Fulque Agnew

Sir Fulque Melville Gerald Noel Agnew, 10th Baronet (born 6 October 1900, Bangalore, India – died 28 August 1975 at Mzuzu, Malawi) was the son of Major Charles Hamlyn Agnew, (3rd son of Sir Andrew Agnew of Lochnaw 8th Bt and Lady Louisa Noel or Agnew of Lochnaw daughter of the 1st Earl of Gainsborough) and (married 30 June 1897; divorced 1908) Lillian Anne Wolfe Murray of Cringltie (daughter of Lt Gen Sir James Wolfe Murray of Cringltie KCB).

Succession

He succeeded as 10th Baronet Agnew, of Lochnaw on the death of Sir Andrew Noel Agnew of Lochnaw 9th Bt, his uncle, on 14 July 1928. In practice, he did not use the title in later life. On his own death in 1975 he was succeeded in the baronetcy by his Son Crispin Agnew.

Education

He attended Harrow School, spent a year in Heidleberg University in the mid 1930s and the University of Edinburgh BSc as a mature student in the 1940s.

Career

In the Great War he ran away from school at the age 17 to join the Machine Gun Corps, under age, as a private. He later flew in the Royal Flying Corps as a Cadet; he recounted that he had a dog fight with the Red Baron, but as both aircraft had run out of ammunication both flew away safely; he was commissioned as an Honorary 2nd Lt RFC 14 May 1920 [London Gazette]; he was shot down and wounded, spending a year in hospital and is said to have been Mentioned in Despatches.

After World War I he joined the 21st Lancers as a trooper with a view to obtaining a regular commission and served in Ireland. He was unable to obtain a commission because of the reductions in the armed forces post WWI. He left the army and joined a sailing ship to cross the Atlantic and left the ship in San Francisco. He then got work as an extra in Hollywood, including driving a chariot in the first Ben Hur film. He then joined the US cavalry and subsequently the intelligence corps [Sergeant], serving in China. In 1928 on succeeding to the baronetcy he returned to Britain and farmed in Sussex for about a year, later joining the 4th Bn East Sussex Regiment as a Lt before again attempting to get a regular commission. From about 1934 to 1937 he spent time in Europe including time at Heidlebert University; walking in Southern Germany; canoeing down the Danube and walking in the Balkans. The family understood that he worked for British Intelligence during this period.

During the Second World War he registered as a conscientious objector, and served in the Friends Ambulance Unit in London and Greece.

In 1948 he went to India to see if he could obtain a permanet post there, but with independence was unable to do so. He worked, probably with the Red Cross, in refugee camps during the disruptions caused by the partition of India. He then emigrated to farm in South Africa in 1948 - Swanzie Esrskine's family having been in South Africa since 1857. Her grandfather, St Vincent Erskine had been Surveyor General of South Africa. In 1952 Agnew was appointed Registrar of Fort Hare University, Cape Province, the only university then awarding degrees to black Africans. His wife, Swanzie taught geography and became head of the geography department. They allied with the opponents of apartheid, and in 1960, when the army was sent in to clamp down on unrest, the Agnews protested strongly. In return, they, and other British staff, were expelled from South Africa.

Back in Britain, Agnew went to work for the University of Cambridge's Department of Education. In 1965 Swanzie Agnew was elected first Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Malawi, and Agnew joined her as Assistant Registrar at the university for a short period until an African was able to take over. In retirement he indulged is hobby of Bird Watching. He died at Mzuzu, Malawi in 1975 while on a trip to the Nyika National Park. The increasing intransigence of the Hastings Banda government, however, made life intolerable, and Professor Agnew resigned in 1976 and returned to Britain.

Family

He married Swanzie Erskine in London on 9 October 1937 (9 June 1916 – 2000), daughter of Major Esmé Nourse Erskine CMG, MC formerly British Consul in Western Abysinnia (a cadet branch of the Earls of Buchan) and Elizabeth Susan Matilda Reinders (9 October 1937), and had issue:

• Crispin Agnew, 11th Baronet (b.13 May 1944)

Swanzie Earkine was a lecturer in Geography at Edinburgh University during World War II and then Head of the Department of Geography, University of Fort Hare University, South Africa (1955 to 1960). Following deportation from South Africa in 1960 she was Headmistress of the Royal Ballet School, White Lodge, Richmond Park, London (1960 to 1964). In 1964 she was offerred the Professorship of Earth Sciences at the new University of Malawi and served there until she resigned in 1976 in protest at the interference in academic life by the Banda Government. She retired to Edinburgh, Scotland where she lived until she died in 2000.

References

• thePeerage.com
• ‘AGNEW, Fulque Melville Gerald Noel’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007
• Obituary, Swanzie Lady Agnew of Lochnaw, Daily Telegraph, 23 August 2001
• A Tegla Davies: Friends Ambulance Unit, 1947