Sir Alfred Beit, 2nd Baronet | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1903-01-19)19 January 1903 London, England |
| Died | 12 May 1994(1994-05-12) (aged 91) Dublin, Ireland |
| Occupation(s) | Art collector Politician |
| Parent | Otto Beit (father) |
| Relatives | Alfred Beit (uncle) |
Sir Alfred Lane Beit, 2nd Baronet (19 January 1903 – 12 May 1994[1]), was a BritishConservative Partypolitician, art collector andphilanthropist andhonorary Irish citizen.
His uncle wasAlfred Beit, a South African mining millionaire, after whom he was named when he was born in London on 19 January 1903. His fatherOtto Beit (1865–1930) was awarded theKCMG in 1920 and was created abaronet in February 1924. His mother was Lilian, daughter of Thomas Lane Carter ofNew Orleans, US. On Sir Otto's death in 1930, Alfred inherited a large fortune as well as numerous works of art, including works byGoya,Vermeer,Rubens andGainsborough. Having lived at49 Belgrave Square, he bought a mansion onKensington Palace Gardens (the most exclusive address in London), where these paintings were put on display.
Beyond personal wealth, by 1930 the Beit family had philanthropically supported primarily theImperial College of Science and Technology, theRhodes Trust and had established the Beit Memorial Fellowship for Medical Research, besides many smaller donations to other groups.
Known from 1930 as Sir Alfred Beit, he was electedConservativeMember of Parliament (MP) forSt Pancras South East at the1931 general election and re-elected in the1935 general election. When theSecond World War started he joined theRoyal Air Force serving inBomber Command.[2] In 1944 he was appointedPPS toOliver Stanley, theColonial Secretary.
Beit lost his seat in the1945 general election. Disillusioned with British politics and strongly opposed to the newLabour government, he and his wife moved to South Africa. However they were appalled by theapartheid system that developed there after 1948, and soon returned to the UK.[3]
In April 1939 he married Clementine Mabell Kitty Freeman-Mitford,[4] born on 22 October 1915, who was the posthumous daughter of Major Clement Mitford (d.1915), a granddaughter of the 1stLord Redesdale and a cousin of theMitford sisters. Another first cousinClementine Hozier had marriedWinston Churchill.
Clementine's widowed mother spent long periods in Africa after marrying Captain Courteney Brocklehust, a game warden. Clementine and her sister were frequently sent to stay with their cousins. She was a contemporary ofUnity Mitford at St Margaret's School, Bushey, and also went to Berlin to learn German, where she met Hitler through her cousin. She was occasionally escorted by a handsome young stormtrooper, and was asked by Unity to "waggle a flag" as "the darling Führer" passed in the street. Given the Beits' Jewish origins, this chance encounter with fascism did not last.
The Beits had no children.
Alfred Beit boughtRussborough House inCounty Wicklow,Ireland, in 1952, following a suggestion by Randal, 19thLord Dunsany, and moved his art collection there. He had copied a mantelpiece from Russborough in his London home in the 1930s, and was aware of the beauty of the house long before they moved there.
The Beits continued to visit Africa in the 1950s and, having no children of their own, they paid for schools, libraries and health clinics in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Botswana. However, by the late 1970s they were saddened that many of these improvements had not been maintained by the post-colonial governments.
Living quietly in Ireland, their main interests centred on supporting the fine arts and theWexford Festival Opera.
Beit inherited the family art collection which included paintings by Jan Vermeer, Jacob van Rusidael, Adriaan van Ostade, and Gabriel Metsu, Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough that his father had acquired. He added to the collection, acquiring, for example, Lajoue’sCabinet de Physique and Bibliothéque de Bonnier de La Mosson (1734);Indian Blackbuck with Two Pointers (1745) by Jean-Baptiste Oudry, Goya’sDoña Antonia Zárate and Hals’sLute Player (c.1630) as well as fine furniture, tapestries, porcelain, clocks, and ornaments.[6][7] He once owned Vermeer'sA Young Woman Seated at the Virginals, however he 'doubted its authenticity and sold it'.[8]
In 1974, anIRA gang led byRose Dugdale broke into Russborough House, making off with nineteen paintings, including a Goya, a Vermeer and a Gainsborough.[9] The stolen paintings were notionally valued at more thanIR£8 million.[10] In the process, the Beits werepistol-whipped, tied up and pushed down a flight of stone stairs. The IRA intended to hold the paintings to ransom in exchange for the transfer ofDolours Price andMarian Price, IRA members who had been convicted ofcar-bombings in England. All the stolen paintings were recovered inCounty Cork a few weeks later.[11]
In 1986, the house was robbed again, this time by the Dublin criminalMartin Cahill (known in the tabloid media as "The General"). Cahill and his gang stole 18 paintings notionally valued at IR£30 million, all but two of which were recovered in police operations in Britain,Belgium andTurkey.[10][11]
In 2001, two more paintings (aBellotto and a Gainsborough) were stolen in another robbery. Both were recovered in 2002.[11]
In 2002, another robbery took five paintings, including twoRubens.[11]
As a result of the thefts, the Irish state had to move the unique collection to Dublin, making Russborough less attractive to tourists.
Beit was made anhonorary Irish citizen in 1993, in recognition of his philanthropy, including a 1987 donation of seventeen masterpieces to theNational Gallery of Ireland.[10] The paintings donated had an estimated value of between IR£50 million and IR£100 million.[12] The gallery described the donation as"among the greatest single gift to any Gallery in the world in that generation".[5] TheBeit Wing of the National Gallery onMerrion Square is named in honour of the Beits, who also served on the board of directors of the gallery.[5]
When his wife Clementine died in 2005, her will stated that Alfred Beit's diaries should be kept secret until 21 years afterQueen Elizabeth II's death or 70 years after Lady Beit's own death, a clause which sparked speculation in the media that her diaries might refer to the private life of The Queen. However, it is also typical of such a family to refer in their wills and trusts to a future unknown date that would become well-known, for example the date of death of a public personage.[1] She and Sir Alfred are both buried inBlessington, County Wicklow.
The Beits' cultural work is carried on by the Alfred Beit Foundation, founded in 1976 and based at Russborough.[13] In December 2006 the Foundation sold a collection of Italian medieval bronzes for £2,000,000 at Christie's in London to support ongoing repairs at Russborough.[14]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forSt Pancras South East 1931–1945 | Succeeded by |
| Baronetage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by | Baronet of Tewin Water 1930–1994 | Extinct |
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