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Arthur Gore, 7th Earl of Arran

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The Earl of Arran
Born
Arthur Paul John James Charles Gore

(1903-07-31)31 July 1903
Died28 December 1958(1958-12-28) (aged 55)
Poltimore, Devon, England
Alma materNew College, Oxford
Winchester College
Occupation(s)Peer, author, translator
Parent(s)Arthur Gore, 6th Earl of Arran
Maud van Kattendyke

Arthur Paul John James Charles Gore, 7th Earl of Arran (31 July 1903 – 28 December 1958), styled Viscount Sudley until shortly before his death, was an Anglo-Irish peer, author and translator.[1]

Biography

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Gore was born in St Pancras, London, the first of two sons born to Lt-Col Arthur Gore, 6th Earl of Arran and Maud Jacqueline Marie Beauclerk, only daughter of 3rd Baron Huyssen van Kattendyke of Kattendijke, Zeeland, Holland.

He was educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford. Commissioned as a lieutenant in the Essex Regiment, he served as aide-de-camp (1931–32) to George Villiers, 6th Earl of Clarendon, Governor-General of the Union of South Africa.[1]

Work as author and translator

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Nicknamed "Pauly," he was the author of William, or More Loved than Loving, first published in 1933 by Collins, republished in 1956 by Chapman & Hall, in an edition with illustrations by Osbert Lancaster and an introduction by Evelyn Waugh. He was a translator of French and German texts.[2] His translation of The Three Musketeers, under the name Lord Sudley, was published by Penguin in 1952.[3]

He succeeded to the title Earl of Arran of the Arran Islands upon the death of his father on 19 December 1958, but never took his seat in the House of Lords. He committed suicide on 28 December 1958, just nine days after the death of his father, at Poltimore, Devon. Aged 55, Arran was unmarried, and reportedly killed himself because he was homosexual.[4][5]

Following his death, a schoolmate eulogised him in The Times:

At Winchester "Pauly" was an intelligent, graceful, retiring boy with a delicious sense of humour. He was a sound bat in good company and already showed ability at lawn tennis, the game he grew to love. He blossomed at Oxford. His diffidence remained but became more subtle, and his charm, rooted in understatement, developed. At this time he taught himself to play the piano and he would sing for hours in his wistful Melville Gideon voice, to himself or to anyone who happened to be in the room. Pauly's great, and rare, gift was his originality: long after most men have become conditioned and conventionalised he continued to view the world with his own particular vision, which contained an extraordinary mixture of sophistication and innocence. He had a very affectionate nature, of which he was half ashamed, and could inspire lasting affection in others.

— The Times, 2 January 1959[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 148. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
  2. ^ "Earl of Arran". The Times. 30 December 1958. p. 8.
  3. ^ Dumas, Alexandre (1982). The Three Musketeers. Penguin. p. 24. ISBN 0140440259.
  4. ^ http://www.derbyshirelgbt.org.uk/blog/2017/03/21/lgbt-history-proposed-decriminalisation/[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ Bedell, Geraldine (24 June 2007). "Coming out of the dark ages". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  6. ^ "Seventh Earl of Arran". The Times. 2 January 1959. p. 10.
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Earl of Arran
1958
Succeeded by