- Also known as
-
Capt Edward G Spencer-Churchill
-
primary name: Spencer-Churchill, Edward George
- Details
- individual; military/naval; collector; British; Male
- Life dates
- 1876-1964 24 June
- Address
- Northwick Park, Blockley, Gloucestershire
- Biography
- Collector. Son of Lord Edward Spencer-Churchill, DL, and Augusta Warburton, and cousin to Sir Winston Churchill. Inherited Northwick Park from his maternal grandmother in 1912. Awarded the Military Cross in WWI. Sold large groups of inherited prints (selected by the BM) to the BM in 1919 and 1928 (see Dodgson's report 7 March 1928). Other prints were bought at the Sotheby auction in November 1920. The remainder of the Northwick Park Prints and Drawings collection, most of it formed by John Rushout, 2nd Baron Northwick (q.v.) in the 19th century, was sold by order of Spencer-Churchill's executors at Christie's, London, 25 May, 1965, in 266 lots, including many drawings by Joseph West (made into an album by Lord Northwick, acquired in 2009 by the BM) and by George Perfect Harding, and drawings of Chinese costumes.
Spender-Churchill also formed collections himself. He was a member of the Oriental Ceramic Society and of the Karlbeck Syndicate (q.v.). Developed a rich collection and was a lender to the Persian Art Exhibition at the Royal Academy in London from January-February 1931. Sold a large number of objects to the British Museum during his lifetime. Some of his collection was previously bought by Spencer-Churchill from Ernst Herzfeld (q.v.). His will stipulated that the British Museum and Ashmolean Museum should have the first right of refusal on antiquities from his collection, and that the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery should have similar first choice of his paintings.
- Bibliography
- 'lIlustrated London News' 16/1/65, p. 28 (will); 'Sunday Times Magazine' 16/5/65, pp. 22-27 (will)
C.Dodgson, BMQ III 1929 p.19 (prints purchased in 1928)
