Viscount Allenby, of Megiddo and of Felixstowe in the County of Suffolk, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 7 October 1919 for the prominent military commander Field Marshal Sir Edmund Allenby, with remainder, in default of male issue of his own, to his younger brother Captain Frederick Claude Hynman Allenby and his heirs male lawfully begotten. The first Viscount's son was killed in action on the Western Front in 1917.[1]

Edmund Allenby,
1st Viscount Allenby

The creation of the peerage was accompanied by a financial grant of £50,000,[2] equivalent to £2,902,330 in 2023.

The first Viscount was succeeded according to a special remainder by his nephew Captain Frederick Allenby, the second Viscount. The latter's son, the third Viscount, who succeeded in 1984 was one of the ninety elected hereditary peers that remain in the House of Lords after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999, and sat as a crossbencher. As of 2020, the title is held by his son, the 4th Viscount, who succeeded in 2014.[1]

The family seat is Newham Lodge, near Hook, Hampshire.

Viscounts Allenby (1919)

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Present peer

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Henry Jaffnay Hynman Allenby, 4th Viscount Allenby of Megiddo, the only son of the third Viscount Allenby and his wife Sara Margaret Wiggin, daughter of Lt. Colonel Peter Milner Wiggin, was born on 29 July 1968. On 29 September 1996 he married Louise Victoria Green, daughter of Michael Green, of Sands Farm, Faringdon.[1][3] They have two sons, Harry Michael Edmund Allenby (born 2000, heir apparent) and Charles Michael James Allenby (born 2004).[1]

He succeeded as Viscount Allenby on the death of his father in May 2014.[4]

Allenby owns a company which manages woodlands and hedgerows. In December 2017, he was a guest of honour at the Tower of David Museum in Jerusalem, which staged a commemoration of General Allenby's capture of the city in 1917. He commented "To understand about Field Marshal Allenby you have to go to a museum. There were no movies made about him, as there were about Lawrence of Arabia."[5]

Family tree

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Viscount Allenby
 
 
CrestIssuant out of a crescent Gules a demi-lion Proper.[1]
ShieldPer bend Argent and Gules in the sinister three crescents two and one of the second and in the dexter three horses' heads erased one and two of the first all within a bordure Azure.[1]
SupportersDexter a horse reguardant Or sinister a camel reguardant Argent.[1]
MottoFide et Labore[1]


References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Allenby, Viscount" in Debrett's Peerage (2020)
  2. ^ C. Brad Faught, Allenby: Making the Modern Middle East (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020), p. 179
  3. ^ Burke's Peerage, volume 1 (1999), p. 60
  4. ^ "Viscount Allenby" (obituary), The Times, 23 May 2023 (subscription required)
  5. ^ Renee Ghert-Zand, "100 years later, Allenby returns to Jerusalem", The Times of Israel, 11 December 2017, accessed 14 November 2023
  • Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.[page needed]
  • Hesilrige, Arthur G. M. (1921). Debrett's Peerage and Titles of courtesy. London, UK: Dean & son, limited. p. 36.