The Right Honourable
The Viscount Rochdale
OBE, TD, DL
Preceded byNew creation
Succeeded bySt John Durival Kemp
Personal details
Born
John Durival Kemp

(1906-06-05)5 June 1906
Died24 May 1993(1993-05-24) (aged 86)
Spouse
Elinor Dorothea Pease
​
​
(after 1931)​
RelationsFrancis Egerton, 3rd Earl of Ellesmere (grandfather)
Children2
Parent(s)George Kemp, 1st Baron Rochdale
Lady Beatrice Mary Egerton
EducationEton College
Alma materTrinity College, Cambridge

Brigadier John Durival Kemp, 1st Viscount Rochdale OBE, TD, DL (5 June 1906 – 24 May 1993[1]), was a British peer, soldier and businessman.

Early life

Kemp was the eldest son of George Kemp, 1st Baron Rochdale, and Lady Beatrice Mary Egerton, third daughter of Francis Egerton, 3rd Earl of Ellesmere.[2] His father was a Member of Parliament for Heywood and Manchester North West and served as chairman of Kelsall & Kemp, flannel manufacturers.

He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge where he took a degree in Natural Sciences.

Career

Kemp served in the Second World War with U.S. Forces in the Pacific and with the British Army in India, where he was mentioned in despatches, and achieved the rank of Brigadier. He succeeded to the barony on his father's death in 1945. Lord Rochdale was Chairman of the family firm of Kelsall & Kemp from 1950 to 1971, a Member of the Central Transport Consultative Committees from 1952 to 1957, President of the National Union of Manufacturers from 1953 to 1956, a Governor of the BBC from 1954 to 1959 and Chairman of the Cotton Board from 1957 to 1962,[2] when the industry was suffering significant challenges from imports.[1]

He was also a Member of the House of Lords European Select Committee from 1981 to 1986 and a Deputy Lieutenant of Cumbria from 1948 to 1983. In 1960, he was created Viscount Rochdale, of Rochdale in the County Palatine of Lancaster.[2] Kemp was a Conservative, becoming Chairman of the Rochdale Conservative Association in the 1930s, and on becoming Lord Rochdale in 1945 on the death of his father, he was an active member of the House of Lords. He was at one time President of the Economic League.[1]

Personal life

Lord Rochdale married Elinor Dorothea Pease on 18 March 1931. Elinor was the second daughter of Ernest Hubert Pease, OBE, of Ledge House in Bembridge, Isle of Wight, and Mowden in Darlington. They had two children:[3]

  • St John Durival Kemp, 2nd Viscount Rochdale (1938–2015), who married Serena Jane Clark-Hall, daughter of James Edward Michael Clark-Hall in 1960. They divorced in 1974 and he married Elizabeth (née Boldon) Anderton, the former wife of James Michael Anderton and daughter of Robert Norman Rossiter Boldon.[3]
  • Hon. Bryony Joy Kemp (1947–1963), who died unmarried.[3]

Rochdale died on 24 May 1993.[1][4]

Arms

Coat of arms of John Kemp, 1st Viscount Rochdale
Coronet
A Coronet of a Viscount
Crest
A cubit arm erect vested Argent cuffed Azure the hand Proper grasping a chaplet Vert encircling a rose as in the arms.
Escutcheon
Argent a chevron engrailed Gules between two estoiles in chief Azure and a rose of the second in base barbed and seeded Proper.
Supporters
On either side a ram Or charged on the shoulder with a rose Gules slipped and leaved Proper.
Motto
Lucem Spero (I Hope For Light)[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Knight, Michael (8 June 1993). "Obituary: Viscount Rochdale". The Independent. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
  3. 1 2 3 "Rochdale, Viscount (UK, 1960)". cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  4. ↑ "History". viscountrochdale.com/. Viscount Rochdale. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  5. ↑ Debrett's Peerage. 2019. p. 4151.
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