Major Valentine Fleming (?? - 1917) was an British Conservative Member of Parliament who was killed in World War I.
He was born in Fife, Scotland, the son of wealthy Scottish banker Robert Fleming. He was married to Evelyn St. Croix Fleming and father of Peter Fleming, Ian Fleming, Richard and Michael.
He was MP for Henley from 1910-1917 . From 1906 to 1911, the family lived at Braziers Park close to Wallingford. On election to parliament, they moved to Pitt House on Hampstead Heath in 1910. In 1914 they built a house at Arnisdale in the Scottish Highlands.
During World War I, he wrote to close friend Winston Churchill in 1914. The following is an excerpt:
Imagine a broad belt [of land], ten miles or so in width, stretching from
the Channel to the German frontier near Basle, which is positively littered
with the bodies of men…in which farms, villages, and cottages are
shapeless heaps of blackened masonry; in which fields, roads and trees
are pitted and torn and twisted by [artillery] shells...
He was killed by German bombing in Gillemont Farm area, Picardy, France on May 20, 1917.
After his death, Evelyn inherited Valentine's large estate in trust, making her very wealthy . The trust, though, cut her out should she ever re-marry which virtually guaranteed that she would remain forever Valentine's widow, regardless of other loves or circumstances.
