Gavin Faringdon - Portrait of a Rebel Peer (Paperback)

Gavin Faringdon - Portrait of a Rebel Peer (Paperback)

A biography of Gavin Henderson, the 2^nd Baron Faringdon, based on the unpublished diaries, letters and documents in the archives of his former home Buscot Park, by its curator and archivist Roger Vlitos.

When the Hon. Gavin Henderson was made the 2^nd Lord Faringdon in 1934, he became one of the wealthiest men in Britain. By the time he passed away in 1977 he had given away most of his inheritance to what he considered to be good causes. However, his reputation as a philanthropist was overshadowed by free-spirited events in his youth – such as “setting the Thames on fire” – his left-wing politics, and rumours about his discreet personal life. 

This biography is based upon the hitherto unpublished papers, diaries and letters that have survived in his former home at Buscot Park. It aims to set the record straight about a man who was often wilfully misunderstood, and whose many achievements suggest that he was born ahead of his time. 

I have just finished reading your wonderful biography, and I can't tell you how impressed I am both by the huge amount of research you must have undertaken but also your understanding of Gavin. You seem completely familiar not only with Gavin himself but with his world and the period in which he lived. There was so much I hadn't known about Gavin's life, and you are particularly brilliant both on his political and on his war-time career. You seem to understand him so well, for instance, his political egotism as well as his cleverness and charm.
  - Selina Hastings, writer, past recipient of the Marsh Biography Award

About the Author: Roger Vlitos was born in New York, raised in the USA and West Indies, studied Fine Art, Art History and English in Britain before working as a freelance writer and photographer in publishing. He became a teacher and university lecturer before taking up his present role as the curator of the Faringdon Collection at Buscot Park.