John Davies Knatchbull Lloyd Explained

John Davies Knatchbull Lloyd OBE (28 April 1900 – 13 December 1978), generally known as J. D. K. Lloyd or The Widow Lloyd, was an antiquarian researcher, public servant and notable figure in the memoirs of many of the notable figures of the twentieth century, including Evelyn Waugh and Anthony Powell.

Early life and education

Lloyd was born on 28 April 1900, in Kensington, London, the elder son of John Maurice Edward Lloyd (1844-1910), M.A., a barrister of Lincoln's Inn, and Alice Norton (d. 1906), daughter of Major-General Charles Stirling Dundas, son of the 26th Chief of Clan Dundas. Her mother, Mary Louisa, was daughter of Sir Norton Joseph Knatchbull, 10th Baronet.[1] The Lloyd family had lived in the town of Montgomery for centuries, descending from Maurice Lloyd, Capital Bailiff of Montgomery in 1686.[2] Lloyd's younger brother, Wyndham Edward Buckley Lloyd (1901-1980), F.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., was a physician and writer on medical history.[3]

Lloyd was educated at Winchester School and Trinity College, Oxford[4] (M.A.), and was the founder of the Hypocrites' Club, which included among its members Evelyn Waugh, Anthony Powell who dedicated a book to him,[5], Robert Byron and many other prominent figures of the time.[6]

Career

He received the nickname 'the Widow' in reference to a shaving lotion, 'The Widow Lloyd's Euxesis'. Lloyd's name appears in conjunction with this nickname in the journals and letters of many of his contemporaries for decades afterward.[7] [8] Lloyd spent his life devoted to antiquarian research and in public service to his community.

Public service career

J. D. K. Lloyd wrote many articles and guides to Montgomery. He donated Dolforwyn Castle to the Welsh Ancient Monument Board (now Cadw) in 1955.[9] [10]

On the death of his uncle William Llewellyn Lloyd in 1925, Lloyd took over as head of the family, which appeared in Burke's Landed Gentry as "of Plas Trefaldwyn" and later "formerly of Castell Forwyn", the latter reflecting Lloyd's sale of that house in 1948 (retaining the estate) to live at Bryn Cadwrfa.[11]

Lloyd died on 13 December 1978.[12] [13]

Notes and References

  1. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 1, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, pp. 478, 1221
  2. Burke's Landed Gentry, 17th edition, ed. L. G. Pine, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1952, p. 1539
  3. [The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal]
  4. Edward Burra: Twentieth Century Eye, Jane Stevenson, Pimlico, 2008, p. 90
  5. Keith Marshall, "Who Were the Dedicatees of Powell's Non-Dance Works?" Anthony Powell Society Newsletter 68 (Autumn 2017):16-19.
  6. Web site: AP The Anthony Powell Newsletter 65. anthonypowell. 21 January 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180116081737/http://www.anthonypowell.org.uk/reflib/nl65.pdf. 16 January 2018. dead.
  7. Edward Burra: Twentieth Century Eye, Jane Stevenson, Pimlico, 2008, p. 90
  8. Diaries 1971-1983, James Lees-Milne, John Murray, 2008, p. 243
  9. The Montgomeryshire Collections, coll. vols 59-61, Clifton Press, 1968, p. 39
  10. Current Archaeology, coll. issues 108-120, 1988, A. & W. Selkirk, p. 420
  11. Burke's Landed Gentry, 17th edition, ed. L. G. Pine, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1952, p. 1539
  12. The Antiquaries Journal, vol. 59, issue 2, 1979, p. 551
  13. Archaeologia Cambrensis, vol. 129, W. Pickering, 1981, p. 167

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