Figure 1.--This John Singer Sargent portrait was apainted about 1900. Only a wealthy family could afford such a portrait. And Edward Cazalet bought two. Another of himself in his hunting reds. Mrs. Cazalet is pictired with her two oldest children, Edward and Victor. Edward was killed in actiomn during World War I. Vicyor alsomserved at the front, but survived the War. He would become a noted anti-appeaser.

Colonel Victor Alexander Cazalet (1896-1943) was a British Conservative MP. He came from a prominent and wealthy aristocratic English family. He was painted by John Singer Sargent at a young age (1900). He served on the Western Front during World War rising to the rank of captain. His brother ws killed during the war. He participated in the Paris Peace Conference and the Allied intervention in Siberia. He became interested in politics and was elected to parliament (1924). His papers are a valuable source on the whole debate over Appeasement. He developed a reputation as an authority on international affairs, especially central Europe. He supported Franco and the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War, primarily because of his anti-Communism. He served on the Friends of National Spain committee. He was friendly with both Churchill and Eden and became an important Anti-Appeaser.

Family

Victor's father was William Marshall Cazalet. He was born in St. Petersburg, Russia (1865). His parents were Edward Cazalet, merchant and industrialist, and his wife, Elizabeth Sutherland Marshall, daughter and heir of William Marshall, doctor and Danish consul in Edinburgh. Cazalet graduated from Christ Church, Oxford, in 1889. At Oxford, he won a Blue in real tennis/jeu de paume (1886, 1887 and 1889_. He won the singles in 1889. His father had a real tennis court built for him at Fairlawne, the family home in Shipbourne, Kent. He represented Britain at the 1908 Olympic Games in jeu de paume (tennis). Cazalet was a wealthy socialite. Family friends included Rudyard Kipling. He served as a Lieutenant in the West Kent Yeomanry Cavalry, was a High Sheriff of Kent, a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant of Kent. Victor's mother was Maud Lucia Heron-Maxwell. They had four children: Edward, Victor Cazalet, Thelma Cazalet-Keir, and Peter Cazalet. Edward was killed in action in France (1916). His second son, Victor Cazalet, and his daughter Thelma Cazalet-Keir, both became Members of Parliament. The third son was the racehorse trainer Peter Cazalet. As they were rich . Cazalet commisioned Jojn Singer Sargent to paint a aportrait of his wife and two children. He liked it so much that he commissioned a portrait of himself in his hunting reds.

Childhood

Victor came from a prominent and wealthy aristocratic English family. This is why we have a painting by Edward and Victor with their mother (1900).

World War I

Cazalet served on the Western Front during World War rising to the rank of captain. His older brother, Edward, was killed during the war. Cazalet participated in the Paris Peace Conference and the Allied intervention in Siberia.

Post-War Era

He became interested in politics and was elected to parliament (1924). His papers are a valuable source on the whole debate over Appeasement. He developed a reputation as an authority on international affairs, especially central Europe. He supported Franco and the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War, primarily because of his anti-Communism. He served on the Friends of National Spain committee. He was friendly with both Churchill and Eden and became an important Anti-Appeaser.

Opposing Appeaement

He was friendly with both Churchill and Eden. Cazalet reports how determined Baldwin was to keep Churchill out of Government, telling him that he would rather 'have a row' for 4 months over it than 4 years with him in Government. [Cazalet, Diary, March 4, 1936 ] Cazalet objected to British policy toward Italy over the invasion of Ethiopia. He was appalled with the NAZI Anschluss an annexation of Austria. "Furious, raging, impotent .... The invasion of Austria -- the country we all love, by those bloody Nazis." [Cazalet, Diary, March 10 and 11, 1938.] And was a strong critic of Appeasement and Prime-Minister Chamberlain. He understood, however, the reluctance of the British people to confront the Germans. And of all things, he was Elizabeth Taylor's God Father.

World War II

Well before World War II, he was a strong advocate of military cooperation with the Americans. Cazalet was appointed the liaison officer with Polish General Władysław Sikorski (1940). He chaired he House of Commons Palestine Committee and began to advocate the creation of a Jewish Homeland (1941). He was member of the House Anglo-Polish committee organized (1941). He was with Sikorski when he signed the Soviet Union to negotiate a treaty which permitted the release of Polish POWs from Soviet camps and the creation of Anders Army which fought in the West (1942). He was chosen to chair the House of Commons committee on refugee problems and was stationed at the British Embassy in Washington. Returning to London from Gibraltar, he was killed in the 1943 Gibraltar B-24 crash at age 46 along with General Sikorski and 15 others.

Sources

Cazalet, Victor. Victor Cazalet Papers. Diary.

Created: 7:10 PM 1/8/2021
Last updated: 7:10 PM 1/8/2021