Christopher Sykes (politician)
Sykes as caricatured by Ape (Carlo Pellegrini) in Vanity Fair, November 1874
Christopher Sykes (1831 – 15 December 1898) was an English Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1865 to 1892.[2] He enjoyed the "intimate friendship" of Edward VII when Prince of Wales and Alexandra of Denmark when Princess of Wales.[2]
Sykes was the second son of Sir Tatton Sykes, 4th Baronet, and his wife Mary Ann Foulis, daughter of Sir William Foulis, 7th Baronet.[2][3] His father was a popular horse breeder who bred bloodstock; however, he was an authoritarian father who bullied his children.[4] Sykes was educated at Rugby School and Trinity College, Cambridge.[2][5] He began mixing with London's great and good and became a connoisseur of books, china and furniture. He was a Deputy Lieutenant and J.P. for the East Riding of Yorkshire.[2][3]
At the 1865 general election Sykes was elected Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Beverley.[2] At the 1868 general election he was elected MP for the East Riding of Yorkshire, which he held until 1885, when it was divided under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.[2] He was then elected for Buckrose, one of the constituencies into which his previous constituency had been divided, which he held until 1892, when he retired. [2] Between 1868 and 1892, he made only six speeches, and did little except introduce the bill which became the Sea Birds Preservation Act 1869.[2] This led to him being caricatured in Vanity Fair as "The Gull's friend".[6] He was "widely recognised" as "Mr Brancepath" in Lothair the novel by Benjamin Disraeli.[2] He was honoured with the Order of St Lazarus of Belgium in 1879.[5]
Sykes became a close friend of Edward VII as Prince of Wales, who - because of his great height - called him the "great Xtopher", (pronounced "Christopher").[7] Sykes entertained the prince and princess in great splendour at Brantingham Thorpe, his country house in Yorkshire, the Doncaster Races, and his London home in Berkeley Square.[8] The Prince exploited his friend and subjected him to humiliations, for example, on one occasion, pouring a glass of brandy over his head.[9]
However, Sykes's lavish entertainment of the Marlborough House Set - and the Prince of Wales - "dissipated much of his fortune".[8] In the late 1880s he was compelled to take out large loans which led to a long-running dispute with his solicitor and parliamentary agent eventually settled in the Court of Chancery.[10] Brantingham Thorpe was let from 1887.[11] The estate in which he held a life interest reverted on his death to trustees of his father who sold it in 1899 to the then tenant of the house.[12] Despite this, the Prince of Wales never forgot his devoted friend, and after Sykes' death in 1898, he installed a tablet to his memory at Westminster Abbey.
References and sources
- ^ "Personal". Illustrated London News. 24 December 1898. p. 945.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j The Times (1898), p. 8.
- ^ a b Debretts House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1886
- ^ Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ a b "Sykes, Christopher (SKS848C)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Pellegrini, Carlo (14 November 1874). "The Gull's friend". Vanity Fair (UK magazine). Retrieved 10 June 2019.
- ^ Ridley (2012), pp. 117, 280 & 333.
- ^ a b Ridley (2012), p. 280.
- ^ Ridley (2012), p. 117.
- ^ Yorkshire Evening Post, 15 December 1898, p.4
- ^ Blackburn Standard, 3 September 1887, p.6
- ^ Yorkshire Herald, 7 July 1899, p.4; Eastern Morning News, 13 July 1899, p.5
- "Obituary". The Times (35702). 17 December 1898. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
- Ridley, Jane (2012). Bertie - A Life of Edward VII. London: Chatto & Windus. ISBN 978-0099575443.
External links
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