Sir Claude and Lady Champion de Crespigny, Tatler cover

Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny, 4th Baronet (1847-1935), soldier, sportsman and adventurer, pictured on the front cover of The Tatler in 1927 beside his wife, Lady Champion de Crespigny at Champion Lodge, Maldon, Essex. Sir Claude's life reads like that of a fictional Victorian action hero. After a military career, he became expert in a number of sports. As a ballooning enthusiast he was the first man to cross the North Sea in 1883. He was also a big-game hunter, a fearless diver, canoeist, sailor and swimmer (becoming the first European to swim the Nile rapids in 1889) and as a jockey, he rode his last steeplechase at the age of 67. Unsurprisingly, his maxim in life was, Where there is a daring deed to be done in any part of the world, an Englishman should leap to the front to accomplish it. In 1872, he married Georgina McKerrel with whom he had five sons and four daughters

Ballooning Baronet Crespigny Enthusiast Maldon Peerage Tatler

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