont (born 8 May 1924, died 29 September 1928)
• Lady Frederica Rozelle Ridgway Pierrepont (born 17 November 1925, died 22 June 2015). Lady Rozelle was an author under the pen name Rozelle Raynes. She married Major Alexander Montgomerie Greaves Beattie in 1953 (divorced 1961) and Richard Hollings Raynes in 1965. She inherited the Pierrepont estates on the death of her father.^{[3] [4]}

Marie-Louise, Countess Manvers, was a talented and productive artist under the name of Marie-Louise Pierrepont.

Death

Lord Manvers died in February 1955 at the age of 73, when the earldom became extinct.^[5] A memorial to him is in the parish church at Perlethorpe.^[6]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Biography of the 6th Earl Manvers . 2006-01-03 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070505120753/http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/mss/online/family-estate/collections/manvers/6th_earl_manvers.phtml . 5 May 2007 .
2. http://www.thepeerage.com/p23835.htm#i238344 The Peerage, entry for 6th Earl Manvers
3. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11701557/Lady-Rozelle-Raynes-Wren-stoker-obituary.html The Daily Telegraph, obituary of Lady Rozelle Raynes, published 26 June 2015
4. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/lady-rozelle-raynes-the-wartime-mariner-who-helped-disadvantaged-teenagers-10379013.html Lady Rozelle Raynes: The wartime mariner who helped disadvantaged teenagers, David McKittrick, published in The Independent, 9 July 2015
5. https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscriptsandspecialcollections/collectionsindepth/family/manvers/biographies/biographyofgervasevelynpierrepont,6thearlmanvers(1881-1955).aspx University of Nottingham, Manuscripts and Special Collections, Biography of Gervas Evelyn Pierrepont, 6th Earl Manvers (1881-1955)
6. Web site: Perlethorpe Church Windows . 2006-01-03.