Robert Heber-Percy

Robert Vernon Heber-Percy (5 November 1911 – 29 October 1987), known for much of his life as "the Mad Boy", was "an English eccentric in the grand tradition".[1]

Robert Heber-Percy
Born5 November 1911
Shifnal, Shropshire, England
Died29 October 1987
Wantage, Oxfordshire, England
NationalityBritish
EducationStowe School
OccupationEccentric
Title"
Spouse(s)Jennfier Fry
Lady Dorothy Lygon
ChildrenVictoria Gala Heber-Percy
Parent(s)Algernon Heber-Percy
Gladys May Hulton-Harrap
RelativesSir Geoffrey Fry, 1st Baronet (father-in-law)
William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp (father-in-law)
Peter Zinovieff (son-in-law)
Sofka Zinovieff (granddaughter)

Early life

He was born in 1911, the fourth and youngest son of Algernon Heber-Percy, a relative of the Duke of Northumberland and Gladys May Hulton-Harrap, and was brought up at Hodnet Hall in Shropshire.[1] He was educated at Stowe School, and commissioned into the King's Dragoon Guards.[1]

Career

As a sideline, Heber-Percy ran an undertakers' business and was particularly fond of their yearly conferences, as they "invariably provided him with a fund of good stories".[2]

Personal life

He was the companion/lover of the composer Lord Berners until his death in 1950, when he inherited Faringdon House in Oxfordshire.[1][3]

In 1942, he married an already pregnant Jennfier Fry, only child of Sir Geoffrey Fry, 1st Baronet.[4] They had a daughter, Victoria, born in 1943, but the marriage was dissolved in 1947.[1] All four of them lived together in Faringdon House, and were photographed by Cecil Beaton in September 1943.[3] The ménage à trois lasted only two years before Jennifer and their daughter Victoria moved to her parents' home, Oare House, in Wiltshire.[5]

Victoria Gala Heber-Percy married the engineer and inventor Peter Zinovieff, and they had three children, the eldest being the writer Sofka Zinovieff, who inherited the entirety of her grandfather's estate, including Faringdon House.[6][5]

In 1985, he married Lady Dorothy Lygon, the fourth daughter of William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp, but they "parted amicably" a year later.[1][2]

References
  1. "Robert Heber-Percy". Faringdon Community Website. South West Oxfordshire. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  2. "Lady Dorothy Heber Percy". 17 November 2001. Retrieved 24 September 2017 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  3. Hollinghurst, Alan (23 April 2015). "Serious, Silly, Charming, & Heartless". Retrieved 24 September 2017 – via www.nybooks.com.
  4. "Jennifer Ross". 24 September 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2017 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  5. "A Palladian gem immortalised by Nancy Mitford". houseandgarden.co.uk. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  6. Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (20 October 2015). "Peter Zinovieff: 'I taught Ringo to play synth. He wasn't very good – but neither was I'". Retrieved 24 September 2017 – via www.theguardian.com.
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