Thomas Scott-Ellis, 8th Baron Howard de Walden


Thomas Evelyn Scott-Ellis, 8th Baron Howard de Walden, 4th Baron Seaford was an English peer, landowner, writer and patron of the arts.
Lord Howard de Walden was also a powerboat racer who competed for Great Britain in the 1908 Summer Olympics.

Early life

Thomas Ellis was born in London on 9 May 1880. He was baptised with the name of Thomas Evelyn Ellis, and was known within his family as "Tommy". Educated at Eton College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in 1917 he assumed the surname Scott-Ellis by Royal Licence.

Military career

Commissioned into the 10th Hussars as a second-lieutenant on 19 April 1899, he saw active military service in the Second Boer War and was promoted to lieutenant on 1 April 1900. Following the end of that war, he retired from active service in August 1902. He was appointed a captain in the 2nd County of London Yeomanry on 13 September 1902. Scott-Ellis resumed active military service during World War I, being promoted Major in the Royal Tank Corps.

Collecting and interests

After succeeding to his family titles in 1899 he inherited further estates in 1901, including property in Marylebone, London and earned the title of 'Britain's wealthiest bachelor'. His family's wealth was initially derived from slavery and sugar estates in Jamaica, primarily Montpelier, Jamaica. He took a lease on Audley End House, Essex which had once belonged to his ancestors, in 1904 but reportedly never felt settled there. The artist Auguste Rodin created a bust of Lord Howard de Walden in 1906 which is held in the collection kept at the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia. In 1911, in preparation for his marriage, he leased Chirk Castle, Denbighshire, which became his main residence after World War I until 1946, and where he learned the Welsh language; he later served as president of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales from 1931 to 1945. In 1934 he served as treasurer of the Royal Salop Infirmary in Shrewsbury,
Lord Howard de Walden became a keen heraldist and genealogist, as well as amassing one of the most extensive collections of British armour, most of which is now on display at Dean Castle, Kilmarnock.
As a crew member of the Dylan he participated in the first and only motor boat competitions at the Olympics of 1908 in London. His steam yacht, Branwen, length overall, launched 28 October 1905 was the first vessel built at the John I. Thornycroft & Company's Woolston yard.
In 1914 he provided financial support for the creation of Crab Tree Club in London and also in that year he was one of the people "blessed" in Wyndham Lewis's Blast magazine.
Lord Howard de Walden was also an author, who produced several plays under the pseudonym of T. E. Ellis.

Dispute with John Lewis

of the eponymous department store on Oxford Street engaged in a protracted legal dispute with de Walden, his ground landlord, over the Holles Street premises. The litigation went through the courts for twenty-three years and cost Lewis £40,000. At one point John Lewis was sent to Brixton Jail for contempt of court, and de Walden sued him for libel following his erection of placards at his stores. The case was eventually settled amicably.

Family

In 1912, Lord Howard de Walden married Margherita Dorothy van Raalte ; herself a collector of antiquities. Their children were:
Lord Howard de Walden died, aged 66, on 5 November 1946 in London, being succeeded in the family titles by his son, John Osmael Scott-Ellis.

Works