CLIVE OF PERRYSTONE COURT

Now who is this fine military chap ? 

Lt-Gen Sir (George) Sidney Clive, GCVO, KCB CMG, DSO, DL, JP
of Perrystone Court, Herefordshire.

We'd better let his "Who's Who" entry summarise a distinguished career:

Lt-Gen Sir (George) Sidney CLIVE, GCVO., cr. 1937; KCB cr. 1933 (C.B. 1918); CMG 1919; DSO 1915; late Grenadier Guards; Marshall of the Diplomatic Corps, 1935 - 45; b. 16th July 1874; s. of late General Edward Henry Clive and Isabel, d. of  Daniel Hale Webb; m. 1901, Madeline, 2nd d. of late F.W. Huxton M.P.; two s, two d. Educ: Harrow; Sandhurst. Entered Army 1893; Captain, 1900; Major 1909; Maj-Gen 1924, Lt-Gen 1932; passed Staff College 1903 - 1904; General Staff War Office and London District 1905 - 1914; served Nile Expedition, 1898 (two medals, clasp); South Africa 1899 - 1902 (Queens Medal, 5 clasps); European War, 1914 - 1918 (DSO, Bt.-Col, C.B., CMG); Military Governor at Cologne, 1919; Commanding 1st Infantry Brigade, Aldershot 1920; British Military Representative, League of Nations, Geneva, 1920 - 1922; Military Attache to Paris, 1924 - 1927; Director of Personnel Services, War Office 1928 - 1930; Military Secretary to Secretary of State for War, 1930 - 1934; retired pay 1934; a Director of the Royal Academy of Music; President Union Jack Club and Hostel, 1944; Hon F.R.A.M. 1939; Order of St. Stanislaus, 1st Class (Russia); Grand Croix Legion of Honour; Order of the Crown Commander; Croix de Guerre, French and Belgian, J.P., D.L., Herefordshire, High Sheriff County of Herefordshire, 1939. Address: Perrystone Court, Ross, Herefordshire. Clubs: Guards' Brooks's.

Two generations of Grenadier Guardsmen - Sir Sidney with his son, Archer Clive

It appears that Sir Sidney spent much of the Great War as a liaison with French GHQ, which no doubt explains his subsequent quasi political appointments as the British Military Representative to the League of Nations and then Military Attache to Paris (as well as his Legion d'Honneur and Croix de Guerre). But it is his final appointment, as Marshall of the Diplomatic Corps, that brings him into our period of the late 1930s:

Introducing the new German Ambassador to the Court of St. James, 1936.
Behind the sinister figure of von Ribbentrop, a pillar of the British Establishment,
in monocle and ostrich plumed bicorne - Sir Sidney Clive (of Perrystone Court,
 Herefordshire) performing his duties as Marshall of the Diplomatic Corps.

Escape to the country - interior of Sir Clive's Perrystone Court.
Early 20th Century watercolour.

After one final public appointment within the County (as High Sheriff in 1939), Sir Sidney finally retired. It was a long retirement, cut short by tragedy - an appalling house fire on 7th October 1959 that destroyed Perrystone Court and cost "the old Grenadier" his life. From a retrospective piece in the "Hereford Times":

"Sir Sidney had, over the years, looked across from his country house towards the distant Church of St Mary at Ross. On an October day 46 years ago it was the setting for his memorial service. For three centuries the Grenadiers' March had been beaten to mark the return home after a campaign. At St Mary's that day two drummers of the Grenadier Guards, standing in full dress uniform in the north porch, beat out that march to the accompaniment of the organ. Music at the service included an anthem of Sir Sidney's composition, "Whither Thou Goest". All was carried out with pomp and ceremony and military precision - a far cry from the chaotic and grim scenes that had unfolded at Perrystone Court a few days earlier.

Jean Rundell, a nurse living in a flat at Perrystone, was awakened at 5.30 am by her mother who had heard a crackling sound. Looking through a window she could see a rosy glow of fire reflected on trees. Flames and sparks were coming from the morning room window. Perrystone housekeeper Gertrude Enseleit awoke other members of staff in the servants' wing and then ran to the neighbouring Bothy Cottage of air traffic controller Ronald Wilson, shouting `Fire!' and `the General is still in there!' He and his wife tried to enter the mansion but were driven back by dense smoke. But he was not to be defeated and later recalled: "The gardener got a ladder and I went up to the General's room. Down below the morning room was like a torch and the hall was beginning to blaze. I had to make two or three attempts to get across the room before I located General Clive. He was lying on the bed. I dragged him to the window and the people below had got a bigger ladder. Chauffeur Michael Cullum came up with a rope and between us we got it round the General's waist and got him out and down to the ground."

Jean Rundell carried out artificial respiration until the ambulance arrived. En route to hospital the grand old military man died. It was thought that the General's faithful old sheepdog Tony had perished but he was later found asleep on a rug in the housekeeper's room.

Many valuable paintings, including Gainsboroughs, and silver were taken to safety from the house by members of staff. Damage to Perrystone Court - bought by the Clive family in 1865 - was severe. A number of rooms were completely gutted and the roof of the main part of the house had collapsed as had a massive chimney stack which crashed into the middle of the building.

At the inquest later that month South Herefordshire coroner Cyril Shawcross heaped praise on Ronald Wilson for his courage in entering the blazing mansion. He also complimented chauffeur Cullum for his quick-thinking...."

St. Mary's Church, Ross-on-Wye.

Note : Sir Sidney's son, Archer Clive, continued the family tradition. Educated at Harrow and then Sandhurst, he fought with the Grenadier Guards during WW2, being awarded an MC in 1940 and then commanding the 6th Batt., Grenadiers, between 1941 and 1943. Retiring from the Army in 1947 with the rank of Brigadier, he became a Justice of the Peace in Herefordshire and served as Deputy Lieutenant of the County in 1960. He died in March 1995. See his WIKI entry here.