Sense and magnanimity

People see William Rees-Mogg as an archetypal member of the Establishment. But this is not quite true. His father’s family had been modest landowners for centuries, but his mother was Irish-American and Mogg was baptised a Catholic. His religion has brought him such happiness as he has enjoyed, including a long and comfortable marriage, but it also had a direct effect on his education. The family school was Charterhouse, but Mogg sat for the Eton scholarship and did well. Lord Quickswood, the Provost, vetoed him on religious grounds. He was the former Lord Hugh Cecil MP, leader of the Ultra-Tory anti-Home-Rulers, a gang known as the Hughligans.

The veto was never again exercised, and Mogg was the last schoolboy to be barred from Eton as a papist. It was a blow — ‘I had even been measured for my top hat’ — and it changed his life. Instead of going effortlessly into politics, he had to be content with Charterhouse and make his way in the world.