Roland Gwynne

Gwynne's father, James Eglinton Anderson Gwynne (1832–1915), had made a fortune in the nineteenth century from an engineering business, Gwynnes Limited, and bought estates in Sussex with the proceeds. Gwynne's mother, Mary Earle Purvis (1841–1923), was 41 when he was born. He was the last of nine children (though two had died). Until the age of 13, he was dressed by his mother as a girl in frocks, with bows, necklaces and long ringlets.^[1] He was educated privately before being sent to Trinity Hall, Cambridge.^[2]

The renowned harpsichordist Violet Gordon-Woodhouse was one of his sisters. One brother, Rupert, was Member of Parliament for Eastbourne from 1910 until his death in 1924; the celebrated cookery writer Elizabeth David was a daughter of Rupert.^{[citation needed]}

His mother's great-grandfather was Dutch and great-grandmother was a Sumatran.^[3]

After university he served in the honorary post of Judge's Marshal.^{[citation needed]} He was commissioned into the Sussex Yeomanry as a second lieutenant on 2 April 1904^[4] and was subsequently promoted to lieutenant on 28 January 1907 and captain on 3 July 1910.^[5] He resigned from the Yeomanry on 27 July 1912.^[6]

In 1904 Gwynne aided Viscount Turnour in his maiden election campaign in the constituency of Horsham, which Turnour then held for the next 47 years.^[7] In 1910 Gwynne was called to the bar at the Inner Temple, where he practised in the Probate and Divorce Division.^[8]

The First World War broke out when Gwynne was 32. He was sent a white feather, a symbol of cowardice, by a "friend of the family".^[1] He was re-commissioned into the Sussex Yeomanry as a captain on 5 October 1914.^[9] In October 1916 he went out to the Western Front as a Temporary Major with a draft of dismounted men from 2/1st Sussex Yeomanry to reinforce the 10th (Service) Battalion, Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment) (Battersea). By February 1917 he had become second-in-command of 10th Queen's and led almost the whole strength of the battalion in a large daylight raid on the Hollandscheschuur Salient on 24 February. Gwynne was among those wounded in the action, but it was considered a great success and the battalion received praise from the Army Commander, General Sir Herbert Plumer, the Commander-in-Chief, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, and the Prince of Wales. Gwyne was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) (much to the surprise of his family^{[citation needed]}) and was decorated with the ribbon in the market square at Steenvoorde on 1 April by the divisional commander. He served with 10th Queen's at the Battle of Messines in June 1917 and when the battalion's commanding officer left to command a brigade Gwynne was promoted to acting Lieutenant-Colonel to succeed him. The opening of the Third Battle of Ypres on 1 August 1917 was a disaster for 10th Queen's. Their guide got lost and the battalion was late reaching its jumping-off line and was suffering from enemy shellfire. Realising that they were too late to gain protection from the Creeping barrage, Gwynne went into No man's land alone to see if it would be possible to advance without it, but he was hit twice in the thigh by machine gun bullets, shattering the bone into 12 pieces and severing an artery. With dawn coming up he would be left for dead. He began quietly blowing his whistle and luckily Lt Lawrie Inkster heard it and organised a stretcher party to rescue him. Gwynne was unable to get a medal for Inkster, but sent him a silver cigarette case and money for the stretcher party. In England the doctors saved Gwynne's leg but he was left with a permanent limp and his active service was over. He ended the war with rank of lieutenant-colonel.^[10][11]

On 8 April 1921, he was made a Deputy Lieutenant of Sussex. ^[12] In 1922, his mother died, leaving most of her money to Gwynne due to a family disagreement. That year, Gwynne put his name forward as a Conservative candidate for Lewes, but withdrew it when his brother Neville hinted to the selection committee that Gwynne was a homosexual (around this time MP Noel Pemberton Billing was leading a witch hunt against homosexuals). John Bodkin Adams arrived in Eastbourne the same year.

Rupert died in 1924, just after being re-elected to Parliament. Gwynne inherited his estate, but settled for local politics, being High Sheriff of Sussex in 1926/27 and then mayor of Eastbourne in 1928.^[8] While he was mayor, in 1929 the town bought 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) of land surrounding Beachy Head, to save it from development, costing the town around £100,000.^[13]

His term as mayor ended in 1931. On 9 November that year, he was made the 8th ever Honorary Freeman of Eastbourne for his services to the borough.^[14] He stayed in local politics, being Chairman of the East Sussex County Council from 1937 to 1940.^[8]

He constantly had financial problems, caused on the one hand by his extravagant lifestyle (he was famous for the wild parties he held at Folkington Manor, attended by, among others, The 1st Marquess of Willingdon, who had previously served as both Governor General of Canada and Viceroy of India, and Rudyard Kipling) and on the other, by his sexuality, which made him a prime target for blackmail. Indeed, his butler Wilde was known by those close to him to be one such person extorting money from him.^[15] After Gwynne's death, love letters from various local jockeys were found among his papers.^[1]

During the Second World War, he became addicted to alcohol.^[1]

In 1947, burdened with debt, he was forced to let Folkington and move into the smaller Wootton Manor.