Gerald Loder, 1st Baron Wakehurst

"Gerald Loder" redirects here. For the fictional character, see Billy Bunter.

The Right Honourable The Lord Wakehurst JP DL
Photograph of Loder, 1895
Member of Parliament for Brighton
In office 1889–1905 Serving with Sir William Marriott, Bruce Vernon-Wentworth
Preceded by	Sir William Thackeray Marriott Sir William Tindal Robertson
Succeeded by	Bruce Vernon-Wentworth Ernest Villiers
Personal details
Born	Gerald Walter Erskine Loder (1861-10-25)25 October 1861
Died	30 April 1936(1936-04-30) (aged 74)
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Lady Louise de Vere Beauclerk ​ ​ (m. 1890; died 1936)​
Relations	Edmund Giles Loder (brother) Hans Busk (grandfather)
Children	5
Parent(s)	Sir Robert Loder, 1st Baronet Maria Georgiana Busk
Education	Eton College
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

Gerald Walter Erskine Loder, 1st Baron Wakehurst, JP DL LLB (25 October 1861 – 30 April 1936) was a British barrister, businessman and Conservative politician. He is best remembered for developing the gardens at Wakehurst Place, Sussex.

Early life

Loder was born on 25 October 1861 as the fourth son of Sir Robert Loder, 1st Baronet, Member of Parliament for New Shoreham, and Maria Georgiana Busk (fourth daughter of Welsh poet Hans Busk). Among his siblings were Sir Edmund Giles Loder, 2nd Baronet and Etheldreda Mary Loder (wife of Sir Charles Burrell, 6th Baronet).^[1]

He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He became a barrister at the Inner Temple in 1888.^[2]

Career

Loder was Conservative Member of Parliament for Brighton from 1889 to 1905. He was private secretary to the President of the Local Government Board (Charles Ritchie) from 1888 to 1892 and to Lord George Hamilton (the Secretary of State for India) from 1896 to 1901. He served briefly under Arthur Balfour as a Lord of the Treasury in 1905.^[3]

A keen gardener, Loder purchased the Wakehurst Place estate in 1903 and spent 33 years developing the gardens, which today cover some two square kilometres (500 acres) and are owned by the National Trust. He was president of the Royal Arboricultural Society from 1926 to 1927 and president of the Royal Horticultural Society from 1929 to 1931. He was a director of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway from 1896,^[4] and served as its last chairman in December 1922.^[5] He was a director of its successor, the Southern Railway, and later chairman from 1934 until his resignation in December 1934.^[6]

In June 1934 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Wakehurst, of Ardingly in the County of Sussex.^[1]

Personal life

In 1890, Loder married Lady Louise de Vere Beauclerk (1869–1958), eldest daughter of William Beauclerk, 10th Duke of St Albans and his first wife, Sybil Mary Grey (a daughter of Lt.-Gen. Sir Charles Grey). The couple had one son and four daughters:^[7]

• John de Vere Loder, 2nd Baron Wakehurst (1895–1970), who married Margaret Tennant (daughter of industrialist Sir Charles Tennant, 1st Baronet and sister of prominent figures of Victorian and Edwardian London, such as Margot Asquith and Edward Tennant, 2nd Baron Glenconner).^[1]
• Hon. Dorothy Cicely Sybil Loder (1896–1986), who married Hon. William Palmer (son of the Earl and Countess of Selborne, and grandson of Prime Minister Lord Salisbury).^[1]
• Hon. Victoria Helen Loder (1899–1979), who married Alan Rees Colman.^[1]
• Hon. Diana Evelyn Loder (1899–1985), who married Donald Howard, 3rd Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal.^[1]
• Hon. Mary Irene Loder (1902–1970).^[1]

Lord Wakehurst died in April 1936, aged 74, and was succeeded in the barony by his only son, John. The Loder Cup, New Zealand's oldest conservation award, is named after Lord Wakehurst.^[8]

References

1. Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 3, page 3461.
2. "Loder, Gerald Walter Erskine (LDR881GW)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
3. Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1910). Armorial Families: A Directory of Gentlemen of Coat-armour. T.C. & E.C. Jack. p. 1015. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
4. Searle, Dave. "LB&SCR Directors". LB&SCR online. Archived from the original on 6 July 2008. Retrieved 26 April 2009.
5. Searle, Dave. "LB&SCR Chairmen". LB&SCR online. Archived from the original on 6 July 2008. Retrieved 26 April 2009.
6. Bonavia, Michael R. (1987). The History of the Southern Railway. London, UK: Unwin Hyman. ISBN 0-04-385107-X. pp. 24–25, 29.
7. Debrett's Peerage, and Titles of Courtesy: In which is Included Full Information Respecting the Collateral Branches of Peers, Privy Councillors, Lords of Session, Etc. Dean. 1921. p. 786. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
8. New Zealand Department of Conservation; accessed 5 April 2014.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Lord Wakehurst

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Sir William Thackeray Marriott Sir William Tindal Robertson	Member of Parliament for Brighton 1889 – 1905 With: Sir William Marriott 1889–1893 Bruce Vernon-Wentworth 1893–1905	Succeeded by Bruce Vernon-Wentworth Ernest Villiers
Party political offices
Preceded by Sir Benjamin Stone	Chairman of the National Union of Conservative and Constitutional Associations 1899	Succeeded by Lord Windsor
Business positions
Preceded by Charles C. Macrae	Chairman of the Board of Directors of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway December 1922	Company merged into Southern Railway
Preceded by Hon. Everard Baring	Chairman of the Board of Director of the Southern Railway 1932–1934	Succeeded by Robert Holland-Martin
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baron Wakehurst 1934 – 1936	Succeeded by John de Vere Loder