Talk:John Erle-Drax

A fact from John Erle-Drax appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 11 January 2010 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that John Samuel Wanley Sawbridge-Ernle-Erle-Drax raised and supported the East Kent militia during the 1830 Swing Riots?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2010/January.

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Some dubious claims

Both the main sources in this are letters to the editor of the Times; at least one detail (the window) is a story usually attributed to Isaac Newton. I have a feeling I've seen the one about a newspaper delivery to the tomb before, but can't say where.

As to the issue of the name, Hansard seems to give him as "John Erle-Drax"; when he's sworn in, the record of his full name there is "John Samuel Wanley Sawbridge Erle Drax"; this is the same form used in, eg, Kelly's Directory, and in his obituary notice in the Times in 1887 ("John Samuel Wanley Sawbridge Erle-Drax ... Mr. Erle-Drax."). I'm not sure where the Ernle comes from, but the Sawbridge is probably a middle name. Shimgray | talk | 04:15, 31 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Per the above, I've moved it to John Samuel Wanley Sawbridge Erle-Drax; it might be best at John Erle-Drax, but there seems to be an art collector (dealer?) of that name. Shimgray | talk | 04:19, 31 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Aha - this explains it. John Sawbridge; assumed the surname of Erle-Drax in 1828 when he inherited the family estates from his wife's brother, Richard Erle-Drax. So would that make surname was two words, one of those hyphenated - "Mr. Sawbridge Erle-Drax"? I fear this is the kind of titular subtlety that leaves me confused... Shimgray | talk | 04:27, 31 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The "this is a dastardly lie..." story - which is probably the main source of interest in the man today - can be impeccably sourced; see [1] for example. – iride scent 21:41, 31 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I found that and put it in. My apologies for the terse tone earlier! :-) Shimgray | talk | 17:11, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Further to the above: impeccable source for the existence of his mausoleum and its subsequent demolition in 1935-1937; Biography of the man from Dorset magazine (despite the amateurish-looking website, this is a bona-fide local newspaper published by the eminently-respectable Archant). – iride scent 21:56, 31 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Oh hurrah. I was hoping we could find something in the Victoria County History, this is the sort of architectural weirdness they like, but apparently no-one's yet written the entries for Dorset.

I've been digging a bit about the window story - no luck either way yet. Shimgray | talk | 17:11, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]