Anthony Vivian, 5th Baron Vivian

Anthony Crespigny Claude Vivian, 5th Baron Vivian (4 March 1906 — 1991) was a British impresario-restaurateur^[1] from the Vivian family who became a celebrity in 1954 when he was shot in the abdomen by Mavis Wheeler, the former wife of Sir Mortimer Wheeler, and a former mistress of Augustus John.^[2]

Background

Anthony Crespigny Claude Vivian, 5th Baron Vivian was born on 4 March 1906. He was the son of George Crespigny Brabazon Vivian, 4th Baron Vivian and Barbara Fanning.^[3]

Public life

In 1952, he was the producer with John Clements of The Happy Marriage at the Duke of York's Theatre, London.^[4]

He was a member of the House of Lords from 28 December 1940 until his death on 24 June 1991. His first recorded speech was on 13 March 1967 and his last on 4 April 1984. He made 90 speeches, according to Hansard.

Mavis Wheeler

Vivian commanded tabloid headlines in 1954, when his lover, Mavis Wheeler, the former wife of both Sir Mortimer Wheeler and Horace de Vere Cole, and the mistress of Augustus John, was jailed for six months for shooting him in the abdomen.^[1]

At Wheeler's trial, the prosecuting counsel said that her love for Lord Vivian was overpowering and that she was jealous of any attention he showed to other women. This love, the prosecution claimed, had led her to shoot him, on 30 July 1954, at a range of three inches, with intent to murder him at her country cottage at Potterne, Wiltshire.^[5]

Family

He married Victoria Ruth Mary Rosamund Oliphant (died 1985), daughter of Captain Henry Gerard Laurence Oliphant and Ruth Barry, on 8 March 1930.^[3]

They had three children:

• Sally Anne Marie Gabrielle Vivian (b. 11 September 1930)
• Nicholas Crespigny Laurance Vivian, 6th Baron Vivian (born 11 December 1935 - died 28 February 2004)
• Victor Anthony Ralph Brabazon Vivian (b. 26 March 1940)^[3]

Styles of address

• 1906–1940: The Hon. Anthony Vivian
• 1940–1991: The Rt Hon. The Lord Vivian^{[lower-alpha 1]}

References