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Name: BROUGHTON, Henry John Delves 'Jock' Bt., Sir

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Nee: 11th baronet

Birth Date: 10 Sep 1883 Doddington Hall, Cheshire

Death Date: 5 Dec 1942 suicide at Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool

First Date: 1922

Last Date: 1942

Area: Naivasha, 1922 Nanyuki

Married: 1. In London 8 July 1913 Vera Edyth Griffith-Boscawen b. 2 Jan 1894 Hanmer, Flintshire, d. 21 Aug 1868 Chichester (div. 1940); 2. In Durban 5 Nov 1940 Diana Caldwell b. 23 Dec 1911 Hove, d. 3 Sep 1987 Bracknell, Berks. (prev. m. to Vernon Motion 1904-1980 and later m. Gilbert Colvile 1887-1986 and Thomas, 3rd Baron Delamere 1900-1979)

Children: Evelyn (2 Oct 1915-5 Jan 1993); Rosamund (Fraser, Baroness Lovat) (20 May 1917 London-3 Mar 2012)

Book Reference: Best, Debrett, EAWL, Mischief, Hut, Macmillan, Burke, Eton, SS, Chandler, Eton Obs, Ghosts

War Service: Formerly Major, Irish Guards, retired 1919

School: Eton

General Information:

Letter from David Nicholson - "..... Vic, as a retired Deputy Commissioner of Prisons was always discreet. Many prominent Kenyans had been his 'guests', and Lady Delamere was alive with powerful friends both in Kenya and in UK. For a long time Vic would only say that the jury's verdict of 'not guilty of the murder of Lord Erroll' was correct, but that Broughton knew who had done it. Later, on one of my visits to Mombasa before Vic's death, he said a little more. Vic was an experienced judge of character, and had liked Broughton, who was an old fashioned aristocrat, a snob, with a belief that a gentleman's duty to his wife included protecting her from public trial for murder. While I do not know what Broughton told Vic, it appears to have been enough for Vic to be definite about the events. Diana shot Erroll, who was about to walk out on her, leaving her without either husband or lover. A small pistol shot behind the ear is a woman's way of killing (a man shoots face to face). Diana then fetched Broughton, and they dumped the car and the body. Broughton subsequently disposed of incriminating evidence, and drew attention to himself so that he rather than Diana would be charged with the murder. This ensured that Diana would not appear in court for cross-examination. ......... A conspiracy theory may, of course, have been held by other Europeans at the time, but I am certain that Vic himself was too discreet to talk about it. It's weakness is that it requires other witnesses to have been wrong in their evidence, but Vic commented 'that lot looked after their own'. Immediately after the trial, June Carberry gave Vic a gold coloured bougainvillea for his garden."  
Mischief - The Delves Broughtons began coming to Kenya on hunting safaris soon after the Armistice. Vera his first wife was a mighty huntress and adventuress. .............. He had been told by his doctors that a spell in Masai country would be the best cure for his headaches and his excitable mental condition. In 1923 he bought a coffee plantation in Kenya [Spring Valley Estate]. ..... In 1940 he was aged 57 ...... His father, the 10th Bt., owned 3 houses: Doddington Park in Cheshire, Broughton Hall in Staffs and 6 Hill Street in Mayfair plus some 34,000 acres of land, mainly in Cheshire. ....... Born in 1883 (not 1888 as in Who's Who - he filled in the form). His mother died when he was 2 and his father remarried. ........ father kept him very short of money ...... At Eton he was thought both dim and over proud ..... joined the Irish Guards in 1902 ..... In 1913 he married Vera Boscawen from an impoverished branch of a good family. She was tall and blue-eyed, with outstanding good looks, and Broughton may have been in love with her ...... A Cheshire neighbour said of Vera that she was hard as nails, loved nobody and was determined to get all she could out of life ..... At 31 in 1914 Broughton inherited and was one of the best-looking officers in the Irish Guards. ...... He did not go to France with the Regt. - ill?...... Retired from the Army in 1919 with a 50% disability pension - dragged his left foot, arthritic right hand with a weak grip - subject to bouts of confusion and amnesia. ......... Broughton started to spend heavily as if to make up for lost time, to gamble, to entertain on a large scale ..... joined the Turf Club, kept a stable of 30 horses and sat on Nantwich bench as a JP. He liquidated some 15000 acres of his estate. He had a passion for bridge and racing ...... and he was a tournament-class croquet player. Vera became a hunter of big-game and in 1919-20 they made their first trip to Kenya. They went again in 1923 and met Broughton's old school friend Jack Soames, who had settled in Nanyuki. Broughton bought the Spring Valley coffee estate near Nairobi. ......... He was vain, 'with his high collars and his haw haw voice'. He was a name dropper and yet he could sulk for a week without giving a reason. He was distant, lonely, somewhat humourless. 'He looked as if there was always an unpleasant smell under his nose,' said a Cheshire neighbour. 'He liked scatalogical jokes.' ........ from mid 1930s Vera spent more and more time on safaris or cruises with her great friend Walter Guinness, the 3rd son of the Earl of Iveagh, who became Lord Moyne in 1932. They began to go their separate ways. ...... Broughton's only son and heir, Sir Evelyn, the present Bt. was born in 1915. As he was growing up they became strangers and met very infrequently. .......... In 1935 Broughton met Diana Caldwell - she was 22 - although not a classic beauty, she was very striking, with her pale blue eyes and mass of blonde hair; her way of radiating enjoyment and the quickness of her smile had touched off many an infatuation. .......... In 1938 Broughton and Vera made a final public appearance together at the marriage of their daughter Rosamund to Lord Lovat. ..... in 1939 Broughton sold another 15000 acres. His estate was now less than 4000 acres. Lord Moyne's wife died and Vera who hoped to marry him, began divorce proceedings against Broughton. This surprised him and hurt him deeply ...... He married Diana in Durban register office on 5/11/1940 ........... Superintendent Poppy thought that Broughton was outwardly pleasant and confident and without affectation, but inwardly he had judged him to be cold, vindictive and vain, the sort of man who always wanted a return for his money, who never forgot an injury and would eventually look for his revenge ....... He saw him as a proud man, very pleased with his position, and felt he would have been a nasty customer if he didn't like you. ........... According to Cyril Connolly he had had affairs with - Lady (Jock) Buchanan Jardine, Kath Carnarvon and Phyllis Delamere. Vera, his wife, had affairs with Lord Wharncliffe, Lord Moyne and Hugh Sherwood?
Macmillan - 1930 - Tyson Brothers Ltd., Importers, Exporters, Managing Agents, Secretaries and Insurance Agents - The business was established in 1919 by Messrs W. and G.A. Tyson and the firm was formed into a limited company in 1921, the directors being Sir H.J. Delves Broughton, Bart., Messrs W. and G.A. Tyson, and M.L. Beard.
Soldier Settlement Scheme after WW1 - Class B - Major Sir H.J.D. Broughton, Bart., Doddington, Nantwich, Cheshire - Farm 902
Chandler - went to Kenya in the 1920s first to hunt but ended up buying several coffee plantations. He frequently went on safari with professional John Hunter. Despite arthritis and a hobbled right hand from a 1915 auto accident, Broughton was an avid hunter and a decent shot; he stalked and killed a total of 20 elephants  between 1920 and his own death 22 years later.
Best - deaf, arthritic, and 57 years old owner of a coffee plantation in Kenya, a country house in Cheshire and a string of 18 race horses. A very rich man who had broken up his previous marriage to wed a young girl 30 years his junior.

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