Rupert Michael Fleming

Family/Spouse: Catherine Danger Oram. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Felix Rupert Fleming
2. Airlie Danger Fleming
3. William John Fleming

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: The Stables, Stonewall Park, Chiddingstone Hoath, Kent TN8 7DG
• Baptism: 1935, Woodcote, Oxfordshire

Notes:

Eldest son of Captain Michael Fleming (see Burke's 'Landed Gentry') who was killed in action at Dunkirk, and Letitia (nee Borthwick). Baptised at St. Leonard's Church, Woodcote 1935. Educated at Eton 1948-53.

National Service with Grenadiers 1954-55. Travelled throughout 1956, mostly Australia and New Zealand. 1957 started work with Robert Fleming & Co. Ltd., Merchant Bankers, of which he is now a Director; Director of other companies. Member of the Grocers' Company. Former Church Warden and Primary School Manager, presently Treasurer of the P.CC. and Chairman of the local Conservative Association.

Interests: gardening and antiquarian books. With his wife Elizabeth he runs a catalogue business in second-hand and antiquarian books.

Valentine married Elizabeth Helen Gibbs [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He died on 1 October 1940 at age 27, from wounds received in action while a POW. He fought in the Second World War and gained the rank of Captain in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.

Died:
Killed in Action

Michael married Letitia Blanche Borthwick on 28 Jul 1934 in Henley On Thames, Oxfordshire. Letitia (daughter of Malcolm Algernon Borthwick and Blanche Buckland Gorrie) was born on 10 Apr 1913; died in Feb 2003 in Hitchin and Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 2 Apr 1911, St Giles in the Fields and Bloomsbury St George, London

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: London
• Baptism: 1 Sep 1901, Camfield, Hatfield, Herts
• Admission: 18 Apr 1923

Notes:

2nd son of Herbert Cokayne Gibbs, Lord Hunsdon. Baptised 1 September 1901 at St. Mark's, Hatfield. Educated at Eton College 1914-19, Matric. Oxford (Christ Church) 1919 and resided to 1922. Died 6 July 1975 and was buried at St. Michael & All Angels, Clifton Hampden, Oxon.

C.M.G. 1945; K.C.M.G. 1955, Hon. D.C.L. Oxford. Lived at Holwell Manor, Hatfield, Hertfordshire from 1932-49. Inherited Clifton Hampden Estate and lived there 1949-75; Patron of the Living, Church Warden, Chairman Parish Council.

Entered Antony Gibbs & Sons, London, 1923; was with Gibbs Bright & Co. in Australia 1924-29; Partner of the Australian firm from 1929 and of Antony Gibbs & Sons, London, 1932 (Chairman 1966-72).

Chairman of The Bank of Australia 1945-51 and The Australia & New Zealand Bank Ltd. 1951-67; Director, Barclays Bank D.C.O. (now Barclays Bank International) 1945-71 (Vice-Chairman 1948, Deputy Chairman 1955).

Other directorships include: The Sulphide Corporation from 1929; London Board of Australian Mutual Provident Society 1935 (Chairman 1958-72); The Union Discount Co. of London Ltd. (Director 1945-72); Oxford University Chest.

Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Economic Warfare 1943-45, Chairman of the Advisory Council, Export Credit Guarantee Department 1948-62. Member of the Council of The Royal National Pension Fund for Nurses 1952-73. Chairman of The Nuffield Foundation 1951-73. Chairman Morris Garages 1961-75. Chairman of the Imperial Relations Trust 1952-73.

He had several other directorships and was connected with many charities. Grocers Company: on the Livery 1929; on the Court 1932; Master 1938.

Clubs: Brooke's, Pratt's, Beefsteak; Melbourne: Union (Sidney); Queenslad.

Portrait: Oil by Allan Gwynne Jones (1968) at Nuffield Lodge, Regents Park.

Geoffrey married Helen Margaret Leslie, CBE on 6 Oct 1926 in St Marys, Hertingfordbury, UK. Helen (daughter of Charles Frederick Henry Leslie and Maud Foster) was born on 7 Jun 1905 in Alexander Square, Kensington, London; died on 28 Dec 1979 in Clifton Hampden, Oxfordshire; was buried on 2 Jan 1980 in St. Michael & All Angels, Clifton Hampden, Oxfordshire. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

2nd and youngest daughter of Charles Frederick Henry Leslie of Epcombs, Hertingfordbury, Herts., by Maud, 6th daughter of John Foster of New Hall Grange, Maltby, Yorks (of the family of Foster of Thorne Hall, Yorks); born in Alexander Square, Kensington, 7 June 1905 and baptised at Hertingfordbury. Married 6 October 1926 at St. Mary's, Hertingfordbury. Died 28 December 1979 and buried 2 January 1980 at St. Michael & All Angels, Clifton Hampden.

C.B.E. (1961). Justice of the Peace for Hertfordshire (1942) and for Oxfordshire (1950).
1923-78 Various posts with the Girl Guide Association, including County Commissioner, Herts. (1938-46); Chief Commissioner for Overseas Territories (1950-60); Deputy Chief Commissioner of the Commonwealth (1951-54); Vice-Chairman of Executive Committee (1951-54); Member of the Council (1940-77); Vice-President of the Council (1978-79); Delegate to World Conference in Holland (1954); Visitor to the World Conference in Greece (1960); Chairman, Central African Guide Conference in Southern Rhodesia (1956); Chairman, West Indies Federation Guide Conference (1959).

Member of Village School Committee and Parochial Church Council in Essenden and Cliften Hampden, and a variety of other local committees.

Silver Fish, 1964.

Patron of the Living of St. Michael and All Angels, Clifton Hampden, 1976-79.

In her obituary in The Times of 7 January 1980 a correspondent wrote: 'Lady Gibbs managed the Clifton Hampden estate on her husband's behalf for 30 years, and her real recreation was her interest in, and care of, people; and this included all her neighbours and tenants. In addition, she was a skilful and indefatigable gardener and no mean ornithologist.

Until a year ago when a fall seriously injured her spine and deprived her of the sight of an eye, she never relaxed, and with her incisive brain she delved deeply into any problem of village life with an efficiency that alarmed the idle and disconcerted the easy-going.

The rewards of such a life of service were many: a preserved village which became an oasis of beauty with an active church with fabric restored and treasures repaired and recorded; a viable infant school; an invaluable village-hall in excellent repair; and, perhaps most important of all, a family who follow their parents' example in the care of people and places'.

She gave special support to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and to Missions in Rhodesia where her husband's younger brother, Sir Humphrey Gibbs was Governor 1959-1969.

Portrait: by Simon Elwes, in possession of Elizabeth Fleming.

Notes:

Major Valentine Fleming DSO (17 February 1882 – 20 May 1917) was a British Conservative Member of Parliament who was killed in World War I. He was the father of authors Peter Fleming and Ian Fleming who created the James Bond character.

Early years
Born in Newport-on-Tay, Fife, Fleming was the son of Sarah (née Hindmarsh) and Robert Fleming, a wealthy Scottish banker and founder of the merchant bank, Robert Fleming & Co. Fleming was educated at Eton College and Magdalen College, Oxford. He married Evelyn Beatrice Sainte Croix Rose in London on 15 February 1906. Together they had four sons; adventurer and travel writer Peter (father of actress Lucy Fleming), novelist Ian (author of the James Bond novels), Richard (whose son is billionaire Adam Fleming), and Michael.

From 1906 to 1911, the family lived at Braziers Park in Ipsden, Oxfordshire. On his election to parliament, they moved to Pitt House on Hampstead Heath in 1910. He was a Member of Parliament for Henley from 1910 to 1917. In 1914 they built a house at Arnisdale, near Kyle of Lochalsh in the Scottish Highlands.

Military service
At the outbreak of World War I Valentine was a Captain in 'C' Squadron, Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars, a yeomanry regiment, having received his commission on 30 June 1908. After a month of training the regiment was sent to France on 22 September 1914.

He wrote a "brisk and breezy account" to a fellow officer in England in 1914 about the start of the war. Initially the regiment had little more than "a tour of the principal French watering places" followed by a fortnight hanging about Dunkirk and Saint-Omer ("Very dull"), but then on 30 October were told by General de Lisle to:

occupy a line of trenches on the right of Messines. This was disagreeable as projectiles of every variety were exploding with a disquieting regularity all over the ground of our advance. .... Off we went, over some very holding ground, three squadrons in a succession of rushes in extended lines, the regularity of which was still disturbed by the wire! (Never move without nippers on the Sam Browne belt!). Luckliy we had no man hit – I can’t think why – which put some heart into the men .... we began to wonder how to fix the bloody bayonets with which we had been issued two days previously. .... About 4.30 am they were relieved and marched back about two miles to get breakfast, v. hungry and sleepy . (But then De Lisle told them that the line had been broken, so) with empty bellies we become plodding up the usual wire-enclosed ploughed fields on the left of Messines, being pooped at by very high and wild rifle fire .... It was a very trying day for the men, they were d—-d hungry. (The line held, just; but Messines and its Ridge were taken, see Battle of Messines and First Battle of Ypres).
He also wrote to a close friend Winston Churchill in 1914 (the following is an excerpt):

Imagine a broad belt [of land], ten miles or so in width, stretching from the Channel to the German frontier near Basle, which is positively littered with the bodies of men…in which farms, villages, and cottages are shapeless heaps of blackened masonry; in which fields, roads and trees are pitted and torn and twisted by [artillery] shells...
Fleming was promoted to Major on 2 November 1914 and became the commanding officer of 'C' Squadron. He was appointed the second-in-command of the regiment in January 1916.

Fleming was killed by German shellfire at Gillemont Farm, near Épehy, Somme, France on 20 May 1917. For his service, Valentine was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Order on 4 June 1917, having been previously twice mentioned in dispatches.

Fleming is buried at Templeux-le-Guérard British Cemetery, near the village of Templeux-le-Guérard. Fleming 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. Fleming is one of 19 MPs who fell in the war who are commemorated by heraldic shields in the Commons Chamber. 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 includes a short biographical account of the life and death of Fleming.

Fleming's obituary in The Times was written by Churchill.

Legacy
In 1914, shortly before leaving England to fight in France, Valentine signed a will that left Pitt House and his effects to his wife Evelyn, most of his estate was left in trust to benefit their four sons and their future families. His wife Evelyn would have a generous income from the trust unless she remarried, in which case she would receive a reduced amount of £3000 per annum. Evelyn never remarried and felt it was a "bad will".

Valentine married Evelyn Beatrice Sainte Croix Rose on 15 Feb 1906 in St George Hanover Square, London. Evelyn (daughter of Captain George Alfred Sainte Croise Rose, J.P. and Beatrice Quain) was born on 10 Jan 1885 in St Mary Abbots Church, Kensington, London; died on 27 Jul 1964 in The Hotel Metropole, Kings Road, Brighton, Sussex. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Malcolm married Blanche Buckland Gorrie on 9 Mar 1905 in St. Marks, Remuera, Auckland, New Zealand. Blanche was born in 1882 in Gabriels Gully, Otago, New Zealand; died on 10 Mar 1965 in Bath, Somerset. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Departure: Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Residence: Shenley, Hertfordshire
• Baptism: 23 Jun 1854, St John's, Hampstead
• Residence: 1861, St Marylebone, London
• Residence: 1871, Hampshire
• Residence: 1891, London
• Residence: 1901, London
• Residence: 2 Apr 1911, London; Age: 56; Marital Status: Married; Relation to Head of House: Head
• Arrival: 17 Dec 1921, Southampton, Hampshire

Notes:

4th son of Henry Hucks (Gibbs) Lord Aldenham, of Briggens, Herts. Baron Hunsdon of Hunsdon (created 1923). born at Frognall in Hampstead, London and baptised 23 June 1854 at St. John's Hampstead. Educated at Winchester College, 1868-71. Matric. Cambridge (Trinity College) 1873; B.A. 1877, M.A. 1884. Died 22 May 1935 at Briggens and was buried 25 May 1935 at St. Dunstan's, Hunsdon.

After a course of training (1877-9) in the offices of Wallace Bros. London; Ventura Marco del Pont, Paris; Gibbs Bright & Co., Liverpool; and Henry Bath & Son, Swansea; he joined Antony Gibbs & Sons 1879; was with their Chilean Branch, Gibbs & Co., 1880-1, and a manager thereof 1881: a manager of the London firm 1881 and a partner thereof from 1882. Original Chairman of the Alianza (Nitrate) Co. Ld., 1895-1928, and of the Pan de Azucar Nitrate Co., Ld., 1901-26; Director of the Rio de Janeiro City Improvements Co. Ld. from 1884 and Chairman from 1905: Director of the Australian Mutual Provdent Soc. from 1908: and sometime Director of other public companies. Chairman of the City of London Conservative Association Sep. 1912 to 1932. On the Public Works Loan Board from July 1884 (dep. Chairman 1908-21, Chairman from 1921). Justice of the Peace for Herts, from 1916. High Sheriff of Herts. for 1913. He was a member of the Deputation sent by the British Government to Russia in the winter of 1912-13 to return the visit of the Duma to England. In the Great War he was director of Purchases of Nitrate of Soda for the Allies (see 'Antony & Dorothea Gibbs' by J.A. Gibbs p.389). Chevalier of the Legion of Honour (?1918). Created Baron Hunsdon of Hunsdon 24 July 1923. First speech in the House of Lords 7 July 1924, the subject being 'Trade and Unemployment'. Chairman of the City of London Club 1928-31; Member of the Carlton Club, Pall Mall, from 1910. Author of 'History of Gibbs of Fenton' in Dartington (1925), 'The Parish Registers of Hunsdon (1915)', several pamphlets on Bimetallism and the Currency, 1894-5, including 'A Bimetallic Primer' 1894 (rd ed. 1896), and one on 'The Incidence of Income Tax and Wasting Securities (1904)'. His evidence on 'Wasting Assets Abroad' before the Royal Comn. on Income Tax of 1920 is in an appendix to their Report.

He bought Biggens in the parish of Hunsdon and the lordship of the Manor of Hunsdon in 1908. His successive London residences from 1885 were 34 York Terrace, 17 Portman Street, 9 Portman Square (1898-1923), all in St. Marylebone.

Portraits: Drawing by W.E. Miller, 1882, another by E.U. Eddis in a group with his mother and brother Vicary, 1860, both in possession of Lord Aldenham. Oil, three quarter length, 1891, by W. Ouless, R.A., at Briggens (copy by Miss Richardson in possession of A.Gibbs & Sons). Crayon by John Hay, presentation from City of London Conservative Association, 1932, in possession of Antony D. Gibbs, 5th Lord Aldenham.

Herbert married Anna Maria Durant, Lady Hunsdon on 12 Feb 1885 in Shenley, Hertfordshire. Anna (daughter of Richard Durant and Charlotte Still Dashwood) was born on 8 May 1862 in High Canons; died on 30 Dec 1938 in Ware, Hertfordshire. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: Shenley, Hertfordshire
• Birth: 8 May 1862, Shenley, Hertfordshire
• Residence: 1871, Shenley, Hertfordshire; Relation to Head of House: Daughter
• Residence: 1881, Shenley, Hertfordshire; Relation to Head of House: Daughter
• Residence: 1891, London; Age: 28; Relation to Head of House: Wife
• Residence: 1901, London; Age: 38; Relation to Head of House: Wife
• Residence: 2 Apr 1911, London; Age: 48; Marital Status: Married; Relation to Head of House: Wife

Notes:

4th and youngest daughter and coheir of Richard Durant of High Canon, Shenley, Herts., and Sharpham, Devon, for whom see Parker of Sharpham in Burke's 'Landed Gentry', by Charlotte Still, daughter of Lieut. Colonel Alexander Wilton Dashwood, for whom see Dashwood (Bart.) of Oxfordshire in 'Burke's Peerage'. Born at High Canons 8 May 1862 and baptised at Shenley Church. Married at Shenley 12 February 1885. Died 30 December 1938.

Lady Hunsdon. President of the Herts. Federation of Women's Institutes and of the Women's Branch of the City of London Conservative Association.

Portrait: oil, three quarter length, 1891, by Sir John Millais, P.R.A., a companion to the Ouless of her husband at the Manor House, Clifton Hampden in possession of Stephen C. Gibbs.

Notes:

Charles Frederick Henry Leslie (8 December 1861 in Mayfair, London, England – 12 February 1921 in Mayfair, London, England) was an English businessman and cricketer. He played first-class cricket for eight years between 1881 and 1888, for Oxford University, Middlesex and England.

See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Leslie_(cricketer)

Charles married Maud Foster in Oct 1887 in Kensington, London. Maud (daughter of John Foster and Emma Caroline Durham) was born in Jan 1868 in Laughton En Le Morthen, Yorkshire, England; died on 31 Oct 1956 in 12 Avenue Rd, St John's Wood, London; was buried in St Mary's Church, Hertingfordbury, Hertford. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]