| Notes |
- "Whether driving to Port Eliot or coming by train it is not until you get within 100 yards of the House and Park that you have any idea that such a beautiful place exists. The undulations of the country side with the twists and turns of the estuary make this place invisible from any public highway or foot path. The site has been occupied for more than 1000 years. The first 500 plus years by God and half the millennium by the Eliots!"
Peregrine St Germans
• Eliot. – On January 2nd, at Willingdon Hospital, Lahore, India, to Helen, wife of Captain Nicholas Eliot, the D.C.L.I., of Port Eliot, St. Germans, Cornwall, a son.
• https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2016/07/17/the-earl-of-st-germans--obituary/
The 10th Earl of St Germans, who has died aged 75, enjoyed all the attributes that the popular press expects of the aristocracy - a distinguished lineage, burdensome inheritance, family tragedy and personal eccentricity that flirted with Byronic dissolution.
A central figure in the dalliance with the counter-culture by members of the peerage that began in the 1960s, Lord St Germans personified a certain brand of rakish hippiedom thereafter. Yet he did not allow his fondness for relaxed social norms to compromise a near-feudal grip on his family estate in south-east Cornwall, whose preservation he helped to assure.
His "Elephant Fayre", a festival that took place for a number of years on the Port Eliot estate, attracted some 10,000 revellers, travellers and devotees of the New Age, initially free of charge. The festival took its name from the beast that is the Eliot family's crest, and until the Fayre's demise in the late 1980s one of its prime attractions was a giant wooden elephant. Its howdah could be reached by a ladder concealed within the elephant's hollow core.
In 2003 Elephant Fayre was updated and succeeded by the Port Eliot Lit Fest, an eclectic cultural fiesta with a flavour of Boden-wearing Bohemianism that became a great success, chiefly as a result of the energy and public relations skills of his third wife Cathy Wilson. It combines music and book festival activities with catering by fashionable restaurateurs, cocktail-making classes and wellbeing-focused pursuits such as stargazing, Tibetan chanting and foraging rambles. A luxury yurt can be rented for £1,300.
Peregrine Nicholas Eliot was born on January 2 1941, the only son of the 9th Earl of St Germans, an engaging eccentric known for his devotion to the turf and the nature of his early livelihood as the "Bookie Peer". He listed his recreations in Who's Who as "huntin' the slipper, shootin' a line, fishin' for compliments"; his son, Perry, streamlined his fun to "mucking about".
The Eliots established themselves in Cornwall in the mid-16th century with the purchase of the former Augustinian Priory of St Germans and built their seat at Port Eliot, bordering the Tamar estuary. The house has a park landscaped by Repton, a round room and stables by Soane and a kitchen some 350ft from the dining room; the kitchen also possesses a steam-driven cherry-stoner.
Edward Eliot, MP for Cornwall, was created Baron Eliot in 1784, with the earldom being conferred on his son in 1815. His six successors in the 20th century enjoyed turbulent fortunes. The heir of the 5th Earl committed suicide in the house in 1909 during a village cricket match; his body was found when he missed his turn to bowl. The 6th Earl died following a point to point fall, the 7th was incarcerated in a lunatic asylum, while the 8th, Peregrine Eliot's grandfather, was a courtier described as "having all the stiffness of a poker, with none of its occasional warmth".
Young Perry had a troubled childhood. His parents divorced when he was six, and his mother died when he was 10. His father thereafter spent much of his time in Tangiers, and Perry and his sister were largely brought up by their grandparents and a strict Victorian nanny.
He was educated at Eton, where, he later recalled, "I failed quite spectacularly, even with the assistance of the birch, to take advantage of some of the best teachers in the land"; he came bottom of the school's academic table.
His father made over the 6,000-acre Port Eliot estate to Perry in 1958, and on succeeding as 9th Earl in 1960 changed his telegraphic address in Tangiers to "Earls Court". Peregrine, now Lord Eliot, was hit particularly hard when his grandmother, to whom he was close, killed herself shortly afterwards.
The young Lord Eliot gave himself fully to the spirit of the 1960s. He travelled, driving to India in a Volkswagen Beetle and to Tangiers on a vintage motorcycle (named Veronique) which he customised with sand filters and an ivory gear stick; he afterwards became vice-President of the Harley-Davidson Riders' Club of Great Britain.
He was accompanied on an expedition to the Atlas mountains in search of the domestically extinct Cornish chough by the explorer Robin Hanbury-Tenison. On another occasion, on a whim, he walked from Port Eliot to London.
In the late 1960s, Lord Eliot and two friends secured the franchise to market all the Beatles' merchandise, but in the end he did not make any money out of it. However, his interest in rock music - and the alternative lifestyle that accompanied it - persisted; he was a regular attender at the Glastonbury pop music festival and a great friend of Michael Eavis.
"It is futile to recall anything about the festival," he reflected, "especially if the whole thing's done on acid." He found it equally futile to discuss the pleasures of hallucinogens with non-initiates, comparing it to explaining the rules of tennis to a crustacean. Perry Eliot passed his enthusiasm for music on to his second son, Louis, the lead singer with the pop band Rialto.
Lord Eliot was interested in all forms of art. For a time he ran the Elephant Press from the gatehouse at Port Eliot, and gave board for almost a decade to his friend the poet Heathcote Williams. He also commissioned a vast mural (documenting his life) for Sir John Soane's great round room at Port Eliot. The artist, Robert Lenkiewicz, had hitherto been best known for making use in an earlier work of the mummified corpse of a down-and-out he had befriended in Plymouth.
Another of Lord Eliot's additions was the construction of a maze more than usually influenced by the legend of Theseus; it is said to have the head of a bull buried at its centre. This was the latest in a series of peculiar additions to the landscape of Port Eliot. The 8th Earl had a sundial bearing the legend "No man knoweth the hour" built for the walled garden, but put it on the north side, where the sun never shines.
Peregrine Eliot succeeded to the earldom on his father's death in 1988. Thereafter, when his name appeared in the press, it was accompanied increasingly by farce and tragedy. In 1964 he had married the siren beauty Jacquetta Lampson, daughter of the 1st Lord Killearn, who as Sir Miles Lampson had been Ambassador to Egypt during the Second World War. Jacquetta later attracted notoriety by posing for nude studies by her friend, the artist Lucian Freud.
She and Perry Eliot had three sons, but then separated; their protracted divorce was not concluded until 1989. Three years later, the Earl married his girlfriend Elizabeth Williams, but those close to him did not take to her. The staff at Port Eliot had T-shirts printed with the legend "It was better with Jacquetta", while the Earl's sister, Frances, Countess of Shelburne, told the prospective Countess of St Germans that she was not good enough to marry into the family.
That comment came out in court when Elizabeth Williams was arrested for driving the wrong way down a one-way street; she said that she had done so after having a drink to get over the Countess's remark. She and the Earl separated soon after their marriage and were divorced in 1996.
Shortly before, Lord St Germans sold to the Getty Museum for £5 million one of the last Rembrandts left in private hands, Daniel and Cyrus before the Idol of Bel.
His companion for some years was the shoe designer Emma Hope. Since being forced as a child to attend Pony Club he had had a strong dislike of horses, but relaxed his ban on them on the estate to allow her to stable her hunter, Flash, at Port Eliot. Latterly he hosted lawn meets for the East Cornwall Hunt and established a now successful one-day equestrian event.
He was also strong-willed and provocative, and in 1998 an industrial tribunal found that he was wrong to have had his housekeeper sacked when she took time off after having hurt herself cleaning his family silver.
He had an intense temperament given to brooding, a condition not alleviated by the emphysema which he endured for much of the 1990s; in 1997 Emma Hope persuaded him to have a lung transplant. His newly transformed life, he wrote in The Daily Telegraph, amounted to "a miracle".
An accomplished prestidigitator who could weave a coin across his fingers, Lord St Germans had first suffered from respiratory problems when touring America as a magician. Sharing a hospital room with an Indian chief, he had been kept awake by chanting squaws. He had chosen the site of his grave some years ago, a meadow that afforded his favourite view of the estate.
In 2005 Lord St Germans married Catherine Wilson, formerly style editor of the Daily Telegraph Magazine. She survives him with two of the sons from his first marriage. His eldest son, Jago, a former surfing champion of Spain, died in 2006; Jago's young son Albert (Albie) succeeds to the earldom.
• http://porteliotfestival.com/peregrine-st-germans/
Everybody at Port Eliot is sad beyond measure at having to confirm that Peregrine, Lord St Germans, passed away on the afternoon of Friday 15 July. Peregrine died after a short illness following surgery for cancer. Peregrine loved Port Eliot, the festival and the Elephant Fayre that preceded it, and made clear that he wanted this year's festival to go ahead with instructions that it should be the best ever. So, we are more determined than ever that that is what it will be.
(Posted on July 17, 2016)
• http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/204784/st-germans
Telegraph.co.uk Announcement (20 Jul 2016)
Peregrine, 10th Earl of St Germans, died on 15th July 2016, aged 75. Much loved husband of Catherine, father of the late Jago and of Louis and Francis. Funeral to be held on Tuesday 26th July at 2.30 p.m. at St Germans Priory Church, St Germans, PL12 5NP. (Family and friends welcome).
• http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/sombre-funeral-for-a-colourful-aristocrat/story-29553518-detail/story.html
Sombre funeral for colourful Earl of St Germans
By WMNKRossiter | Posted: July 26, 2016
The Bohemian Perry Eliot might have been surprised to see so much black. His was a life was lived in full colour.
The 10th Earl of St Germans was buried yesterday on his beloved Port Eliot estate after an emotional funeral service at St Germans Priory Church.
Hundreds of mourners came from the village in South East Cornwall and from around the world to celebrate his life. Many will stay on for the Port Eliot literary festival, which begins tomorrow in the grounds of his estate. Thursday
Lord Eliot's original "Elephant Fayre" festival attracted thousands of revellers, and New Age travellers in the 1980s.
In 2003 it was reborn as the Port Eliot Festival, a cultural fiesta that became a great success, chiefly as a result of the skills of his widow Catherine.
Peregrine Nicholas - Perry to his friends - Eliot leaves a widow, his third wife Catherine, whom he wed in 2005, and sons Louis and Francis. His eldest son and heir Jago died in 2006 and the estate will pass to his 11-year-old grandson Albert, who paid a brave and moving tribute in the funeral service.
Albert, who becomes the 11th Earl of St Germans, recounted holidays spent at Port Eliot and the wonderful stories told by his grandfather.
"We love our Grandad," he said.
The Countess of St Germans read the poem "The Love that I have", by Leo Marks.
Lord Eliot suffered from ill health, and needed a kidney transplant a few years ago. His son Louis thanked the man who donated the kidney, Jo Lanyon, for the extra years of life.
Lord Eliot's son Francis said: "No matter how stressful his life was, he knew that the peace of Port Eliot was his birthright.
"There were very few rules in Dad's court - shut the doors, show up to meals in shoes, put records back in their sleeves and have as much fun as possible." His father would send him upstairs to get ready for bed while he "sat in a chair and smoked a joint to the music of the Rolling Stones".
The service was conducted by the Revd Michael Goodland, and the Duke of Cornwall was represented by the Marquis of Lansdowne, who read from Ecclesiastes Chapter 2, Verses 1-8 and 22, "To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the sun...."
Sir Richard Carew Pole reflected on "the life of a very exceptional man". He said their families had been neighbours for centuries.
"He didn't do stress," he said. "One of his listed recreations was 'sitting still'."
He described how, when Peregrine took over Port Eliot from his grandfather at the age of 21, "suddenly the house was full of young people".
The East Cornwall Bach Choir sang A Whiter Shade of Pale, Air on a G String, and The Cloud-Capp'd Tow'rs and the bellringer was Shaun Turner.
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1941 - 2016 (75 years)
