Charles Tottenham, 8th Marquess of Ely
{{Short description|English-born Canadian educator (1913–2006)}}
{{good article}}
{{use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = The Most Honourable
| name = The Marquess of Ely
| image = File:Coronet of a British Marquess.svg100px
| caption = Coat of arms of the Marquess of Ely
| birth_date = {{birth date|1913|05|30|df=y}}
| birth_place = Binsted, Hampshire, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|2006|02|01|1913|05|30|df=y}}
| death_place = Port Hope, Ontario, Canada
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|Katherine Craig|1938|1975|end=died}}
- {{marriage|Elspeth Ann Hay|1978|1996|end=died}}
}}
| children = 4, including Ann and John
| module = {{Infobox officeholder|embed=yes
| office = Member of the House of Lords
| status = Lord Temporal
| term_label = as a hereditary peer
| term_start = {{start date|1969|05|31|df=y}}
| term_end = {{end date|1999|11|11|df=y}}
| predecessor = The 7th Marquess of Ely
| successor = Seat abolished
}}
}}
Charles John Tottenham, 8th Marquess of Ely (30 May 1913 – 1 February 2006) was an English-born educator and peer. Born in Binsted, Tottenham emigrated to Canada to attend Queen's University at Kingston in the 1930s. First working as an assistant librarian and French teacher at the Royal Military College of Canada, he later was employed to teach languages at Trinity College School in 1937, and four years later was appointed the principal of its junior school, retiring in 1981. Tottenham died in 2006 in Port Hope, Ontario, and was succeeded by his son John as the 9th Marquess of Ely.
Life and career
Tottenham was born on 30 May 1913 in the village of Binsted to George Leonard and Cécile Elizabeth Tottenham.{{cite book |last1=Morris |first1=Susan |title=Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage |date=April 20, 2020 |publisher=Debrett's |isbn=9781999767051 |page=2533 |edition=2019 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=99tHEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA2533 |access-date=July 3, 2024}}{{cite news |title=Deaths—Tottenham. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-obituary-for-cecile/150453802/ |access-date=1 July 2024 |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=9 October 1980 |location=London |page=32 |via=Newspapers.com}} George was a great-grandson of Lord Robert Tottenham, the second son of the 1st Marquess of Ely. Soon after the death of George, Charles and his family were brought by their mother to Geneva. There, he attended the Collège de Genève and the International School of Geneva. His mother moved to Kingston, Ontario, with Charles following suit and attending Queen's University at Kingston in the 1930s.{{cite news |title=The Marquess of Ely—Canadian prep school headmaster who taught Latin, coached soccer, loved cricket and took his seat in the Lords |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-obituary-for-charles/150416488/ |access-date=July 1, 2024 |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=February 14, 2006 |location=London |page=23 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title=Queen's Graduate |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kingston-whig-standard-queens-gradu/150459080/ |access-date=1 July 2024 |work=The Kingston Whig-Standard |date=13 August 1965 |location=Kingston, Ontario, Canada |page=28 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title=TCS mourns loss of revered former principal |url=https://www.northumberlandnews.com/news/tcs-mourns-loss-of-revered-former-principal/article_dbc65a21-1bcd-5a53-89eb-5214c147836b.html |access-date=6 July 2024 |work=Northumberland News |date=3 February 2006}}
{{Quote box
| bgcolor = #E0E0F8
| salign = right
| fontsize = 88%
| quote = A title doesn't mean a hell of a lot out here. It doesn't open any doors for you or do anything. It gives the guys at work a few laughs sometimes, but that's about all it does.
| source = Tottenham's son, Richard, on why he does not use a title in Canada.{{cite news |last1=Cahill |first1=Jack |title=Lords and Ladies -- of Ontario |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-lords-and-ladies-of/150455798/ |access-date=1 July 2024 |work=Toronto Star |date=27 November 1983 |location=Toronto, Ontario, Canada |page=D1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-the-lords-and-ladies-of/150455197/ D2] |via=Newspapers.com}}{{rp|D2}}
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}}
At the Royal Military College of Canada, Tottenham became an assistant librarian and French teacher. He later worked as a translator at an insurance company before being employed as a language teacher at Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario. He became the principal of its junior school—Boulden House, then named Junior School—in 1941.{{cite news |title=Title Doesn't Mean Much to Principal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/waterloo-region-record-title-doesnt-mea/150442507/ |access-date=1 July 2024 |work=Waterloo Region Record |agency=The Canadian Press |date=June 5, 1969 |location=Kitchener, Ontario, Canada |page=15 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title=Building Foundations: The 100th Anniversary of Boulden House |url=https://www.tcs.on.ca/sites/default/files/downloads/tcs-news-fall-2023-boulden.pdf |access-date=6 July 2024 |volume=70 |number=2 |publisher=Trinity College School |date=2023 |page=6}} As principal, he taught Latin, coached association football, and resided in an apartment at Boulden House, continuing even after his retirement as principal in 1981.
Tottenham married Katherine Elizabeth Craig in June 1938.{{cite news |title=Social Announcements |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kingston-whig-standard-marriage-of-c/150449977/ |access-date=1 July 2024 |work=The Kingston Whig-Standard |date=16 April 1938 |location=Kingston, Ontario, Canada |page=6 |via=Newspapers.com}} Together, they had four children: Ann, John, Timothy, and Richard. Craig died on 27 January 1975.{{cite news |title=Deaths—Tottenham. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-obituary-for-katheri/150451604/ |access-date=1 July 2024 |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=30 January 1975 |location=London |page=32 |via=Newspapers.com}} Tottenham later got engaged to Elspeth Ann Hay in July 1978;{{cite news |title=Forthcoming Marriages—The Marquess of Ely and Miss E. A. Hay |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-forthcoming-marriage/150454908/ |access-date=1 July 2024 |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=12 July 1978 |location=London |page=16 |via=Newspapers.com}} they married on 28 December in the Chapel of the Royal Hospital Chelsea.{{cite news |title=Weddings—The Marquess of Ely and Miss E. A. Hay |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-the-marquess-of-ely/150452466/ |access-date=1 July 2024 |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=29 December 1978 |location=London |page=10 |via=Newspapers.com}}
In 1965, Tottenham was second in line to become Marquess of Ely. Upon the death of Guy Alvo Greville Loftus, Tottenham became the heir presumptive.{{cite news |last1=Whitehead |first1=Harold |title=People make news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-gazette-people-make-news/150458540/ |access-date=1 July 2024 |work=The Gazette |date=13 August 1965 |location=Montreal, Quebec, Canada |page=37 |via=Newspapers.com}}
On the death of his childless cousin George Loftus, 7th Marquess of Ely, Tottenham became the 8th Marquess of Ely in the Peerage of Ireland on 31 May 1969.{{cite news |title=People make news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-gazette-people-make-news/150440612/ |access-date=1 July 2024 |work=The Gazette |date=June 5, 1969 |location=Montreal, Quebec, Canada |page=36 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title=Canada has 17 people who hold British titles |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-leader-post-canada-has-17-people-who/150457005/ |access-date=1 July 2024 |work=The Leader-Post |agency=The Canadian Press |date=2 December 1983 |location=Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada |page=C7 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite web |title=Marquess of Ely |url=https://members.parliament.uk/member/2820/career |publisher=Parliament of the United Kingdom |access-date=1 July 2024}} The Marquess of Ely is concurrently Baron Loftus, a title of the Peerage of the United Kingdom, entitling the Marquess to a seat in the House of Lords.{{cite news |title=Ontario Schoolmaster Heir to Irish Marquess |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-montreal-star-ontario-schoolmaster-h/150457634/ |access-date=1 July 2024 |work=The Montreal Star |date=18 August 1965 |location=Montreal, Quebec, Canada |page=4 |via=Newspapers.com}} As a result, Tottenham was eligible to sit in the House as Baron Loftus from his ascension to 11 November 1999, when the House of Lords Act 1999 was passed, excluding all but ninety-two hereditary peers from the House.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/503329.stm |title=Snowdon leads Lords converts |work=BBC News |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |location=London |date=2 November 1999 |access-date=1 July 2024}} Tottenham was also the premier marquess of Ireland. Despite he and his children being entitled to use the appellation Lord in his name, they did not while in Canada.{{rp|D2}}
Tottenham died in Port Hope, Ontario, on 1 February 2006 following a brief illness.{{cite news |title=Announcements—Deaths—Ely. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-obituary-for-charles/150615749/ |access-date=4 July 2024 |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=February 4, 2006 |location=London |page=26 |via=Newspapers.com}} He was succeeded by John, his eldest son, as the 9th Marquess of Ely.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-reg|ie}}
{{s-bef|before=George Loftus}}
{{s-ttl|title=Marquess of Ely|years=1969–2006}}
{{s-aft|after=John Tottenham}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tottenham, Charles, 8th Marquess of Ely}}
Category:20th-century Canadian educators
Category:20th-century English educators
Category:20th-century English nobility
Category:21st-century English nobility
Category:English emigrants to Canada
Category:Hereditary peers removed under the House of Lords Act 1999
Category:International School of Geneva alumni
Category:People from East Hampshire District
Category:People from Port Hope, Ontario