View source for Valentine Fleming

{{Short description|British politician (1882–1917)}}
{{for|the mid-19th century Chief Justice of Tasmania|Valentine Fleming (judge)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = 
| name                = Valentine Fleming
| honorific-suffix    = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|DSO|MP}}
| image               = Major Valentine Fleming.png
| caption             = Valentine Fleming from the Roll of Honour published in ''[[The Illustrated London News]]'' in June 1917
| constituency_MP     = [[Henley (UK Parliament constituency)|Henley]]
| parliament          = United Kingdom
| majority            = 
| predecessor         = [[Philip Morrell]]
| successor           = [[Robert Hermon-Hodge, 1st Baron Wyfold|Sir Robert Hermon-Hodge]]
| term_start          = 10 February 1910
| term_end            = 20 May 1917
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1882|02|17|df=yes}}
| birth_place         = [[Newport-on-Tay]], [[Fife]], Scotland
| death_date          = {{death date and age |1917|05|20|1882|02|17|df=yes}}
| death_place         = [[Épehy]], [[Somme (department)|Somme]], France
| death_cause         = [[Killed in action]]
| resting_place       = Templeux-le-Guérard British Cemetery, [[Templeux-le-Guérard]], Somme, France
| resting_place_coordinates = {{coord|49|57|46|N|3|9|28|E}}
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Evelyn St. Croix Fleming|Evelyn Beatrice Sainte Croix Rose]]|15 February 1906}}
| party               = [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]
| relations           = 
| children            = {{hlist|[[Peter Fleming (writer)|Peter]]|[[Ian Fleming|Ian]]|Richard|Michael}}
| residence           = 
| education           = [[Eton College]]
| alma_mater          = [[Magdalen College, Oxford]]
| occupation          = 
| profession          = Banker
| signature           = 
| signature_alt       = 
| footnotes           = 
| allegiance          = United Kingdom
| branch              = [[British Army]]
| serviceyears        = 1908–1917
| rank                = [[Major (United Kingdom)|Major]]
| unit                = [[Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars]]
| battles             = [[First World War]]
| mawards             = [[Distinguished Service Order]]<br>[[Mentioned in Despatches]] (2)
| parents             = [[Robert Fleming (financier)]] (father)
}}
[[Major (United Kingdom)|Major]] '''Valentine Fleming''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100|DSO}} (17 February 1882 – 20 May 1917)<ref name="Thornton">{{cite book |last=Thornton |first=Neil |year=2017 |title=Led by Lions: MPs and Sons Who Fell in the First World War |url=http://fonthillmedia.com/epages/a72b332e-5c82-4e84-ad34-4c5316ee7a6b.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/a72b332e-5c82-4e84-ad34-4c5316ee7a6b/Products/978-1-78155-666-5 |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=Fonthill Media |isbn=978-1-78155-666-5 |archive-date=14 January 2018 |access-date=13 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180114020509/http://fonthillmedia.com/epages/a72b332e-5c82-4e84-ad34-4c5316ee7a6b.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/a72b332e-5c82-4e84-ad34-4c5316ee7a6b/Products/978-1-78155-666-5 |url-status=dead }}</ref> was a Scottish [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] [[Member of Parliament]] who was killed in the [[First World War]]. He was the father of the authors [[Peter Fleming (writer)|Peter Fleming]] and [[Ian Fleming]], the latter of whom created the [[James Bond]] character.

==Early life and political career==
Born in [[Newport-on-Tay]], [[Fife]], Fleming was the son of Sarah (née Hindmarsh) and [[Robert Fleming (financier)|Robert Fleming]], a wealthy Scottish banker and founder of the merchant bank [[Robert Fleming & Co.]]<ref name="Scottish Roots">{{cite web|title=Ian Fleming|url=http://www.scottishroots.com/people/ian.php|work=Scottish Roots|access-date=21 January 2012}}</ref> Fleming was educated at [[Eton College]] and [[Magdalen College, Oxford]]. He married [[Evelyn St. Croix Fleming|Evelyn Beatrice Sainte Croix Rose]] in London on 15 February 1906.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=AO%2BQkMinMIOSloun3QKgIA&scan=1|title=Index entry|access-date=13 January 2018|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}}</ref> Together they had four sons: adventurer and travel writer [[Peter Fleming (writer)|Peter]] (father of actress [[Lucy Fleming]]), novelist [[Ian Fleming|Ian]] (author of the [[James Bond]] novels), Richard (whose son is billionaire [[Adam Fleming (businessman)|Adam Fleming]]), and Michael.

From 1906 to 1911, the family lived at [[Braziers Park]] in [[Ipsden]], [[Oxfordshire]]. On his election to parliament, they moved to Pitt House on [[Hampstead Heath]] in 1910. He was a Member of Parliament for [[Henley (UK Parliament constituency)|Henley]] from 1910 to 1917. In 1916 they built a shooting lodge at [[Arnisdale]], near [[Glenelg, Highland|Glenelg]] in Inverness-shire in the Scottish Highlands.

==Military service==
At the outbreak of the [[First World War]] Valentine was a [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]] in 'C' Squadron, [[Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars]], a [[yeomanry]] regiment, having received his commission on 30 June 1908.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=28153 |date=30 June 1908 |page=4725}}</ref> After a month of training the regiment was sent to France on 22 September 1914.<ref name="Thornton"/>

He wrote a "brisk and breezy account" to a fellow officer in England in 1914 about the start of the war. Initially the regiment had little more than "a tour of the principal French watering places" followed by a fortnight hanging about [[Dunkirk]] and [[Saint-Omer]] ("Very dull"), but then on 30 October were told by General [[Beauvoir de Lisle|de Lisle]] to:

{{blockquote|occupy a line of trenches on the right of Messines. This was disagreeable as projectiles of every variety were exploding with a disquieting regularity all over the ground of our advance. .... Off we went, over some very holding ground, three squadrons in a succession of rushes in extended lines, the regularity of which was still disturbed by the wire! (Never move without nippers on the [[Sam Browne belt]]!). Luckily we had no man hit—I can’t think why—which put some heart into the men .... we began to wonder how to fix the bloody bayonets with which we had been issued two days previously. .... About 4.30 am they were relieved and marched back about two miles to get breakfast, v. hungry and sleepy. (But then De Lisle told them that the line had been broken, so) with empty bellies we become plodding up the usual wire-enclosed ploughed fields on the left of Messines, being pooped at by very high and wild rifle fire .... It was a very trying day for the men, they were d—-d hungry. [The line held, just; but Messines and its Ridge were taken, see [[Battle of Messines (1914)|Battle of Messines]] and [[First Battle of Ypres]]].<ref>{{cite book |last= Brown |first= Malcolm |title= The Imperial War Museum Book of The Western Front |edition= 2 |orig-year= 1993 |year= 2001 |publisher= Pan Books |location= London |isbn=  0-330-48475-3 |pages= 34, 35 }}</ref>}}
 
He also wrote to a close friend, [[Winston Churchill]], in 1914 (the following is an excerpt):

{{blockquote|Imagine a broad belt [of land], ten miles or so in width, stretching from the Channel to the German frontier near [[Basel|Basle]], which is positively littered with the bodies of men…in which farms, villages, and cottages are shapeless heaps of blackened masonry; in which fields, roads and trees are pitted and torn and twisted by [artillery] shells...}}

Fleming was promoted to [[Major (United Kingdom)|major]] on 2 November 1914 and became the commanding officer of 'C' Squadron. He was appointed the second-in-command of the regiment in January 1916.<ref name="Thornton"/><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=28991 |date=27 November 1914 |page=10150 |supp=y}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=29007 |date=15 December 1914 |page=10701}}</ref>

Fleming was killed by German shellfire at Gillemont Farm, near [[Épehy]], [[Somme (department)|Somme]], [[France]] on 20 May 1917. For his service, Valentine was posthumously awarded the [[Distinguished Service Order]] on 4 June 1917, having been previously twice [[mentioned in dispatches]].<ref name="Thornton"/><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=30111 |date=1 June 1917 |page=5470 |supp=y}}</ref> His will was proven on 6 November, with his estate amounting to  £265,596 19s. 5d.  (roughly equivalent to £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|265596.9708|1917|r=0}}}} in {{Inflation-year|UK}}).{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}}<ref name="probate">{{cite web |url=https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar?surname=Fleming&yearOfDeath=1917&page=2#calendar |title=Fleming, Valentine |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=1917 |website=probatesearchservice.gov |publisher=UK Government |access-date=13 August 2019 }}</ref>

Major Fleming is buried at Templeux-le-Guérard British Cemetery, near the village of [[Templeux-le-Guérard]].<ref>{{CWGC|id=337500|name=Fleming, Valentine|access-date=30 August 2016}}</ref> He is commemorated on Panel 8 of the [[Parliamentary War Memorial]] in Westminster Hall, one of 22 MPs who died during World War I to be named on that memorial.<ref>{{cite web|title=Recording Angel memorial Panel 8|publisher=[[Parliament of the United Kingdom]]|website=Recording Angel memorial, Westminster Hall|url=http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/cultural-collections/memorials/in-the-collection/world-war-i/wwi-angel-memorial/recording-angel-panel8/|access-date=31 August 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=List of names on the Recording Angel memorial, Westminster Hall|publisher=UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk)|website=Recording Angel memorial, Westminster Hall|url=http://www.parliament.uk/documents/War-Memorial-Lists/War-Memorial-Westminster-Hall-WW1.pdf|access-date=31 August 2016}}</ref> Additionally, he is one of 19 MPs who died in the war commemorated by heraldic shields in the Commons Chamber.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fleming|publisher=UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk)|website=Heraldic shields to MPs, First World War|url=http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/cultural-collections/memorials/in-the-collection/world-war-i/wars-heraldic-shields/fleming/|access-date=31 August 2016}}</ref> A further act of commemoration came with the unveiling in 1932 of a manuscript-style [[Illuminated manuscript|illuminated]] book of remembrance for the House of Commons, which includes a short biographical account of his life and death.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=House of Commons War Memorial: Final Volumes Unveiled by The Speaker|date=6 February 1932 |page=7|issue=46050}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Moss-Blundell|editor-first=Edward Whitaker|title=The House of Commons Book of Remembrance 1914–1918|publisher=E. Mathews & Marrot|year=1931}}</ref>

Fleming is also remembered in a memorial window by G.E.R. Smith and adjacent wall plaque at [[St Bartholomew's Church, Nettlebed|St Bartholomew's Church]] in [[Nettlebed]], [[Oxfordshire]]. The window, installed in 1945, also commemorates Fleming's eldest son, Captain Michael Valentine Fleming, who was killed in action in France in 1940. It's two lights show [[Saint Valentine|St Valentine]] and [[Michael (archangel)|St Michael Archangel]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Major V. Fleming and Captain M. V. Fleming – Window |website=Imperial War Museums – War Memorials Register |publisher=Imperial War Museums |access-date=21 August 2025 |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/81367}}</ref>

Fleming's obituary in ''[[The Times]]'' was written by Churchill.<ref>{{cite news |last=Churchill |first=Winston Spencer |author-link=Winston Churchill |date=25 May 1917 |title=Valentine Fleming. An appreciation |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/valentine-fleming-an-appreciation-z975zns3p |newspaper=[[The Times]] |access-date=13 January 2018 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" caption="Glenelg War Memorial">
File:Glenelg Bay with the village war memorial. (geograph 2422685).jpg|[[Glenelg, Highland|Glenelg]] Bay with the village war memorial
File:Glenelg War Memorial - Detail - geograph.org.uk - 969921.jpg|Sculpture on the Glenelg war memorial
File:A link to James Bond - geograph.org.uk - 1255756.jpg|Valentine Fleming's name on the  Glenelg war memorial
</gallery>
<gallery mode="packed" caption="Henley Town Hall, Oxfordshire">
File:HenleyOnThames TownHall east.jpg|Henley-on-Thames War Memorial Tablets on the East face of Henley Town Hall
File:The Fallen A to L (geograph 3150533).jpg|Valentine Fleming's name on the Henley-on-Thames war memorial
</gallery>
<gallery mode="packed" caption="St Bartholomew's Church, Nettlebed">
File:Fleming Window (geograph 5177435).jpg|Memorial window commemorating both Fleming and his eldest son, Michael
File:Valentine Fleming (geograph 5177434).jpg|Memorial plaque to Valentine Fleming
</gallery>
==Legacy==
In 1914, shortly before leaving to fight in France, Valentine signed a will that left Pitt House and his effects to his wife Evelyn; most of his estate was left in trust to benefit their four sons and their future families. His wife Evelyn would have a generous income from the trust unless she remarried, in which case she would receive a reduced amount of £3000 per annum. Evelyn never remarried and felt it was a "bad will".<ref>{{cite book |first=Andrew |last=Lycett |publisher=[[Orion Publishing Group|Orion Books]] |year=1996 |title=Ian Fleming |isbn=9781857997835}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Hansard-contribs | mr-valentine-fleming | Valentine Fleming }}

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{{succession box | title=[[Henley (UK Parliament constituency)|Member for Henley]] | years=1910&ndash;1917 | before=[[Philip Morrell|Philip Edward Morrell]] | after=[[Robert Hermon-Hodge, 1st Baron Wyfold|Sir Robert Hermon-Hodge]]}}
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{{Ian Fleming|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fleming, Valentine}}
[[Category:1882 births]]
[[Category:1917 deaths]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:British military personnel killed in World War I]]
[[Category:British MPs who died in office]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Clan Fleming|Valentine]]
[[Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies]]
[[Category:Fleming family|Valentine]]
[[Category:People from Newport-on-Tay]]
[[Category:Scottish politicians]]
[[Category:People associated with Highland (council area)]]
[[Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1910]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1910–1918]]
[[Category:Anglo-Scots]]
[[Category:Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars officers]]
[[Category:Volunteer Force officers]]
[[Category:Military personnel from London]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Oxfordshire]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Fife]]