Moreton Frewen was an Anglo-Irish writer on monetary reform who served briefly as a Member of Parliament.
Background
He was the fifth son of Thomas Frewen, Member of Parliament for South Leicestershire, and was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he gained his Bachelor in 1877. A charming if financially incompetent adventurer from an English landed gentry family known for reckless financial and political schemes, he managed to marry Clarita "Clara" Jerome (1851–1935) in 1881, daughter of the New York financier Leonard Jerome, and sister to Lord Randolph Churchill"s wife Jennie.
Career
He emigrated to Wyoming during the cattle boom in the 1870s and 1880s. They settled together on a huge Wyoming ranch, The Prince of Wales Ranch, where Frewen built an enormous log lodge/castle later destroyed by fire and ran up ever increasing debt, earning the sobriquets "Mortal Ruin" and "the splendid pauper". His laterally descended family, the Martins formerly of Charley Hall, Leicestershire, refer to him to this day however not as "Mortal Ruin" but as "Immortal Ruin", as he ran through two family fortunes before being granted a remittance and "encouraged" by family to emigrate to America.
Returning to the United Kingdom, where he owned homes in London and Cork, Frewen served as Vice President of the Imperial Federation League.
He wrote on tariff reform and other economic matters, and was an advocate of bimetallism. He became involved in Irish affairs through inheriting the Innishannon Estate, some 3,000 acres near Cork, and through his friendships with Lord Dunraven and Timothy Healy (Member of Parliament).
He was elected unopposed at the December 1910 general election as an All-for-Ireland League Member of Parliament for North East Cork, taking his seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Later he signed the British Covenant in support of Ulster, while continuing to engage in political intrigues.
Another daughter, Jasmine, died at birth.
Politics
He resigned on 5 July 1911 because his seat was needed for Healy and because of his reactionary public statements: his opposition to the Parliament Bill to remove the legislative veto of the House of Lords was proving a political liability.
Membership
30th United Kingdom Parliament.