Arms of the Viscount Bridport: 1st and 4th, Azure a fret Argent on a Chief Or three Crescents Sable (Hood); 2nd and 3rd, Or a Cross patonce Sable a Bend Gules surmounted of another engrailed of the field charged with three Bombs fired proper on a Chief undulated Argent waves of the Sea from which a Palm Tree issuant between a Disabled Ship on the dexter and a Battery in Ruins on the sinister all proper over all a Fess wavy Azure thereon inscribed the word "Trafalgar" Or (Nelson)
Rowland Arthur Herbert Nelson Hood, 3rd Viscount Bridport, 6th Duke of Bronte (22 May 1911 – 25 July 1969), of Castello di Maniace, near Bronte, Sicily,[1] was a British naval commander and Conservative politician.
Lt. Hon. Maurice Henry Nelson Hood (1891-1915), killed in action at Gallipoli, father of the 3rd Viscount
Having left school his father Hon. (Maurice Henry) Nelson Hood (1881-1915) joined the Merchant Marine and in 1895 (aged 14) and 1900 was an apprentice on the Brilliant, an iron-hulled sailing ship based in Aberdeen.[7] In 1902 he qualified as a second mate of a foreign-going ship. Having in 1907 been invalided out of the Royal Naval Reserve, he started a career as an insurance broker, but in 1910 was declared bankrupt due to "living beyond his means; inability to find work; illness; and losses by betting and otherwise".[8][9]
He then moved to Walhachin, near Kamloops, British Columbia, where he resumed work in insurance, and where his son the future 3rd Viscount was born.[10] He later moved to Vancouver where in 1912 he became a provisional lieutenant and signalling officer with the 72nd Highlanders of Canada. At the start of World War I he joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and later served with the Hood Battalion, Royal Naval Division (named after his illustrious three-times great-grandfather Admiral Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood (1724-1816), or after the latter's brother Admiral Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport (1726-1814), or after their first cousin once removed Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, 1st Baronet (1762-1814)). He was last seen alive at Gallipoli on 4 June 1915 when with 20 other men he came under heavy fire in a trench subsequently re-occupied by Turkish soldiers and is commemorated at the Helles Memorial.[11]
In 1937 he became the 6th Duke of Bronte, a Sicilian title inherited from his childless and unmarried great-uncle Alexander Hood, 5th Duke of Bronte (1854-1937) (a younger son of the 1st Viscount Bridport, 4th Duke of Bronte) of Castello di Maniace, Bronte and "La Falconara" (aliter "Villa Nelson"),[12]Taormina, both in Sicily.
He took up residence at the Castello di Maniace.[13]
On 27 April 1948 he sold Villa "La Falconara" to Gaetano Marzotto, Count Marzotto (d.1972),[14][15][16] of Valdagno near Venice,[17] one of Italy's leading textile manufacturers (see Marzotto Group)[18] and wine-makers,[19] founder of the Jolly Hotels chain and father of the racing driver Gianni Marzotto. Its name was then changed to Villa Marzotto,[20] until its sale in 1973. It was offered for sale in 2020 (variously as "La Falconara" and "Villa Nelson") for 15 million Euros, fully furnished with antique contents.
Marriages & issue
He married twice:
Firstly in 1934 to Pamela Aline Mary Baker, a daughter of Charles J. Baker, from whom he was divorced in 1945;
Secondly in 1945 he married Sheila Jeanne Agatha van Meurs (d.1996), a daughter of Johan Hendrik van Meurs, by whom he had issue including:
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