The Lord Swansea | |
|---|---|
 At the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica | |
| Member of the House of Lords | |
Lord Temporal | |
| as a hereditary peer 16 November 1934 – 11 November 1999 | |
| Preceded by | The 3rd Baron Swansea |
| Succeeded by | Seat abolished [a] |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Hussey Hamilton Vivian 1 January 1925 |
| Died | 27 June 2005 (aged 80) |
| Political party | |
| Spouses | Miriam Caccia-Birch
(m. 1956; div. 1973)Lucy Temple Richards
(m. 1982) |
| Education | |
| Sports career | |
| Sport | Sport shooting |
Medal record | |
John Hussey Hamilton Vivian, 4th Baron Swansea, CStJ, DL (1 January 1925 – 27 June 2005), was a British peer, sports shooter and lobbyist.
Upon the death of his father, Odo Vivian, in 1934, Swansea succeeded to the title of Baron Swansea at the age of nine. He was educated at Eton College, where he first competed in rifle shooting, representing the school at Bisley in the Ashburton Shield, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied French and German. He took his seat in the House of Lords in 1956, and spoke unsuccessfully against proposals to expand gun control legislation in the 1980s and 1990s. He resigned the Conservative whip in protest at restrictions on firearms ownership passed in response to the Hungerford and Dunblane mass shootings. In 1999, he lost his seat as a result of the House of Lords Act 1999, which removed most hereditary peers from the Lords.
Swansea was regarded as one of the finest rifle shots of his day. He won the Scottish National Championships in 1955, and represented frequently both Wales and Great Britain. He won Wales's first shooting medal at a Commonwealth Games at the 1966 Kingston Games, taking gold in fullbore rifle shooting, and a silver medal at the Brisbane Games in 1982. He won several major competitions at the Imperial Meeting, the premier event in British and Commonwealth fullbore shooting, including two wins each in the target rifle Grand Aggregate and the match rifle Hopton Aggregate. He was one of five shooters to captain a team in each of the "Big Five" international matches: the National, Mackinnon, Kolapore, Australia and Palma.
Swansea was active in the administration of British shooting, serving as vice-chairman of the National Rifle Association between 1989 and 1992 and as a founder and chairman of the British Shooting Sports Council. He sold the family seat of Caer Beris in 1966, and thereafter lived mostly in London. He was married twice, and was succeeded upon his death in 2005 by Richard Anthony Hussey Vivian, his son from his first marriage.
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