Digby, Edward Kenelm, 11th Baron Digby

Identity area

Type of entity

Person

Authorized form of name

Digby, Edward Kenelm, 11th Baron Digby

Parallel form(s) of name

  • Lord Digby

Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules

Other form(s) of name

Identifiers for corporate bodies

Description area

Dates of existence

1894-1964

History

Edward Kenelm Digby was born in 1894, the eldest son of 10th Baron Digby. After Eton and Sandhurst, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant into the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards in 1915. He fought at the battles of Aubers Ridge and Loos in 1915 and was promoted to second-in-command at the age of 21, after his CO was killed. He took part in the battle of the Somme in 1916, when tanks were first used; 11 officers of his battalion were killed on one day in September 1916 and all the others were wounded except him. In 1917 he fought at Passchendaele and played a major role in the occupation and final defeat of Germany in 1918.

On his return home, he married Constance Pamela Bruce, daughter of 2nd Baron Aberdare in 1919 and inherited Minterne from his father when he died in 1920. He couldn’t afford to live at Minterne, so he took the post of Military Secretary to the Governor of Australia from 1920 to 1923. With his bank balance restored, he came back to Minterne, where he bred Channel Island cattle and established a thriving dairy herd. On the outbreak of war in 1939, Minterne was taken over by a naval hospital, and the family moved to Cerne Abbas. During the war, he and Lady Digby delivered the milk around Cerne Abbas.

Following in his father’s footsteps, he bred rhododendrons and azaleas, sponsored collecting expeditions abroad. He was appointed President of the Royal Show in 1949, and President of the Royal Horticultural Society in 1959. He was Lord Lieutenant of Dorset from 1952 until his death. He was appointed Gentleman at Arms 1939, and a member of the Household Body Guard in 1952, resigning on grounds of ill-health. He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1960.

He died in 1964 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward Henry Kenelm, 12th Baron Digby.

Places

Minterne, Dorset
Cerne Abbas, Dorset
Geashill, Co. Offaly
Australia

Legal status

Functions, occupations and activities

Landlord
Soldier
Horticulturalist
Farmer

Mandates/sources of authority

Internal structures/genealogy

General context

Relationships area

Related entity

Digby, Edward Henry Trafalgar, 10th Baron Digby (1846-1920)

Identifier of related entity

Category of relationship

family

Type of relationship

Digby, Edward Henry Trafalgar, 10th Baron Digby

is the parent of

Digby, Edward Kenelm, 11th Baron Digby

Dates of relationship

Description of relationship

Related entity

Digby, Edward Henry Kenelm, 12th Baron (1924-2018)

Identifier of related entity

Category of relationship

family

Type of relationship

Digby, Edward Henry Kenelm, 12th Baron

is the child of

Digby, Edward Kenelm, 11th Baron Digby

Dates of relationship

Description of relationship

Related entity

Digby, Edward St.Vincent, 9th Baron (1809-1889)

Identifier of related entity

Category of relationship

family

Type of relationship

Digby, Edward St.Vincent, 9th Baron

is the grandparent of

Digby, Edward Kenelm, 11th Baron Digby

Dates of relationship

Description of relationship

Access points area

Subject access points

Place access points

Occupations

Control area

Authority record identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

ISAAR (CPF): International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families, 2nd edition (2011)

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation, revision and deletion

Biographical history by Mary Delaney
October 2016

Language(s)

Script(s)

Sources

Maintenance notes

Created by Lisa Shortall

  • Clipboard

  • Export

  • EAC

Related subjects

Related places