John William Strutt, third baron Rayleigh, O.M., F.R.S., sometime president of the Royal society and chancellor of the University of Cambridge / by his son Robert John Strutt, fourth baron Rayleigh.

  • Rayleigh, Robert John Strutt, Baron, 1875-1947.
Date:
1924
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: John William Strutt, third baron Rayleigh, O.M., F.R.S., sometime president of the Royal society and chancellor of the University of Cambridge / by his son Robert John Strutt, fourth baron Rayleigh. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    30 other Nobles and Gentlemen (for in those days Levees were not numerously attended because they were weekly) the King, in walking round the circle, as was usual in those days, when he came to me, He stopped and said ‘ We must reward you.’ Such a peculiar gracious favour, in the presence of the world, being volun¬ tary, proved that his Majesty’s mind was full of approbation of my independent conduct, active for the state, and he thus chose to make known his opinion. “ Lord Liverpool in the time of his Majesty George 3rd. wrote to me that He would lay my name before His Majesty for a Peer¬ age and at the Coronation of George IV. the Peerage was granted and I own I had pride that I stood so high in the opinion of the world as to merit such a high distinction, I had through life declined personal honours. And it was granted as I requested, in the person of your Mother Lady C. Strutt. I have lived long enough to repent of this my then determination, I wished honor to my family, but I find it should have been in my own person.” It is difficult in retrospect to understand Colonel Strutt’s attitude in this matter, and as he explains he regretted it later. On his wife’s death in 1836 the peerage descended to his only son, John James Strutt, during the father’s life¬ time. The territorial title was taken from Rayleigh, a small market town in Essex. Colonel Strutt had no special con¬ nection with the place, beyond owning some property not far off, and the name seems to have been chosen because it was considered euphonious. Colonel Strutt’s only son, John James Lord Rayleigh (1796- 1873), was educated at Winchester and Oriel College, Oxford. He joined the Militia in 1813 and rose to be a Major in the Eastern Battalion of Essex Militia. He resigned from this in 1832. In early life he was (I believe) fond of society. He was a frequenter of Aimack’s, the fashionable assembly rooms of the day, and one of his sons remembers his saying that it was a proud moment when Beau Brummel asked him to take a glass of wine with him ! Later, his mind took a more serious turn, and religion of an evangelical type became the main¬ spring of his life. It was contemplated that he should succeed his father and