John Wodehouse, 3rd Earl of Kimberley

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable

| name = The Earl of Kimberley

| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE|MC|JP}}

| image = 1920 John Wodehouse.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = John Wodehouse in 1920

| office1 = Member of Parliament
for Mid Norfolk

| term_start1 = 1906

| term_end1 = 1910

| predecessor1 = Frederick Wilson

| successor1 = William Boyle

| office2 = Member of the House of Lords

| status2 = Lord Temporal

| term_start2 = 7 January 1932

| term_end2 = 16 April 1941

| predecessor2 = The 2nd Earl of Kimberley

| successor2 = The 4th Earl of Kimberley

| birth_date = {{birth date|1883|11|11|df=y}}

| birth_place =

| death_date = {{death date and age|1941|4|16|1883|11|11|df=y}}

| death_place = Westminster, London, England

| nationality = British

| party =

| alma_mater = Trinity Hall, Cambridge

| spouse = Frances Margaret Montagu

| children = John Wodehouse, 4th Earl of Kimberley

| father = John Wodehouse, 2nd Earl of Kimberley

| module = {{Infobox sportsperson | embed = yes

| country =

| sport = Polo

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| module2 = {{Infobox military person|embed=yes

| allegiance = {{Flag|United Kingdom}}

| branch = {{army|United Kingdom}}

| serviceyears = 1911–1933

| rank = Captain

| battles = First World War

| awards = Military Cross

War Merit Cross (Italy)

}}

John Wodehouse, 3rd Earl of Kimberley, {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|CBE|MC|JP}} (11 November 1883 – 16 April 1941), styled Lord Wodehouse from 1902 to 1932, was a British hereditary peer and Liberal politician. He was a champion polo player.{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/friv/lists.cgi?id=65 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417055433/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/friv/lists.cgi?id=65 |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |title=Olympians Who Were Killed or Missing in Action or Died as a Result of War |work=Sports Reference |access-date=10 April 2020}}

Background

Wodehouse was the eldest son of John Wodehouse, 2nd Earl of Kimberley. He attended Eton College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge.Horace A. Laffaye, Polo in Britain: A History, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2012, p. 111. At Cambridge, he was a committee member of the University Pitt Club.{{cite book |last1=Fletcher |first1=Walter Morley |author-link1=Walter Morley Fletcher |title=The University Pitt Club: 1835-1935 |edition=First Paperback |year=2011 |orig-year=1935 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-1-107-60006-5 |page=95 }} He started playing polo at university, where he was a member of the Light Blue team. He later played for the Old Cantabs team.

He holds the unique distinction of being the only person to win a gold medal at the Olympics in 1920 and a silver medal in 1908, both for polo.{{cite web |url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/17986 |title=John Wodehouse |work=Olympedia |access-date=5 April 2021}}

Political career and military service

Wodehouse was elected Member of Parliament for Mid Norfolk at the general election of 1906. Aged 22 years and 2 months, he was the youngest Liberal candidate at that election. Throughout his service, he was Baby of the House of Commons. In the former year{{clarify|date=May 2025}}, he became JP for the county of Norfolk.{{cite book |title=Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, 1940 |publisher=Kelly's |page=1088}} He sat in Parliament until the January 1910 general election.

Lord Wodehouse was commissioned a lieutenant in the Norfolk Yeomanry in 1911 and served with them until the beginning of the First World War in 1914. He served as a captain in the 16th Lancers during the war, when he was wounded and twice mentioned in despatches. He was at the Western Front in France from 1914 to 1917, and on the Italian Front during 1917–18.{{cite book |title=Who Was Who, 1941-1950 |year=1952 |publisher=A and C Black |page=639}} He won the MC in the latter year and also received the Italian War Merit Cross. His younger brother, Edward, also served in the 16th Lancers, but was killed in 1918.{{CWGC |id=851522 |name=Wodehouse, Edward |access-date=26 November 2021 |fewer-links=yes}} Another brother, Philip, died serving in 1919.{{CWGC |id=2802740 |name=Wodehouse, Philip |access-date=26 November 2021 |fewer-links=no}}

From outside Parliament, he served as unpaid assistant private secretary to the Colonial Secretary, then Winston Churchill, in 1921–22, and was awarded the CBE in 1925. From 1921 to 1933 he remained on the Reserve of Officers.

He succeeded to his father's peerages in 1932, giving him a seat in the House of Lords.

Family

Lord Kimberley married the twice-divorced Frances Margaret Montagu,New York Times, 6 May 1922, "LORD WODEHOUSE WEDS MRS. FRANCES MONTAGU; Bride of Polo Player and ex-Member of Parliament Had Been Married Twice Before", page 7. daughter of Leonard Howard Loyd Irby, on 5 May 1922.

In April 1941, aged 57, he was killed in The Blitz at 48 Jermyn Street, Westminster, London,{{CWGC |id=3123857 |name=Wodehouse, John |access-date=30 March 2023 |fewer-links=no}} and was succeeded by his only child, John.

Kimberley's son John was the godson of the writer P. G. Wodehouse, a distant cousin, both being descended from Sir Armine Wodehouse, 5th Baronet.[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1395628/The-Earl-of-Kimberley.html The Earl of Kimberley] (obituary) in The Daily Telegraph dated 29 May 2002, accessed 23 February 2018. According to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, P. G. Wodehouse based the character of Bertie Wooster on him.