Thursday 19 November 2020

The last charge of the 'poor' brigade / The troubled life and adventures of the Earl of Cardigan / VIDEO : Blue Bloods Breadline: UK nobles on verge of losing historic estates


Originally published in 2017

Earl of Cardigan's lawyer quits in latest storm to hit troubled country estate
Patrick Sawer, senior reporter
18 MARCH 2017 • 8:00PM

As the scion of one of the country’s oldest aristocratic families the Earl of Cardigan has an impeccable pedigree.

But his stewardship of his family’s extensive Wiltshire estate has for several years been fraught with feuds and difficulties.

It has now emerged that a senior lawyer appointed by the Earl, David Brudenell-Bruce,  to oversee his affairs at Savernake Estate has resigned following a dispute over the way it was being run.

Simon Weil quit as a trustee as part of an agreed settlement with the Earl, three years after he was appointed to replace another of his trustees, John Moore, who left in acrimonious circumstances.

 His resignation marks another chapter in the frequently turbulent affairs of the Earl, whose ancestors include the general who led the ill-fated charge of the Light Brigade.

At the same time as Mr Weil standing down, another trustee, Wilson Cotton, has also resigned from his role at the Savernake Estate.

Mr Weil remained circumspect last night over his resignation, saying only: “I do not want to say any more thank you very much. My resignation was part of an agreed settlement with Lord Cardigan. It was part of an agreed court order.”

However, it is understood that his resignation is linked to a bitter legal dispute between Mr Weil and Mr Cotton and Lord Cardigan over a property in his grounds rented by the pop star Pete Doherty.

Lord Cardigan last year sued Mr Cotton for thousands of pounds in lost rent on Sturmy House following repairs needed when Doherty left the £1 million property “uninhabitable”.

Damage caused by the Babyshambles and Libertines singer – whose drug problems and riotous lifestyle made him a cult figure on the British pop scene – included broken windows, graffiti on walls, cats running wild among its nine bedrooms and mounds of rotting rubbish around the property.

Further damage was caused when a burst pipe led to flooding after Doherty, who paid £2,950 a month in rent for Sturmy House, moved out in 2010 without informing the agent.

The damage cost Lord Cardigan’s insurers £65,000 to repair and almost as much in lost rent after it lay empty following Doherty’s departure.

 Pete Doherty at Sturmy House, during his stay on Lord Cardigan's Savernake Estate
Mr Cotton has now also stepped down as a trustee of the estate but, according to Mr Weil retains, some involvement in the Earl’s affairs.

“We both stepped down as Trustees of the estate but he remains a trustee of a remaining settlement,” said Mr Weil.

Lord Cardigan had also sued Mr Cotton over the £376,768 fees he charged, calling them excessive.

Relations between the two men became so strained that in 2011 Lord Cardigan was accused of sabotaging a commercial pheasant shoot on his estate by destroying stands and “running a dog through the cover so as to disperse the birds”.

This led to the shooting syndicate, which had paid £52,000 a year in fees, to turn its back on Savernake, robbing the estate of valuable revenue.

The refurbishment of Sturmy House overran by 18 months and the delay in renting the house cost the estate an estimated £50,000 in potential revenue.

The Earl – described as “abrasive” in court papers – had earlier succeeded in having Mr Moore, his former close friend, removed as a trustee after legal action in 2014.

A trial judge at the time said: “Mr Moore has had to put up with a great deal of unpleasantness despite the amount of time he has devoted to the estate.”

The judge thought Mr Moore should be removed due to the breakdown in relations between him and Lord Cardigan.

He wrote: "The lion’s share of responsibility for that breakdown ought, I think, to be laid at Lord Cardigan’s door (and that of Mr Bloom) [Lord Cardigan's legal adviser.]" 

The Earl, whose title dates back to 1611, has repeatedly experienced financial problems.

He has run up legal costs of more than £600,000 in legal actions and paid his first wife more than £900,000 in a divorce settlement.

By 2013 the Savernake estate had run up debts of £1.8 million, with interest charges of £18,000 a month.

He has also fallen out with other family members, most spectacularly his daughter, Lady Catherine Brudenell-Bruce.

The Earl was accused of sending her abusive emails. She obtained a restraining order banning him from attending his first wife’s funeral in 2012.

Mr Weil is a senior partner with the London solicitors Bircham Dyson Bell.  He specialises in charities, philanthropy, trusts and 'the resolution of potentially contentious issues arising out of wills, trusts and co-ownership of property'. 

Among his 'career highlights' mentioned on the firm's website is "resolving a bitter family dispute arising out of the estate of a millionairess




“Lord Cardigan, 61, whose family name is David Brudenell-Bruce, has been living on £71 per week jobseekers’ allowance and training to be a lorry driver while the court case has rumbled on. He and his second wife, Joanne, live with their one-year-old daughter Lady Sophie in a lodge on the estate which they cannot afford to heat.”
Earl of Cardigan admits defeat in battle to keep ancestral home on Savernake estate
The Earl of Cardigan will not contest an Appeal Court ruling that Tottenham House should be sold by trustees acting in his interests

Gordon Rayner By Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter5:59PM BST 17 Oct 2014

It was given to his family by William the Conqueror and was once the site of Wolf Hall, the home of Jane Seymour made famous by Hilary Mantel’s award-winning novel.
But yesterday the Earl of Cardigan finally admitted defeat in his battle to keep the most valuable part of the Savernake estate in his family after three senior judges ruled it should be sold.
The Earl, who once said he was “put on this earth to take care of Savernake and I will never let it go” has decided not to contest the Appeal Court’s decision that trustees who control the Wiltshire estate should be allowed to sell its dilapidated centrepiece, Tottenham House, and 800 acres of land.
For a man whose forebears include the 7th Earl, who led the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War, defeat may be a bitter pill to swallow, but it will at least be sugared by the fact that he and his son will be the beneficiaries when the plot is sold for £11.25 million.
Lord Cardigan, 61, whose family name is David Brudenell-Bruce, has been living on £71 per week jobseekers’ allowance and training to be a lorry driver while the court case has rumbled on. He and his second wife, Joanne, live with their one-year-old daughter Lady Sophie in a lodge on the estate which they cannot afford to heat.
Yesterday Lord Justice Vos, Lady Justice Black and Lord Justice Moore-Bick unanimously upheld an earlier High Court decision that the trustees of the estate should be allowed to proceed with the sale. The buyer is reported to be the Conservative donor and property developer Jamie Ritblat, whose company also owns the former Athletes’ Village at the London 2012 Olympic site.
The judges said in their written ruling that “everyone now agrees” that Tottenham House must be sold. The Grade I listed house, which has more than 100 rooms, and Grade II* listed stable block have been largely unoccupied since the 1990s and are “decaying fast”, the judges said.
They decided the trustees, who control a 51 per cent share of the estate, had acted properly and in the interests of the beneficiaries, Lord Cardigan and his son Thomas, Viscount Savernake, in accepting the £11.25m offer. Lord Cardigan argued that the sale had not been openly advertised and that the true value was nearer £15m, even though the estate agent Knight Frank had only estimated its value at £8.5m.

Tottenham House is in need of major renovations

The ruling brings to an end a two-year power struggle between Lord Cardigan and the trustees, Wilson Cotton and John Moore, whom he tried unsuccessfully to have removed.
The Earl, who will eventually succeed his 88-year-old father as the 9th Marquess of Ailesbury, had hoped to save Tottenham House, near Great Bedwyn, by leasing it to an American company which wanted to turn it into a hotel and golf resort, but the company went bust in 2011.
The trustees decided the house should be sold, and offered it to interested parties last year, leading to the acceptance of the highest bid. The bid was for the “residential refurbishment” of the house and stables and came from “a well known party in the real estate world”, the judges said. The sale is expected to be completed within weeks.

The stable block is in a particularly poor state of repair

Ironically, the trust which controls the estate was set up in 1951 precisely to prevent the family from losing control of it. The Earl’s father, the Marquess of Ailesbury, and his grandfather were troubled by the story of the 4th Marquess, who once tried to sell the estate to settle gambling debts, and set up the trust to remove the power of sale from future generations.
Tottenham House had already become ruinously expensive by the 1940s, and in 1946 it was leased to Hawtreys, a prep school, until 1994, and then to a charity which moved out in 2004. It has been empty ever since.
Lord Cardigan and the trust will still own the remaining 3,700 mainly forested acres of the Savernake estate, which were given to his ancestor Richard Esturmy by William the Conqueror in 1067 for his contribution to victory at the Battle of Hastings. Tottenham House was built in 1818, but the estate’s manor house was once Wolf Hall, home of Henry VIII’s third wife Jane Seymour.

Lord Cardigan was unavailable for comment.


Downton and out: He lives in a stately home and has a 4,500 acre estate but Earl of Cardigan admits he's claiming Jobseeker's Allowance as he is bound over to keep the peace in long-running feud
Aristocrat appeared in court today accused of theft and criminal damage
His legal team says he is on benefits and suffering 'financial difficulties'
Earl is in long-running row with trustees of his 1,000-year-old Savernake estate in Wiltshire
They fell out in 2007 and have been at loggerheads ever since

By Luke Salkeld for the Daily Mail
PUBLISHED: 15:32 GMT, 29 January 2013 | UPDATED: 23:16 GMT, 29 January 2013

Earl of Cardigan, pictured leaving court yesterday, is currently claiming benefits but has looked for work as a lorry driver, according to his mother

His privileged background provides him with a title, a stately home and a 4,000-acre country estate.
Yet it appears the Earl of Cardigan is also entitled – courtesy of the taxpayer – to around £71 per week in Jobseeker’s Allowance.
The aristocrat was revealed to be receiving the state benefit at his latest court appearance over a long-running feud with estate trustees.
The 60-year-old earl, full name David Michael James Brudenell-Bruce, had been due to stand trial after denying damaging six pheasant feeders worth £66 and the theft of a battery and electrical power unit worth £80.
The offences were said to have happened at his Savernake Estate, near Marlborough, Wiltshire, which has been in his family for almost 1,000 years.
The troubled aristocrat claims to live there with rain coming in through the roof, no hot water, unsafe electrics and with heating confined to a single room after falling out with trustees in 2007 resulting in a reduced income.
The Old Etonian claims he must visit the public baths in Marlborough to take a hot shower and goes to bed fully clothed wearing a hat to keep warm.
The descendant of the man who led the Charge of the Light Brigade, the earl is at loggerheads with the trustees of his country pile.
He took one of them, his former friend John Moore, to the High Court accusing him of selling family portraits without his permission, but lost the case.
Their continued dispute, said to date back to 2007, has left him broke, he says.
Yesterday at Swindon Crown Court he was bound over in the sum of £200 to keep the peace – meaning the prosecution will probably drop all charges if he causes no trouble for a year.

Lord Cardigan, pictured with wife Joanne outside Tottenham House, part of his huge Savernake Estate, near Marlborough, receives about £71 a week in Job Seekers' Allowance


Old Etonian David Brudenell-Bruce is descendant of the 7th Earl who famously led the disastrous British cavalry charge of the 600 in 1854 against the Russians in the Crimean War.
Their title goes back to 1611 when James I created the Baronetage of England and offered titles to 200 men to help with the settlement of Ireland.
They have lived on the same estate in Wiltshire for 1,000 years.
They rode 'into the jaws of Death, into the mouth of Hell', wrote Tennyson in his poem commemorating the suicidal attack.


An appalling series of misunderstandings led to the Brigade advancing down a different valley from the one commander-in-chief, Lord Raglan, had intended when he dictated ambiguous orders for Lord Lucan, the cavalry commander.
Despite the fact that the order seemed to demand the cavalry to attack the Russian artillery without infantry support - in contravention of all accepted laws of military practice - an incredulous Lucan passed the instructions on to the Earl of Cardigan, who commanded the Light Brigade, and the troops advanced.
664 men took part and 110 were left dead.
Claire Marlow, prosecuting, said: ‘These offences are generally of a nuisance and aimed at disrupting the workings of the trustees and the estate.’
Mike Pulsford, defending, said the earl was maintaining his innocence but agreed to be bound over, adding: ‘There is a Chancery Court application by my client to remove the two trustees from the Savernake Estate.’
Mr Pulsford told the court that the earl is unemployed and has been receiving Jobseeker’s Allowance.
‘He is not working. One of his claims against the trustees is that they have withheld certain monies from him,’ he said.


Earl who was ousted from his £12million family seat in row with trustees slams 'stupid' prosecutors after he's cleared for 16TH TIME of harassing estate staff
Earl of Cardigan has been hauled before the courts 16 times since 2013
None of the 62-year-old's appearances have resulted in a conviction
Said he was 'relieved' but criticised the 'waste of the court's time'

By SAM MATTHEW FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 16:21 GMT, 6 August 2015 | UPDATED: 17:58 GMT, 6 August 2015

An aristocrat at the centre of a ten-year legal wrangle over his historic family estate has slammed prosecutors after he was cleared of harassment - for the 16TH TIME.

The Earl of Cardigan, 62, has been in and out of court after becoming embroiled in a row with trustees and employees at his the 4,500 acre Savernake Estate in Wiltshire.

The notorious lord - who lost his £12million mansion during the battle - was accused of a string of offences against employees of trustees of the estate.

Real name, David Brudenell-Bruce, he was brought before the court again this week accused of harassment against a foreman.

But magistrates once again decided he had no case to answer and cleared him - the 16th court appearance which has resulted in no conviction since 2013.

The earl - who was once forced to claim benefits and wash in a local swimming pool due to having no hot water - has questioned the CPS's decision to take the cases to court.

He said: 'I'm hugely relieved. It's stupidity that most of them came to trial in the first place.

'It's a waste of the court's time.'

The Savernake Estate, which includes a stately home and Britain's only privately-owned forest, had been in the Earl's family for almost 1,000 years.

The legal saga began when Lord Cardigan - who was estate manager - left England in 2005 after he fell ill with depression.

He appointed John Moore, a local barrister's clerk and friend, to act as a trustee to run the estate when he was away.

But when he returned with his new American wife, the trustees refused to give up control of the 4,500 acre ancestral estate, sparking a bitter feud between the parties.

Lord Cardigan - estranged father of The Voice star Bo Bruce - was forced to live in a run-down farmhouse on the estate.

He claimed it had no running hot water while the 19th-Century Tottenham House was empty.

The old Etonian went to the High Court in London last year to get Mr Moore removed as a trustee and was successful.

The former friend was also ordered to repay the estate £117,000 the court found he had wrongly taken in self-remuneration.

However it was too late to save Tottenham House, which was sold for £12million by the trustees after an Appeal Court ruling.

But during the course of the long-running feud, Mr Moore and two estate employees - gamekeeper Peter Tilley and foreman Les Kyle - alleged they were harassed by the lord.

The Earl of Cardigan, pictured left with wife Joanna, and his estranged daughter, Bo Bruce, right

The allegations covered everything from putting up posters, complaints from the earl about poor conditions at his home, and arguments about snares around the estate.

Some 13 of the alleged offences were dealt during 2013 and 2014, with the four others dealt with the last few weeks.

All have ended with no conviction against the aristocrat, apart from one, which won't be heard until October.


BITTER BATTLE WITH TRUSTEES THAT LAID A ONCE-GREAT FAMILY LOW
The Earl of Cardigan holding a portrait of his famous ancestor  
In 1980, the current Earl married Rosamund Jane. But in 2005, she asked for a divorce, which was the start of a series of disasters.
In 2005 he left England after he suffered from a bout of depression.
He subsequently became estranged from his daughter, his former wife died and he became embroiled in a bitter battle with the trustees of his estate – leading commentators to liken his life to a Shakespearean tragedy.
He says the dispute with the trustees started when he returned from the US in 2011 to discover they had sold off family portraits to pay outstanding bills.
The trustees have since made a number of criminal allegations against the Earl, ranging from damaging pheasant feeders to spitting at them, although none of the charges resulted in a conviction.
Just two years ago, it was revealed he was claiming £71-a-week Jobseeker's Allowance and showering at a local swimming bath as his lodge on the estate did not have hot water.
In December last year the mansion on the estate - Tottenham House - was sold for £12 million.
The Earl had challenged a decision by the trustees of the Savernake estate to sell the dilapidated house near Marlborough, Wiltshire, but lost the case.
Just last Month Lord Cardigan was cleared of three cases of harassment at North West Wiltshire Magistrates' Court.
On July 13, he was cleared of harassing John Moore, a former trustee of his estate, over a broken shower. He was alleged to have bombarded Moore with phone calls.
On July 20, he was acquitted of harassing Peter Tilley, a gamekeeper, on his estate, who claimed the earl had caused him distress by putting up a number of notices warning people about the snares he had set in Savernake Forest.
Seven days later he was cleared of harassing Les Kyle, the foreman at his 4,500-acre ancestral estate. 
It had been alleged that he had tailgated Kyle and made distressing comments to him.



THE ARISTOCRATS WHO LED THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE
David Brudenell-Bruce is descended from the seventh Earl of Cardigan, who famously led the charge of the Light Brigade against the Russians in the Crimean War, immortalised by Tennyson     +6
David Brudenell-Bruce is descended from the seventh Earl of Cardigan, who famously led the charge of the Light Brigade against the Russians in the Crimean War, immortalised by Tennyson
Old Etonian David Brudenell-Bruce is descendant of the 7th Earl who famously led the disastrous British cavalry charge of the 600 in 1854 against the Russians in the Crimean War.
Their title goes back to 1611 when James I created the Baronetage of England and offered titles to 200 men to help with the settlement of Ireland.
They have lived on the same estate in Wiltshire for 1,000 years.
They rode 'into the jaws of Death, into the mouth of Hell', wrote Tennyson in his poem commemorating the suicidal attack.
An appalling series of misunderstandings led to the Brigade advancing down a different valley from the one commander-in-chief, Lord Raglan, had intended when he dictated ambiguous orders for Lord Lucan, the cavalry commander.
Despite the fact that the order seemed to demand the cavalry to attack the Russian artillery without infantry support - in contravention of all accepted laws of military practice - an incredulous Lucan passed the instructions on to the Earl of Cardigan, who commanded the Light Brigade, and the troops advanced.
664 men took part and 110 were left dead.



Earl of Cardigan is found guilty of harassing the female former caretaker of his £12million country mansion outside Waitrose
Earl of Cardigan guilty of harassing female former caretaker of mansion
The Old Etonian shouted abusive comments at her outside Waitrose store
It was 17th time he has been in court accused of harassing his estate staff
The other 16 occasions he was cleared. The earl was fined £200 for offence
UPDATE: Lord Cardigan appealed the conviction and has been cleared

By Sam Tonkin For Mailonline
PUBLISHED: 13:15 GMT, 12 November 2015 | UPDATED: 18:08 GMT, 5 July 2016

The Earl of Cardigan has been found guilty of harassing the female former caretaker of his £12million country mansion during an altercation outside a Waitrose supermarket.

It was the 17th time in two years he has been hauled before the courts on accusations of harassing his estate staff but the first time it has resulted in a conviction.

The Old Etonian aristocrat, 63, was found to have used threatening language in shouting abusive comments at former Tottenham House employee Prue Chetwynd-Talbot.

Lord Cardigan, who appeared at North West Wiltshire Magistrates Court in Chippenham, denied the charge and claimed he was merely pointing out Ms Chetwyn-Talbot to a mutual friend.

But magistrates found him guilty of the offence at a Waitrose store in Marlborough in April 2013.

The earl was fined £200 and ordered to pay a £20 victim surcharge plus £350 costs for using threatening words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress under the section five of the Public Order Act.

It has since emerged that the estranged father of The Voice star Bo Bruce is appealing the decision.

In August the earl, whose real name is David Brudenell-Bruce, slammed prosecutors after he was cleared of harassment for the 16th time.

He has been in and out of court since becoming embroiled in a ten-year legal row with trustees and employees at his 4,500 acre Savernake Estate in Wiltshire.

Six months before the harassment clearance he lost a battle to prevent the sale of the £12million home on the estate that has been in his family for 900 years. 

Lord Cardigan, who once said he was 'put on this earth to take care of Savernake and I will never let it go', had fought to keep the 100-room property in his family but was forced to admit defeat earlier this year after an Appeal Court ruling.

Bitterness between the earl and employees of trustees of the estate led to him being accused of a string of offences against them but in all 16 court appearances dating back to 2013 magistrates found there was no case to answer.

In August, the earl - who was once forced to claim benefits and wash in a local swimming pool due to having no hot water - questioned the CPS's decision to take the cases to court.

He said: 'I'm hugely relieved. It's stupidity that most of them came to trial in the first place.

'It's a waste of the court's time.'

The legal saga began when Lord Cardigan, who was estate manager, left England in 2005 after he fell ill with depression.

He appointed John Moore, a local barrister's clerk and friend, to act as a trustee to run the estate when he was away.

The Old Etonian aristocrat, 63, was found to have used threatening language in shouting abusive comments at former Tottenham House employee Prue Chetwynd-Talbot. The £12million mansion is pictured behind the earl

But when he returned with his new American wife, the trustees refused to give up control of the 4,500-acre ancestral estate, sparking a bitter feud between the parties.

Lord Cardigan was forced to live in a run-down farmhouse on the estate, which he claimed had no running hot water, while the 19th Century Tottenham House lay empty.

The Old Etonian went to the High Court in London last year to get Mr Moore removed as a trustee and was successful.

It's a waste of the court's time
What the Earl of Cardigan said when he was cleared of harassing estate staff for the 16th time in August
His former friend was also ordered to repay the estate £117,000 the court found he had wrongly taken in self-remuneration.

However it was too late to save Tottenham House, which was sold for £12million by the trustees after an Appeal Court ruling.

But during the course of the long-running feud, Mr Moore and two estate employees - gamekeeper Peter Tilley and foreman Les Kyle - alleged they were harassed by the lord.

The allegations covered everything from putting up posters, complaints from the earl about poor conditions at his home, and arguments about snares around the estate.

Some 13 of the alleged offences were dealt during 2013 and 2014, with four others in the summer.

Lord Cardigan has also been involved in a legal battle with his estranged daughter, who reached the final of the BBC1 talent show The Voice in 2012.

Ms Bruce, whose real name is Lady Catherine Brudenell-Bruce, is the daughter of the earl and his first wife, Rosamond, Countess of Cardigan, who died of cancer two years ago.

The new owner of Tottenham House is understood to be Conservative Party donor and multi-millionaire property developer Jamie Ritblat.

The Savernake estate was given to Lord Cardigan's ancestors by William the Conqueror and was once the site of Wolf Hall, the home of Henry VIII's third wife Jane Seymour that provided the title for Hilary Mantel's award–winning novel.

Construction work at Tottenham House has already started and the mansion is expected to be converted into luxury flats.

Since publication of this article, Lord Cardigan denied the offence and appealed the conviction which was overturned by a judge and two magistrates on 10 May 2016.

BITTER BATTLE WITH TRUSTEES THAT LAID A ONCE-GREAT FAMILY LOW
In 1980, the current Earl of Cardigan married Rosamund Jane. But in 2005, she asked for a divorce, which was the start of a series of disasters.
In 2005 he left England after he suffered from a bout of depression.
He subsequently became estranged from his daughter, his former wife died and he became embroiled in a bitter battle with the trustees of his estate – leading commentators to liken his life to a Shakespearean tragedy.
He says the dispute with the trustees started when he returned from the US in 2011 to discover they had sold off family portraits to pay outstanding bills.
The trustees have since made a number of criminal allegations against the Earl, ranging from damaging pheasant feeders to spitting at them, although none of the charges had resulted in a conviction until last month.
Just two years ago, it was revealed he was claiming £71-a-week Jobseeker's Allowance and showering at a local swimming bath as his lodge on the estate did not have hot water.
Earlier this year the mansion on the estate - Tottenham House - was sold for £12million.
The Earl had challenged a decision by the trustees of the Savernake estate to sell the dilapidated house near Marlborough, Wiltshire, but lost the case.
In the summer Lord Cardigan was cleared of three cases of harassment at North West Wiltshire Magistrates' Court.
On July 13, he was cleared of harassing John Moore, a former trustee of his estate, over a broken shower. He was alleged to have bombarded Moore with phone calls.
On July 20, he was acquitted of harassing Peter Tilley, a gamekeeper on his estate, who claimed the earl had caused him distress by putting up a number of notices warning people about the snares he had set in Savernake Forest.
Seven days later he was cleared of harassing Les Kyle, the foreman at his 4,500-acre ancestral estate.
It had been alleged that he had tailgated Kyle and made distressing comments to him.


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