Richard Luttrell Pilkington Bethell, 3rd Baron Westbury (25 April 1852 – 21 February 1930) was a British soldier and peer, a member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

from 1875 until his death. Born at

Littlehampton Littlehampton is a town, seaside resort and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the English Channel on the eastern bank of the mouth of the River Arun. It is south south-west of London, west of Brighton and ...

, the eldest of the four sons of Richard Augustus Bethell, 2nd Baron Westbury, and his wife Mary Florence Luttrell, a daughter of the Rev. Alexander Fownes Luttrell JP of

East Quantoxhead East Quantoxhead is a village, from West Quantoxhead, east of Williton, and west of Bridgwater, within the Quantock Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Somerset, England. History Above the village at Black Ball Camp are an Iron Age ...

, the young Bethell was commissioned into the

Scots Fusilier Guards Scots may refer to: People and cultures * Scots language * Scottish people * Scoti, a Latin name for the Gaels Other uses * SCOTS, abbreviation for Royal Regiment of Scotland * Scottish Corpus of Texts and Speech (SCOTS), a linguistic resource * ...

and became a Lieutenant. On 28 March 1875, on the death of his father, he succeeded as Baron Westbury, of

Westbury, Wiltshire Westbury is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. The town lies below the northwestern edge of Salisbury Plain, about south of Trowbridge and a similar distance north of Warminster. Westbury w ...

. His younger brother

Alexander Bethell Admiral Sir Alexander Edward Bethell (28 August 1855 – 13 June 1932) was a British naval officer who served as Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth of the Royal Navy. Naval career Born the second son of Richard Augustus Bethell, 2nd Baron Westbury, B ...

joined the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

and rose to the rank of

Vice-Admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of vic ...

.''

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...

'', vol. 3 (2003), p. 4127 On 24 July 1882, Westbury married Lady Agatha Manners Tollemache, a daughter of William Tollemache, Lord Huntingtower, and Katharine Elizabeth Camila Burke. In 1881, she had been granted a

royal warrant of precedence A royal warrant of precedence is a warrant issued by the monarch of the United Kingdom to determine precedence amongst individuals or organisations. Most warrants of this type are issued to grant a rank to a member of the nobility or gentry th ...

as the daughter of an earl. They had one son, Richard Bethell (26 April 1883 – 15 November 1929), who died before his father. The secretary of the archaeologist

Howard Carter Howard Carter (9 May 18742 March 1939) was a British archaeologist and Egyptology, Egyptologist who Discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, discovered Tomb of Tutankhamun, the intact tomb of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, 18th Dynasty Pharaoh ...

, he was found dead in a bed at a Mayfair club aged 46, probably smothered. After a long illness, Westbury killed himself on 21 February 1930, aged 77, by jumping out of a seventh-floor bedroom window at his apartment in

St James's St James's is a district of Westminster, and a central district in the City of Westminster, London, forming part of the West End of London, West End. The area was once part of the northwestern gardens and parks of St. James's Palace and much of ...

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. He left a note reading: "I really cannot stand any more horrors and hardly see what good I am going to do here, so I am making my exit." His death was found to be suicide while of unsound mind."Suicide of Lord Westbury – Fall from Bedroom Window",

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 ...

, 22 February 1930, p. 17"Obituary: Lord Westbury",

, 22 February 1930, p. 4 He was succeeded by his grandson Richard Morland Tollemache Bethell, 4th Baron Westbury (1914–1961).

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Westbury, Richard Luttrell Pilkington Bethell, 3rd Baron 1852 births 1930 suicides 1930 deaths 3 Scots Guards officers Suicides by jumping in England Suicides in Westminster