Felix Wedgwood
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Arthur Felix Wedgwood (18 July 1877 – 14 March 1917) was an English author, mountaineer and soldier who died on active service during the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
.


Background

He was born at The Upper House in
Barlaston Barlaston is a village and civil parish in Staffordshire, England, halfway between Stoke-on-Trent and Stone. At the 2011 census, the population was 2,858. History Historic buildings St John's Church The old parish church of Saint John is site ...
,
Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...
, a
scion Scion may refer to: Horticulture *Scion (grafting), in horticulture, the upper part of a combined plant Arts, entertainment, and media Characters *Atlantean Scion, a device in the ''Tomb Raider'' video game series *Scion, avatar of the warrior en ...
of the
Wedgwood Wedgwood is an English China (material), fine china, porcelain and luxury accessories manufacturer that was founded on 1 May 1759 by the potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood and was first incorporated in 1895 as Josiah Wedgwood and Sons L ...
pottery family. He was the youngest son of Clement Wedgwood and his wife Emily Catherine (née Rendel) daughter of James Meadows Rendel. His elder brothers who survived childhood were Francis Hamilton Wedgwood, Josiah C. Wedgwood and Ralph Wedgwood. Wedgwood was educated at Newcastle High School,
Clifton College Clifton College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in the city of Bristol in South West England, founded in 1862 and offering both boarding school, boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18. In its early years, unlike mo ...
, and
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
,
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
. Felix and Ralph Wedgwood (who also attended Trinity from 1895) are mentioned in ''
Period Piece Period may refer to: Common uses * Period (punctuation) * Era, a length or span of time *Menstruation, commonly referred to as a "period" Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (or r ...
'', the childhood memoir by their second cousin
Gwen Raverat Gwendolen Mary "Gwen" Raverat (née Darwin; 26 August 1885 – 11 February 1957), was an English wood engraver who was a founder member of the Society of Wood Engravers. Her memoir ''Period Piece'' was published in 1952. Biography Gwendolen Ma ...
(1885-1957). After university, he worked as a
civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...
specialising in the purchase and recovery of
shipwrecks A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. It results from the event of ''shipwrecking'', which may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately thre ...
.


Mountaineering travels

Wedgwood was an amateur mountaineer, and travelled to
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
and to
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. In 1905 he sailed from
Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...
to
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
. While in
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
with the Swiss guide Hans Kaufmann, he suffered
frostbite Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when someone is exposed to extremely low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occ ...
on
Aconcagua Aconcagua () is a mountain in the Principal Cordillera of the Andes mountain range, in Mendoza Province, Argentina. It is the highest mountain in the Americas, the highest outside Asia, and the highest in both the Western Hemisphere and the ...
. In 1908, having travelled onto
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, he, Joseph William Andrew Hickson, Edward Feuz, Jr and Gottfried Feuz climbed
Mount Assiniboine Mount Assiniboine, also known as Assiniboine Mountain, is a pyramidal peak mountain on the Great Divide, on the British Columbia/Alberta border in Canada. At , it is the highest peak in the Southern Continental Ranges of the Canadian Rockies. ...
. Although they summitted, they were assailed by a storm on the descent. In Canada, he met his future wife, Katharine Longstaff; she was the daughter of Llewellyn W. Longstaff, and sister of a fellow climber
Tom Longstaff Tom George Longstaff (15 January 1875 – 26 June 1964) was an England, English medical doctor, explorer and mountaineer, most famous for being the first person to climb a summit of over 7,000 metres in elevation, Trisul, in the India/Pakistan ...
. She became president of the
Ladies' Alpine Club The Ladies' Alpine Club was founded in London, England in 1907 and was the first mountaineering club for women. It merged with the Alpine Club of Great Britain in 1975. History In December 1907 a group of ladies who were climbers in the Alps m ...
for 1929-1931 and named Wedgwood Peak for her husband, having been the first to summit it (in 1910).


''The Shadow of a Titan''

He published in his only novel in 1910 during "a period when novels in Britain were produced more cheaply, and read more widely, than ever before", entitled '' The Shadow of a Titan'', in the adventure genre. The work echoes themes from Wedgwood's life, albeit with added drama. The main protagonist of the novel is "Maurice Noonan", a Cambridge undergraduate, who is the heir of his uncle "Major Tom Waring", a retired British Army officer and minor landowner from Staffordshire. The action ranges from the
Staffordshire Moorlands Staffordshire Moorlands is a local government district in Staffordshire, England. Its council is based in Leek, the district's largest town. The district also contains the towns of Biddulph and Cheadle, along with a large rural area containing ...
to the deep interior of "Bolumbia", a fictional South American country, where Maurice must overcome Bolumbia's dictator (The eponymous Titan) "Almirante don Eustauio Etrada de la Camara". ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'' described ''The Shadow of a Titan'' as "a masterpiece on a South American dictatorship which eorgeMeredith might have fathered". It was also reportedly favourably reviewed in ''
The Morning Post ''The Morning Post'' was a conservative daily newspaper published in London from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by ''The Daily Telegraph''. History The paper was founded by John Bell. According to historian Robert Darnton, ''The Morning ...
'' and by Perceval Gibbon in '' The Bookman''.


Marriage and children

Having returned to England, on 20 April 1911 in
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...
Felix and Katharine married. They had three children:Josiah C. Wedgwood, Wedgwood Pedigrees, 1925. * Katharine Frances Wedgwood (11 July 1912 - 2004), married (1936) John Colpoys Cunningham, son of John Francis Cunningham. * Felicity Emily Wedgwood (1 November 1913 - 2003), married (1943) John Felix Cradock Royds. * Cecil Felix Nivelle Wedgwood (12 December 1916 — 9 September 1996).


Military service and death

Wedgwood was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 5th Bn North Staffordshire Regiment, a
Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry in ...
infantry unit, in 1909, and was recommissioned in 1911. The
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
began in 1914, the 1/5th Bn North Staffs landed in France at
Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...
in May 1915, forming part of the
46th (North Midland) Division The 46th (North Midland) Division was an infantry division of the British Army, part of the Territorial Force, that saw service in the First World War. At the outbreak of the war in 1914, the 46th Division was commanded by Major-General Hon. ...
which saw action at Loos and The Somme, where his cousin Major Cecil Wedgwood DSO of the 8th Bn was killed in July 1916. Felix Wedgwood had been promoted to Temporary Captain in May 1916, becoming a permanent Captain in September 1916. Captain A. F. Wedgwood died on active service in March 1917 and was buried at Rossignol Wood Cemetery in Hébuterne,
Pas-de-Calais The Pas-de-Calais (, ' strait of Calais'; ; ) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments of France, with 890, and is the ...
, alongside other men mostly from the North and South Staffs Regiments and New Zealand. A brief note was published in ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
''.''The Times'', Wednesday, March 21, 1917; p. 11; Issue 41432; col C Deaths Deaths. His estate was sufficient to receive notice in ''
The London Gazette ''The London Gazette'', known generally as ''The Gazette'', is one of the official journals of record or government gazettes of the Government of the United Kingdom, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, i ...
'' His widow posthumously privately published another book in 1918 entitled ''Unpublished and Unfinished Stories''. She died in 1976. He is commemorated on the Trinity College Chapel war memorial, and within St John's Church, Barlaston."Neville Malkin's "Grand Tour" of the Potteries".
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wedgwood, Felix (Arthur) 1877 births 1917 deaths Territorial Force officers Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge British military personnel killed in World War I Darwin–Wedgwood family North Staffordshire Regiment officers British Army personnel of World War I Burials at Rossignol Wood Cemetery Military personnel from Staffordshire