George Labouchère
{{Short description|British diplomat and collector of modern art}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2015}}
Sir George Peter Labouchere {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GBE|KCMG|FRSA}} (2 December 1905 in London – 14 June 1999 in Dudmaston Hall, Shropshire){{Cite web|title=Labouchere, Sir George (Peter), (2 Dec. 1905–14 June 1999), HM Diplomatic Service, retired|url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-179816|access-date=2021-06-21|website=WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO|year=2007 |language=en|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u179816|isbn=978-0-19-954089-1 }} was a British diplomat and collector of modern art.
Career
Labouchere was educated at Charterhouse School and the Sorbonne, and entered the Diplomatic Service in 1929.{{Cite news|date=15 July 1999|title=Sir George Labouchere|page=29|work=The Times|issue=66566}}
He was Deputy-Commissioner for Austria, 1951–53, Minister to Hungary 1953–55,{{London Gazette |issue=40032 |date=1 December 1953 |page=6533}} Ambassador to Belgium 1955–60,{{London Gazette |issue=40660 |date=20 December 1955 |page=7154}} and Ambassador to Spain 1960–66.{{London Gazette |issue=42122 |date=19 August 1960 |page=5710}} He was a member of the Society of Dilettanti and was associated at various stages with the Tate Gallery, London, serving as president of the Friends of the Tate. He was an avid art collector, buying, at various stages, works by British artists including Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Lynn Chadwick and Ben Nicholson. He also bought contemporary continental works, including Victor Vasarely, Antoni Tàpies, Pierre Soulages, Jean Dubuffet and Max Ernst.{{Cite ODNB|id=72410|title=Labouchere, Sir George Peter}}
Family
Labouchere was a descendant of an old Huguenot merchant family exiled in the 17th century to England, which included prominent politicians such as Henry Labouchere, 1st Baron Taunton and Henry Du Pré Labouchere. His father was Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Anthony Labouchere, a banker and reserve officer, and his mother was Evelyn Stirling, only child of Sir Walter Stirling, 3rd Baronet of Faskine.
His sister Lilah married Ailwyn Fellowes, 3rd Baron de Ramsey, a first cousin (once removed) of Winston Churchill.
Image:Dudmaston Hall - geograph.org.uk - 1057709.jpg
On 10 May 1943 he married Rachel Hamilton-Russell,{{cite web |last1=Wilding |first1=Dorothy |title=Rachel Katherine Hamilton-Russell, Lady Labouchere (1908-1996) |url=http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/814275 |website=National Trust}} granddaughter of the 8th Viscount Boyne. Dudmaston Hall, now run by the National Trust, was Rachel Hamilton-Russell's ancestral home, inherited from her maternal uncle Geoffrey Wolryche-Whitmore, and the couple settled there to restore it in their retirement.{{cite web|title=One Lady's Legacy and Love|url=http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/dudmaston-estate/our-work/article-1355783319898/|publisher=National Trust}} He was president of the Shropshire branch of the Council for the Protection of Rural England.
Honours
Labouchere was appointed {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CMG}} in the 1951 New Year Honours,{{London Gazette |issue=39104 |date=29 December 1950 |supp=y |page=5}} knighted KCMG in 1955{{London Gazette |issue=40549 |date=29 July 1955 |page=4359}} and given the additional, senior knighthood of GBE in the 1964 Birthday Honours.{{London Gazette |issue=43343 |date=5 June 1964 |supp=y |page=4957}}
References
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Category:People educated at Charterhouse School
Category:University of Paris alumni
Category:English art collectors
Category:English people of French descent
Category:Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Spain
Category:Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Belgium