Wogan Philipps

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The Right Honourable
The Lord Milford
Wogan Philipps, 1926
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
7 December 1962 – 30 November 1993
Hereditary peerage
Preceded byThe 1st Baron Milford
Succeeded byThe 3rd Baron Milford
Personal details
Born(1902-02-25)25 February 1902
Brentwood, Essex, England
Died30 November 1993(1993-11-30) (aged 91)
London, England
PartyCommunist Party of Great Britain (CPGB)
Spouses
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 1928; div. 1944)​
  • Cristina, Countess of Huntingdon
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1944; died 1953)​
  • Tamara Rust
    ​
    (m. 1954)​
ChildrenHugo Philipps married Margaret Heathcote 7/9/1951 Sarah Philipps married Patrick Kavanagh
Parent
EducationEton College,
Oxford University, Magdalen College
OccupationAmbulance driver, lord, artist

Wogan Philipps, 2nd Baron Milford (25 February 1902 – 30 November 1993) was a British communist who volunteered to aid the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. He was the only member of the Communist Party of Great Britain to ever sit in the House of Lords.[1]

Early life

Wogan Philipps was the eldest son of Laurence Philipps, 1st Baron Milford. Wogan aimed to become an artist and after studying at Oxford,[2] he set up a studio in Paris, but found little success.

Spanish Civil War

In the summer of 1936, he abandoned his artistic endeavours to work with Spanish Medical Aid in the Spanish Civil War.[3] He and George Green served together as ambulance drivers for the Republican faction.[4] During the conflict, Philipps was wounded and had to return to Britain. While there, he asked George's wife Nan if she would go to Spain and work in a hospital. She agreed and in the absence of the Green parents, Philipps paid for the education and maintenance of their children at Summerhill School.[5][6]

In 1937, Philipps joined the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), which led his father to disinherit him.[2][7] At the end of the Spanish Civil War, Philipps chartered a ship, paid for by donations, to transport 5,000 Spanish Republicans from France to Mexico.[8]

Post-war life and career

Having worked as an agricultural labourer in Gloucestershire during World War II, Philipps became involved in the National Union of Agricultural Workers.[2] In 1946, he was elected as a Communist councillor on the Cirencester Urban District Council; however, he soon lost the seat.[4] In the 1950 general election, he stood for the House of Commons in the Cirencester and Tewkesbury constituency, but took only 432 votes.[9] During the campaign, he was harassed by what one observer described as "a large colony of Mosley fascists".[2] In 1959, Philipps narrowly lost a rural council by-election. Following this, he and his third wife went to study in the Soviet Union.[4]

In 1963, Philipps inherited his father's title and agreed to sit in the House of Lords as the second Baron Milford.[4] Ironically, this meant that the CPGB's last parliamentary representative was in the House of Lords. He intended to renounce the peerage, but CPGB leader Harry Pollitt persuaded him to stay on. In his maiden speech, Philipps called for the abolition of the institution of un-elected Lords.[10][2]

Personal life and death

In 1928, Philipps married the novelist Rosamond Lehmann. The couple had two children: Hugo, who became 3rd Baron Milford on his father's death, and Sarah. By the end of the 1930s, Lehmann had left Philipps for poet Cecil Day-Lewis,[11] but she and Philipps did not divorce until 1944.[12]

Philipps' second marriage was to Cristina Casati, Viscountess Hastings, in 1944.[13] She was previously married to Francis Hastings, 16th Earl of Huntingdon and was the only child of the eccentric Italian arts patron Luisa Casati. The couple ran a progressive farm in Gloucestershire.[13] Cristina died in 1953. A year later, Philipps married Tamara Kravetz, the widow of William Rust, editor of the Daily Worker. The couple moved to Hampstead, where they lived until Philipps' death.[13]

Philipps died in London on 30 November 1993, aged 91.[13]

Arms

Coat of arms of Wogan Philipps, 2nd Baron Milford
Crest
A lion as in the arms.
Escutcheon
Argent a lion rampant Sable ducally gorged and chained Or.
Supporters
On either side a horse Argent charged on the shoulder with three bars wavy Azure.
Motto
Ducit Amor Patriæ (Patriotism My Motive)[14]

References

  1. J. Wells, The House of Lords (London, Hodder & Stoughton 1997) ISBN 0-340-64928-3
  2. "West Country Communists | Tolpuddle Martyrs". Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  3. "Wogan Philipps". International Brigade Memorial Trust. August 2024.
  4. Walker, Michael (20 September 2008). "Wogan Philipps". Encyclopedia of Communist Biographies. Graham Stevenson. Archived from the original on 28 May 2022.
  5. "George and Nan Green". Encyclopedia of Communist Biographies. Graham Stevenson. 19 September 2008. Archived from the original on 3 July 2022.
  6. Tremlett, Giles (2020). The International Brigades. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 481. ISBN 978-1-4088-5398-6.
  7. Matthews, George (3 December 1993). "A communist in the Lords". Obituary: Lord Milford. The Guardian. p. 45 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. Baxell, Richard (2014). Unlikely Warriors. London: Aurum Press. p. 401. ISBN 978-1-78131-233-9.
  9. "UK General Election results: February 1950". Psr.keele.ac.uk. 5 May 2011. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
  10. "People: Jul. 12, 1963". TIME. 12 July 1963.
  11. "Rosamond Lehmann". Arlindo-correia.org. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
  12. Who's Who 1970, p. 2163; ISBN 0-7136-1140-5
  13. Belfrage, Sally (3 December 1993). "Obituary: Lord Milford - People - News". The Independent. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
  14. Debrett's Peerage. 2019. p. 3636.