United Grand Lodge
of Antient, Free and Accepted Masons
of England
Province of
South Wales
Eastern Division
Obituary
Lord SwanseaThe Rt. Hon.
Lord Swansea
C.St.J., D.L., OSM,
Past Provincial Grand MasterThe Rt. Hon. Lord Swansea, C.St.J., D.L., OSM, Past Provincial Grand Master died at the age of 80, on Friday 24th June 2005 at St George's Nursing Home, Westminster, London.
The descendant of a baronet who was created the 1st Lord Swansea after long service as a Liberal MP in the 19th century, John Hussey Hamilton Vivian was born on New Year's Day 1925. He became the 4th Baron Swansea at the age of 9 following the death of his father, who had won the DSO in the First World War and was a game and clay pigeon shooter. This interest in shooting sports was most certainly inherited by the 4th Baron.
He is survived by his wife Lady Lucy; son Richard (who succeeds to the title); daughters Amanda and Louisa and step-daughter Olivia.
Lord Swansea occupied senior positions in very many Masonic Orders. In Craft Freemasonry he was appointed Senior Grand Warden in the United Grand Lodge of England in 1965 (aged 40). The next year he became Provincial Grand Master for South Wales, Eastern Division, presiding over the Province until 1999. In that year, The Most Worshipful The Grand Master bestowed upon him the much prized Order of Service to Masonry in recognition of His Lordship's immense contribution to the movement generally.
In Royal Arch Masonry, he was appointed Grand Scribe Nehemiah in the Supreme Grand Chapter of England in 1974. Three years later he was appointed Grand Superintendent for South Wales Eastern Division, a position he occupied for 22 years.
Outside Masonry, Lord Swansea was an accomplished marksman, having represented and captained Wales and Great Britain in countless competitions. In 1966, he won the Gold Medal for full-bore rifle shooting at the Commonwealth Games at Kingston, Jamaica; taking silver in the same competition at Brisbane, Australia in 1982. He took part in many such events both as a competitor and an official. He was the chairman of the British Shooting Sports Council and a vice-chairman of the National Rifle Association. He was heavily involved in the defence of law-abiding shooters against over-restrictive legislation following the Hungerford and Dunblane atrocities.
He firmly believed that, instead, the government should turn its attention to the vast underground pool of illegally held weapons. He summed things up in the concise statement: "You cannot legislate for nutters." One consequence of his valiant but ultimately losing battle was that, as captain of the Lords shooting team, he saw the Parliamentary gun club, which met under the Palace of Westminster, closed down after 80 years. He regularly took his seat in the House of Lords, firstly as a Conservative, then as a cross-bencher until the 1999 reforms which removed the right of most hereditary peers to sit and vote in Parliament.
A Service of Thanksgiving for the life of Lord Swansea was held at St Margaret's Church, Westminster Abbey, London SW1, at Noon on Thursday 3 November 2005.
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