Thomas Agar-Robartes

Thomas Charles Reginald Agar-Robartes (known as Tommy) (22 May 1880 – 30 September 1915) was a British Liberal politician.

Background and education Tommy Agar-Robartes was the eldest son and heir of Thomas Agar-Robartes, 6th Viscount Clifden, and his wife Mary (née Dickenson) and was brought up at Lanhydrock House, Bodmin. He was the eldest of ten (including a twin sister). Educated at Oxford and a keen horseman, he played in the Oxford University polo team that beat Cambridge in 1903.

Public life He was elected a Member of Parliament for Bodmin in the 1906 general election, but lost his seat in June 1906 following a controversial election petition by the defeated candidate alleging illegal payments to potential voters. He was elected to the St Austell Division of Cornwall in a by-election in 1908 and held the seat until his death.

Military career He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Royal 1st Devon Imperial Yeomanry on 13 May 1902. At the outbreak of World War I he joined the Royal Bucks Hussars as an officer. Tommy then joined the Coldstream Guards and was subsequently posted to France & Flanders. Captain The Honourable Thomas Charles Reginald Agar-Robartes, in command of No. 2 Coy, 1st Bn, the Coldstream Guards, was wounded in the Battle of Loos on 28 September and killed by a sniper on 30 September 1915 after rescuing a wounded comrade under heavy fire for which he was recommended for the Victoria Cross.

Memorials Agar-Robartes is buried in Lapugnoy Military Cemetery, near Béthune. He is commemorated by a memorial in Truro Cathedral and in stained glass at Selsey Abbey, Wimpole and Church Norton.

Unveiling in November 1922 of a memorial seat at St Austell, Cornwall, commemorating Agar-Robartes. This photograph shows Sir Clifford Cory MP speaking before the unveiling Agar-Robartes is commemorated on Panel 8 of the Parliamentary War Memorial in Westminster Hall, one of 22 MPs who died during World War I to be named on that memorial. Agar-Robartes is one of 19 MPs who fell in the war who are commemorated by heraldic shields in the Commons Chamber. A further act of commemoration came with the unveiling in 1932 of a manuscript-style illuminated book of remembrance for the House of Commons, which included a short biographical account of the life and death of Agar-Robartes. As Agar-Robartes never married and had no children, his younger brother Francis later succeeded their father in the viscountcy.

List of memorials

Headstone at Lapugnoy Military Cemetery, near Béthune Wooden battlefield marker St Hydroc's Church, Lanhydrock, Cornwall Granite memorial seat at Truro Road, St Austell, Cornwall Stained glass window at St Hydroc Church, Lanhydrock, Cornwall Stained glass window at Selsey Abbey, Sussex Stained glass window at St Andrew's Church, Wimpole, Cambridgeshire Stained glass window at St Wilfrid's Chapel, Church Norton, West Sussex Marble bust at Truro Cathedral Wooden armorial shield at the House of Commons Brass plaque in Holy Trinity Church, St Austell