Victor Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol

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Victor Frederick Cochrane Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol (6 October 1915–10 March 1985) was a British nobleman. His godmother was Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain. He also held the titles of Earl of Bristol, Earl Jermyn, and Baron Hervey of Ickworth in Suffolk. He was Hereditary High Steward of the Liberty of Bury St Edmunds, was patron of thirty (clerical) livings, and held estates in Suffolk, Essex, Lincolnshire, and also in Dominica, West Indies.

Bristol was educated at Eton College and at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. The 6th Marquess was the only son of Herbert Arthur Robert Hervey, 5th Marquess of Bristol and Lady Jean Cochrane, the daughter of the 12th Earl of Dundonald.

The Marquess married three times:

6 October 1949 (div. 1959), Pauline Bolton and had issue Frederick William John Augustus Hervey, 7th Marquess of Bristol, who died aged 44;
23 April 1960, Lady Anne Juliet Dorothea Maud Wentworth, only child of the 8th Earl FitzWilliam, with issue a son, Frederick William Charles Nicholas Wentworth Hervey (Lord Nicholas Hervey), who died aged 36.
1974, Yvonne Marie Sutton, with issue Frederick William Augustus Hervey, 8th Marquess of Bristol and the socialite actress/models, Lady Victoria Hervey and Lady Isabella Hervey.

Victor Hervey (as he was then known) went bankrupt in 1937, aged just 21, with debts of £123,955, which at the time was equivalent to around £10 million in today's money. The bankruptcy seems even more prevalent given his young age. He had been selling guns during the Spanish Civil War to both sides, and the bankruptcy resulted from a deal which went wrong. He nevertheless continued in his arms-dealing activities and was Francisco Franco's principal agent for many years, Bristol went on to amass a fortune estimated to be in excess of £50 million, sterling.

In 1939 he was gaoled for three years for a bungled Mayfair jewellery robbery, made as a result of a drunken bet. The sentence was reduced to one year on appeal, and he was released on parole within 5 months. In his youth he was called "Mayfair's Number One Playboy".

In 1970 he was recorded as having a great many business interests: Chairman of the following: Estates Associates Ltd., Ickworth Forestry Contractors Ltd., V.L.C. Associates Ltd., Marquis of Bristol & Co., Eastern caravan Parks Ltd., Sleaford Investments Ltd., The Bristol Publishing Company, Radio Maria Ickworth Automatic Sales Ltd., Bristol International Airways Ltd., Dominca Enterprises Co., World Liberty Plots, and was involved in other companies also. He was the owner of the Ickworth Stud, Suffolk, and Emerald Hillside Estates, in Dominica. He was Vice-President of the UK Taxpayers Union, a council member of the National Yacht Harbour Association, member of the West India Committee, and, from 1975, Chancellor of the International Monarchist League until his death. He was also a long-standing member of the Conservative Monday Club.

For tax reasons, he and his third wife and family moved to Monte Carlo, Monaco, in early 1979. He died there in 1985, aged 69.