Hugh Massingberd | |
|---|---|
| Born | Hugh John Montgomery (1946-12-30)30 December 1946 Cookham Dean, Berkshire, England |
| Died | 25 December 2007(2007-12-25) (aged 60) London, England |
| Occupation |
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| Notable works | Time as the obituaries editor ofThe Daily Telegraph |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
Hugh John Massingberd (30 December 1946 – 25 December 2007), originallyHugh John Montgomery and known from 1963 to 1992 asHugh Montgomery-Massingberd, was an English journalist andgenealogist. He was chief editor ofBurke's Peerage/Burke's Landed Gentry from 1971 to 1983.
Sometimes called the father of the modernobituary,[1] Massingberd was most revered for his work as obituaries editor forThe Daily Telegraph of London from 1986 to 1994, during which time he drastically altered the style of the modern British obituary from a dry recital of biographical data to an often sly, witty, yet deadpan narrative on the deceased person's life.
Massingberd began life as Hugh John Montgomery atCookham Dean, Berkshire, on 30 December 1946.[2] His father, John Michael Montgomery, was a member of theColonial Service. His mother, Marsali (née Seal),[3] was a schoolmistress who married John Montgomery after her first husband,Roger de Winton Kelsall Winlaw, died in 1942 on active service in theRoyal Air Force. Hugh was the first child of her marriage to John Montgomery. Through his father, Hugh Massingberd was a great-grandson ofwomen's-rights pioneerEmily Langton Massingberd.[4][5][6][7] He was a great-great-grandson of Charlotte Langton (born Wedgwood) who was herself a granddaughter of the potter and philanthropistJosiah Wedgwood and a sister of Emma Wedgwood, wife ofCharles Darwin.[8][9]
His boyhood enthusiasms includedcricket, reading, horseracing, and showbusiness.[1]
His father was the son of a brother ofField Marshal SirArchibald Montgomery-Massingberd ofGunby Hall, Lincolnshire, while his mother was the sister of the Field Marshal's wife, Diana.[10] To inherit their estate, in 1963 John and his son Hugh were obliged to adopt the name of Massingberd, and both decided to become Montgomery-Massingberds. However, in 1992 Hugh abandoned his original surname and thereafter was known simply as Hugh Massingberd.[1]
After leaving school, he worked for three years as an articled law clerk, before gaining a place atCambridge University to read history.[1] He then "drifted into publishing and journalism".[1]
He was extremely proud of his reputation as agourmand and a trencherman, posing at one time for a portrait with a garland of sausages. Often retold was the story of his having eaten the largest breakfast ever served atThe Connaught hotel in 1972; the head waiter reported to his table that the previous record holder had beenKing Farouk I ofEgypt.[11] It is said that as the waiter recited the various items available on the menu, Massingberd simply nodded throughout.[2]
In 1972 Massingberd married Christine Martinoni, with whom he had a daughter, Harriet, and a son, Luke. They were divorced in 1979 and he married, secondly, Caroline Ripley in 1983.[1] Massingberd was known for his wit in his private life as well as in his public life as a writer. A friend once asked him, during one of Massingberd's low moods, what would cheer him up; after some thought, Massingberd replied, "To sing patriotic songs in drag before an appreciative audience."[11]
Massingberd was diagnosed with cancer in 2004 and died in London on Christmas Day, 2007, five days before his 61st birthday.[1][2]
After leaving school atHarrow, Massingberd discarded initial plans to attend theUniversity of Cambridge, instead choosing to work as a law clerk. He then moved to an assistantship atBurke's Peerage, the historic chronicler of thenobility andlanded gentry of theBritish Isles. He was chief editor ofBurke's Peerage from 1971 to 1983.[2] Massingberd then worked as a freelance columnist forThe Spectator andThe Field until taking up a position withThe Daily Telegraph in 1986.[2]
As obituaries editor atThe Daily Telegraph, Massingberd entirely altered the reverential but otherwise factual style of the obituary. He replaced the traditional tone of respect with one of adroitly subtle humour, and quickly drew readership.The New York Times reported that "cataclysmic understatement and carefully coded euphemism were the stylistic hallmarks of his page."[12] He said his inspiration wasRoy Dotrice's performance in 1969 inBrief Lives in the West End in which Dotrice, after reading out a "dull, formulaic entry about a barrister, shut the book with a 'Pshaw' and turned to the audience to say" 'He got more by his prick than his practice'."[1] Massingberd said that he resolved then "to dedicate myself to chronicling what people were really like through informal anecdote, description and character sketch".[13] He felt it was possible to give a true assessment of the subject and to present "a sympathetic acceptance, even celebration, of someone's foibles and faults".[13]
Massingberd famously referred to the6th Earl of Carnarvon, a deceased man with a habit ofindecent exposure, as "an uncompromisingly direct ladies' man."[14] He termed the latemaverickDead Sea Scrolls academicianJohn Allegro, who later argued forJudeo-Christian cultism regarding mushrooms and sexual intercourse, the "Liberace of biblical scholarship."[12]
Massingberd's sphere of influence was large. Following his editorship tenure, obituaries in not onlyThe Daily Telegraph but in many other British publications, such asThe Times of London, took on the dryly impish character for which his writings had become famous.He wrote more than 30 books, many of them on the British aristocracy and the great houses of England, Scotland and Ireland, reviewed books forThe Spectator,Country Life and theTelegraph, and also wrote a play based on the diaries ofJames Lees-Milne.[1]
A severe heart attack in 1994 forced Massingberd to undergoquadruple bypass surgery. During his recovery period, he wrote asThe Daily Telegraph's television critic, but resigned in 1996.[2] After his resignation, Massingberd continued to write, authoring book reviews forThe Daily Telegraph as well as several theatrical works. When one of his theatre pieces,Love and Art, was produced at theWallace Collection in 2005, Massingberd played one of the roles on stage.
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As author
With Christopher Simon Sykes:
As editor
