Francis Money-Coutts, 5th Baron Latymer

Francis Money-Coutts (1852-1923), from World's Work, 1903. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Francis Burdett Thomas Nevill Money-Coutts, 5th Baron Latymer (18 September 1852 - 8 June 1923) was an English poet , solicitor, librettist, and wealthy heir to the fortune of the Coutts banking family. He is now remembered chiefly as a patron and collaborator of Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz.

Life

Family

He was born Francis Money. His father was Rev. James Drummond Money (died 1875), and his mother was Clara Burdett (died 1899). Clara was the daughter of Sir Francis Burdett (1770-1844) and Sophia Coutts (died 1844), 1 of 3 daughters of wealthy banker Thomas Coutts.

In 1875 Francis Money married Edith Ellen Churchill.

In 1881, his mother Clara's sister Angela Burdett Coutts violated the terms of the will making her the sole heir of the Coutts fortune, by marrying a foreigner (an American 40 years her junior). Seeing an opportunity, Clara and her son adopted the name "Coutts," as required by the will, and contested Angela's claims. A settlement was reached, and Angela received 2/5 of the income until her death in 1906, at which time Francis became the sole beneficiary.

Education and professional life

Money attended Eton College and the University of Cambridge (MA; LL.M., 1878). He became a barrister in 1879 and later worked as a solicitor in Surrey. Although often described as a banker, he was too interested in the arts to be a serious banker. He was considered for a partnership in the firm, but this idea was abandoned, as he was thought too unstable in temperament for such a position. In any case, his preferred vocation was as an author. Adopting the pen name of "Mountjoy," he wrote and published at least 23 works between 1896 and 1923. Many of these were collections of poems. He also worked for publisher John Lane in London, writing prefaces for, and editing, collections of poems by other authors, including Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Flowers of Parnassus, 27 volumes, 1900-1906) and Jeremy Taylor (The Marriage Ring, 1907).

Collaboration with Albéniz

In the late 1880s Money-Coutts became involved with the finances of the Lyric]] and Prince of Wales theatres. Through this connection he became an admirer of the music of Albéniz. Soon he became acquainted with the composer, eventually becoming an intimate friend and benefactor. They collaborated on a series of operas, for which Coutts wrote the libretti. The earliest opera in the series was Henry Clifford (1895), followed by Pepita Jiménez (1896), and an Arthurian trilogy, of which only a single part, Merlin (1902), was completed and staged.

Title

Francis Money-Coutts became the 5th Baron Latymer in 1913 when its 336-year abeyance was terminated in his favor by King George V]].

Publications

Poetry

• Chords (as F.B.T. Money). London: privately printed by Civil Service Printing and Publishing, 1877.
• The Girls of England: A battle-call. London: printed by Hatchards for the Girls' Friendly Society, 1882.
• Poems. London: John Lane / New York: George H. Richmond, 1896.
• The Alhambra, and other poems. London & New York: John Lane, 1898.
• The Revelation of St. Love the Divine. London & New York: John Lane, 1898.
• The Mystery of Godliness. London & New York: John Lane, 1900.
• The Nut-Brown Maid: A new version (illustrated by Herbert Cole). London: John Lane, 1901.
• Musa Verticordia. London: John Lane, 1905.
• The Romance of King Arthur. London & New York: John Lane, 1907.
• Egypt, and other poems. London & New York: John Lane, 1912.
• Ballad of the War. London: A.L. Humphreys, 1915.
• The Spacious Times, and others. London & New York: John Lane, 1920.
• Selected Poems. London: John Lane, 1923.

Play

• The Song of Songs: A lyrical folk-play of the ancient Hebrews, arranged in seven scenes (1906).

Novel

• Two Heirs Presumptive. London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, 1894.

Non-fiction

• The Poet's Charter' or, The book of Job. London & New York: John Lane, 1903.
• The Heresy of Job, with the Inventions of William Blake. London & New York: John Lane, 1907.
• The Royal Marines. London: Arthur L. Humphreys, 1915.
• Ventures in Thought. London & New York: John Lane, 1915
  • Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1967.
• Well (a guidebook to the village of Well, Yorkshire). London: John Lane, 1922.

Translated

• The New Testament in Modern Speech: An idiomatic translation into everyday English from the text of the Resultant Greek Testament. London: James Clarke / Boston: Pilgrim Press, 1900.
• Apulieus, Psyche. London & New York: John Lane, 1912.
• Icarian Flights: Translations of some of the Odes of Horace (with Walter Herries Pollock). London & New York: John Lane Co., 1920.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

• List of British poets

References

• Clark, Walter Aaron (1999). Isaac Albéniz: Portrait of a Romantic. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 019816369X
• Kidd, Charles; David Williamson, editors (1990). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage. New York: St Martin's Press. ISBN 9780333388471.

External links

Poems

• "The Mystery of Godliness"
• Money-Coutts, Francis Burdett (2 poems, "Epitaph" and "The Inquest") at Representative Poetry Online.
• Francis Burdett Thomas Coutts-Nevill at PoemHunter (2 poems, "The Guardian Demon" and "To Britain, Before Her Declaration of War").
• Francis Burdett Money-Coutts in the Oxford Book of Victorian Verse: "The Dream," from 'A Little Sequence', "Any Father to Any Son," "Empires," "Mors, Morituri, Te Salutamus," "Two Epitaphs"

Books

• Francis Money-Coutts at Amazon.com

About

• Francis Burdett Thomas Money-Coutts at Genealogy.links.org.