The Viscount Tredegar | |
|---|---|
 Viscount Tredegar, 1923 | |
| Born | (1893-07-13)13 July 1893 33 Cadogan Terrace,London |
| Died | 27 April 1949(1949-04-27) (aged 55) Honeywood House,Dorking |
| Notable work | Fragments |
| Title | 2nd Viscount Tredegar, 4th Baron Tredegar, 6th Baronet Morgan |
| Spouse | Lois Sturt (m. 1928; sep. 1937)Princess Olga Dolgorouky (m. 1939: ann. 1943) |
| Parents |
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Evan Frederic Morgan, 2nd Viscount Tredegar (13 July 1893 – 27 April 1949) was aWelsh peer,poet andeccentric. Following the death of his father on 3 May 1934, Morgan became the 2nd Viscount and 4thBaron Tredegar, and the 6thMorgan Baronet. Morgan was also known to his friends asEvan Tredegar.[1]
He was the son ofCourtenay Morgan, 1st Viscount Tredegar, and Lady Katharine Carnegie, daughter of the9th Earl of Southesk.
Morgan was educated atEton College andChrist Church, Oxford University. While working as private secretary to a government minister,W. C. Bridgeman, in 1917, he became friendly with another Oxford man, the poetRobert Graves, who had been a school friend of Evan's cousin, Raymond Rodakowski. They shared an interest in both poetry and the supernatural.[2]
A Roman Catholic convert,[3] Morgan was aChamberlain of the Sword and Cape to PopesBenedict XV andPius XI.[4] An accomplishedoccultist, he was hailed byAleister Crowley as the 'Adept of Adepts'.[5]
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In1929, he unsuccessfully stood as theConservative candidate forLimehouse.[5] After the death of his father, in 1934, he took possession of the family seat ofTredegar House, near Newport, where he had a menagerie of animals and birds. He dedicated one room, his 'magik room', to his study of the occult.[3]
He fought in theFirst World War, gaining the rank of Lieutenant in the service of theWelsh Guards, and in 1930 was appointed an honorary Colonel.[6] During theSecond World War withMI8, his responsibility was to monitorcarrier pigeons. He carelessly let slip on occasion departmental secrets to two girl guides and was court martialled but not sent to jail or worse.[5]
Morgan provided inspiration for the character "Ivor Lombard" inAldous Huxley's 1921Crome Yellow, and for Eddie Monteith inRonald Firbank'sThe Flower Beneath the Foot.[7]
He was decorated with the following awards:
In 1937 or 1938Edith Mary Hinchley painted him. This painting is in the National Trust collection.[8]
Despite his known homosexuality, he married twice.[9]
During a luncheon withMarie Belloc Lowndes in 1946, Morgan stated that he was "toying with the idea of proposing toLady Illingworth", a wealthy widower, in an attempt to secure the finances of the depleted Tredegar estates. Belloc noted "[Morgan] has an enormous number of acquaintances – I fear no friends."[10]
Evan Morgan died on 27 April 1949, aged 55. As he died childless, the viscountcy became extinct. However, the barony and estates passed to his uncle,Frederic, who became the fifth Baron Tredegar. To avoid further death-duties on his own demise, Frederic had arranged for Tredegar House and the estates to be passed passed immediately to his son,John (latterly the sixth and final Baron Tredegar), who eventually disposed of both the house and estates due to taxation.[12]
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by | Viscount Tredegar 1934–1949 | Extinct |
| Baron Tredegar 1934–1949 | Succeeded by | |
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