Horace Pitt-Rivers, 6th Baron Rivers

Horace Pitt-Rivers, 6th Baron Rivers (12 April 1814 – 3 March 1880), known as Horace Beckford until 1828 and Hon. Horace Pitt from 1828 until 1867, was a British peer and army officer.

He was born on 12 April 1814 in London, the younger son of Horace Pitt-Rivers, 3rd Baron Rivers and his wife Frances, and baptised on 11 May at St George's, Hanover Square. Beckford, as he then was, was educated at Harrow School from 1824 to 1826 and then at Sandhurst. In 1828, his father inherited the Pitt estates and the title of Baron Rivers by special remainder, and adopted the surname of Pitt for his younger son.^[1]

On 27 February 1830, he bought a cornetcy in the Royal Horse Guards vacated by Viscount Fordwich.^[2] On 6 July 1832, he bought a lieutenancy vacated by Hon. George Weld-Forester^[3] and on 11 November 1836, a captaincy vacated by Lord Elphinstone.^[4]

On 10 April 1845, he married Eleanor Sutor (d. 3 September 1872, Broxbourne), at Brighton. No children were born of the marriage. She was a courtesan of the Regency period under the name of "Nellie Holmes",^[1] and had lived with him before the marriage. They agreed to separate in 1846.

He was breveted a major in the Army on 9 November 1846,^[5] and purchased a substantive majority vacated by Weld-Forester on 2 September 1853, receiving a brevet lieutenant-colonelcy from the same date.^[6][7] He retired from the Army on 21 April 1854,^[8] being forced to sell his commission due to his gambling and horseracing debts.

He spent a number of years in hiding from his creditors, living at Soval in the Isle of Lewis and moving in 1858 to Kilninver. He attempted to obtain a divorce from his wife, but without success; the House of Lords held he had not become domiciled in Scotland, and was therefore unable to take advantage of the more liberal Scottish divorce laws.^[9]

In 1867, he succeeded his sickly nephew Henry in the Pitt estates and the title of Baron Rivers, and assumed the surname of Pitt-Rivers. Horace was a Conservative in politics.^[1] After the death of his first wife, he married Emmeline Laura, the daughter of Captain John Pownall William Bastard and granddaughter of Captain John Bastard, on 26 June 1873. There were no children from the marriage. He died on 3 March 1880 at 23 Wilton Crescent and was buried at Steepleton Iwerne. The peerage became extinct upon his death.^[10] The Pitt estates were inherited by his second cousin Augustus Lane-Fox, who adopted the surname of Pitt-Rivers in consequence. His widow married Montague George Thorold (d. 1920), second son of Sir John Thorold, 11th Baronet, in 1881, and died on 1 October 1918.^[10]

References

1. White, Geoffrey H., ed. (1949). The Complete Peerage, Volume XI. St Catherine's Press. p. 33.
2. The London Gazette: no. 18664. p. 533. 16 March 1830.
3. The London Gazette: no. 18951. p. 1553. 6 July 1832.
4. The London Gazette: no. 19436. p. 1978. 11 November 1836.
5. The London Gazette: no. 20660. p. 3992. 10 November 1846.
6. The London Gazette: no. 21472. p. 2417. 2 September 1853.
7. The London Gazette: no. 21475. p. 2510. 13 September 1853.
8. The London Gazette: no. 21545. p. 1253. 21 April 1854.
9. Sutor v Pitt [1864] UKHL 2_Paterson_1235 (April 6, 1864), House of Lords (UK)
10. White, Geoffrey H., ed. (1949). The Complete Peerage, Volume XI. St Catherine's Press. p. 34.