Francis R. H. P. Curzon

Francis Richard Henry Penn Curzon was born on 1^st May 1884. He was the only child of Richard Curzon and Lady Georgiana Elizabeth Spencer-Churchill. His grandfather was the 3^rd Earl Howe, and the family had a long-standing naval and military tradition, including Admiral Richard Howe, 1^st Earl Howe (1726–1799), who commanded the Channel Fleet to victory in the Glorious First of June naval battle in 1794. Francis was educated at Eton College and, in 1900, on the death of his grandfather and his father’s succession as the 4^th Earl Howe, he assumed the title of Viscount. Viscount Curzon left Christ Church, Oxford University, around 1906 without graduating. His mother died the same year.

In 1907, Lieutenant Viscount Curzon was appointed commanding officer of the newly formed Sussex Division of the RNVR and granted the acting rank of commander. That same year, he married his cousin Mary Curzon, who had been described as the perfect specimen of English beauty. In 1908, the couple welcomed their first child, Edward, who would become the 6^th Earl Howe. In 1910, their daughter Georgina was born, and Viscount Curzon was elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for South Battersea.

Earl Howe filiming the surrender of the German fleet

Viscount Curzon filming the surrender
at Scapa Flow

At the outbreak of the First World War, Viscount Curzon was appointed to the Royal Naval Division on 21^st August as the officer commanding Howe Battalion, with the rank of Commander. After leading the battalion at Antwerp, his record shows that he subsequently became Non-Effective R.N.D. (unavailable for active duty). On 7^th December, Viscount Curzon was appointed Assistant Gunnery Officer on HMS Queen Elizabeth, attending a gunnery course at HMS Excellent. He would not be present at the Battle of Jutland, as Queen Elizabeth was undergoing a refit at the time. In December 1917, his record notes that he wished to be addressed as Commander R.N., not R.N.V.R.

Curzon leveraged his pre-war interest in cinematography to establish and organize the Royal Navy’s cinematograph service, and he famously filmed the German fleet’s surrender at Scapa Flow from the deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth.

In December 1918, Viscount Curzon was re-elected as the Battersea South MP, and he was demobilised on 3^rd February 1919. In April, he was promoted to the rank of Captain and appointed an Aide-de-Camp to the King. When the RNVR was reformed in 1921, he became Commanding Officer of the Bristol Division in February, a position he would hold until the outbreak of war in 1939, before being placed on the retired list in April. In 1924, he was appointed a Junior Lord of the Treasury.

In 1928, he assisted Dr J. D. Benjafield in forming the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) and began racing cars. He developed a friendship with Malcolm Campbell, the land speed record holder, and the two became partners in endurance races.

In 1929, upon the death of his father, he succeeded as the 5^th Earl Howe and entered the House of Lords as a Lord Temporal. As a member of the Upper House, he relinquished his parliamentary seat. Freed from the responsibilities of an MP, he devoted more time to motor racing and was appointed President of the BRDC, a position he would hold until his death. He later became Chairman of the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) Executive Committee.

In the 1930s, at Penn House—the ancestral seat of the Earls Howe, located in Penn Street near Amersham, Buckinghamshire—Earl Howe developed a mile-long banked drive specifically for practising motor racing techniques. He competed in the Le Mans 24 Hours six times, winning the 2-litre class in an Alfa Romeo 6C in 1930. In 1931, partnered by Tim Birkin, he won the overall race in an Alfa Romeo 8C.

In 1937, the Earl and Countess divorced, and he married Joyce Mary McLean Jack. In 1938, the Earl’s second daughter, Lady Sarah, was born.

Commodore the Earl Howe aboard HMS Howe WW2

As a Commodore with his Lieutenant son on board the battleship HMS Howe during WWII

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Earl Howe ended his racing career and returned to the Navy as a Commodore. In 1943, he divorced his second wife, and in 1944 he married Sybil Boyter Johnson. In 1945, his final child, his third daughter, Lady Sarah Marguerite, was born.

After the war, Earl Howe focused on preparing cars for other drivers and organising races. He worked tirelessly to restart motor racing in Britain. As a peer, he lobbied for government support for motorsport infrastructure and played a key role in securing the use of former airfields for racing. He helped organise the first British Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1948. Under his leadership, the BRDC grew into one of the most important motorsport organisations in the world. In the late 1940s and 1950s, he served as vice-president of the FIA’s Commission Sportive Internationale.

Earl Howe died on 26^th July 1964 and was interred in the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church in Penn. Countess Howe, at the age of 93, died in 1999. Today, the BRDC awards a special honour in his memory: the Earl Howe Trophy, presented annually for the most outstanding performance of the year in historic racing.

Note - A number of sources claim that Viscount Curzon was the Howe O/C at Gallipoli. This is not the case. Jerrold details (p. 46) that several battalion commanders had moved to other naval appointments and that Commander Collins was now in command of Howe. This is supported by Viscount Curzon’s RNVR record, which dates the appointment to HMS Queen Elizabeth in December 1914.