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Nathaniel Fiennes, 21st Baron Saye and Sele

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MajorThe Right Honourable
The Lord Saye and Sele
DL
Personal details
Born
Nathaniel Thomas Allen Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes

(1920-09-22)22 September 1920
Died20 January 2024(2024-01-20)(aged 103)
NationalityBritish
Spouse
Mariette Salisbury-Jones
​
​
(m.1958)​
Children5, includingSusannahandWilliam
Parent
Military career
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchBritish Army
Years of service1941–1950
RankMajor
UnitRifle Brigade
Battles/wars
AwardsMentioned in dispatches

Nathaniel Thomas Allen Fiennes, 21st Baron Saye and Sele,DL(néTwisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes;22 September 1920 – 20 January 2024), styled asLord Saye and Sele,was anEnglish peer,businessman, chartered surveyor and army officer.

Early life and education

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Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes was born on 22 September 1920, the son ofIvo Murray Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 20th Baron Saye and Sele,and Hersey Cecilia Hester Butler. Despite a family connection withWinchester College,he was educated atEtonand then atNew College, Oxford.[1]While still a student at Eton, he playedcricketatminor counties levelforOxfordshire,making a single appearance in the 1938Minor Counties ChampionshipagainstCornwall.[2]Whilst studying at Oxford, Fiennes did not playfirst-class cricketforOxford University Cricket Club,given the suspension of first-class cricket during theSecond World War.

Army career

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During theSecond World WarFiennes served in theRifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own).He received an emergency commission in the Rifle Brigade on 19 April 1941,[3]and was promoted war-substantive lieutenant on 1 October 1942 and temporary captain on 3 September 1943.[4]In March 1945 he was mentioned in dispatches for service in North-West Europe.[5]

In April 1945 Fiennes and his regiment, the 8th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade, were among the first troops to reachBergen-Belsen concentration camp.In 2020 he recalled for theDaily Telegraph:"We turned down a small track, and it opened into a sight you would never want to see again... People being chopped up, people on the ground, pits with three or four hundred dead bodies in each... It was like something from a nightmare, and the smell was overpowering." He met with Bergen-Belsen survivorMala Tribich(originally fromPiotrków Trybunalski,Poland) at his family seat,Broughton Castle,shortly before the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the camp, and was ready "to grovel before [Tribich], because I have such a respect and admiration for her. She is the most remarkable lady... all these survivors are." Tribich, who was 14 and ill withtyphuswhen Bergen-Belsen was liberated, had previously survived theghettoin her hometown andRavensbrück concentration camp.[6]

After the war, Fiennes remained in the army, receiving promotion to war-substantive captain and temporary major on 15 January 1946.[7]On 22 May 1948 he received a regular commission as a lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade (seniority from 22 May 1943),[8]with promotion to captain effective from the same date (seniority from 22 November 1947).[9]He was stationed in Palestine during thePalestine Emergencyin 1946–1947, for which he was again mentioned in dispatches in January 1949.[10]He resigned his commission on 8 February 1950, leaving with the honorary rank of major.[11]

Later work

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Fiennes was a trustee of theErnest Cook Trust,which works for the preservation of English country houses and estates, from 1959 until 1995, serving as chairman from 1964 until 1990. He was also aFellowofWinchester Collegefrom 1967 to 1983.

He became achartered surveyorand was a partner in the company Laws and Fiennes before becoming a regional director withinLloyds Bankfrom 1983 to 1990.

In 1979 Fiennes was appointedDeputy Lieutenant(DL) ofOxfordshire.[1]

Family

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In 1958 Fiennes married Mariette Helena Salisbury-Jones (born 1935), daughter of Major-GeneralSir Arthur Guy Salisbury-Jones,[1]and had five children:

In 1965 he changed his surname bydeed polltoFiennesthereby relinquishing the surnamesTwisletonandWykeham.

Fiennes's brother Ingelram was killed on 30 August 1941 when hisWellington bomberwas shot down, and his other brother,Oliver,was a clergyman who served asDean of Lincolnfrom 1969 to 1989.

When his father died on 21 October 1968, Fiennes succeeded him as21st Baron Saye and Sele.He died on 20 January 2024, at the age of 103.[13]

Notes

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References

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  1. ^abc"Saye and Sele, 21st Baron, (Nathaniel Thomas Allen Fiennes) (born 22 Sept. 1920)".WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO.2007.doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u33970.ISBN978-0-19-954088-4.Retrieved8 February2021.
  2. ^"Minor Counties Championship Matches played by Nat Fiennes".CricketArchive.Retrieved24 January2024.
  3. ^"No. 35153".The London Gazette(Supplement). 9 May 1941. p. 2590.
  4. ^The Quarterly Army List: July-September 1945.HM Stationery Office. 1945. pp. 1368g.
  5. ^"No. 36994".The London Gazette(Supplement). 20 March 1945. p. 1561.
  6. ^Kelly, Guy (15 April 2020)."'A sight you would hope to never see again'".The Daily Telegraph.Retrieved10 May2020.
  7. ^The Quarterly Army List: December 1946.HM Stationery Office. 1946. p. 1322.
  8. ^"No. 38294".The London Gazette(Supplement). 18 May 1948. p. 3058.
  9. ^"No. 38325".The London Gazette(Supplement). 15 June 1948. p. 3579.
  10. ^"No. 38505".The London Gazette(Supplement). 7 January 1949. p. 126.
  11. ^"No. 38832".The London Gazette(Supplement). 7 February 1950. p. 648.
  12. ^"Banbury Guardian, report of death, published 19 April 2001".Archived fromthe originalon 3 April 2015.Retrieved2 April2015.
  13. ^"Lord Saye and Sele, custodian of Broughton Castle and one of the first soldiers to enter Belsen – obituary".The Telegraph. 22 January 2024.Retrieved22 January2024.
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Peerage of England
Preceded by Baron Saye and Sele
1968–2024 		Succeeded by
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