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George Petty-Fitzmaurice, 8th Marquess of Lansdowne
George John Charles Mercer Nairne Petty-Fitzmaurice, 8th Marquess of Lansdowne, DL (27 November 1912 – 25 August 1999), was a British peer and Conservative politician. BackgroundPetty-Fitzmaurice was the only son of Lord Charles Mercer Nairne, the second son of Henry Petty-FitzMaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne. His father was killed in action in 1914 while on active service in the First World War, and his mother, the former Lady Violet Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, later married secondly John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever.[1] He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, and served in the British Army in the Second World War.[2] In August 1944, Petty-Fitzmaurice’s life was significantly changed when his cousins the 7th Marquess of Lansdowne and his younger brother were both killed in action in the War. As a result, he suddenly and unexpectedly inherited the family peerages and estates, except for the Lordship of Nairne, which under Scottish law went to the 7th Marquess's sister Katherine Evelyn Constance Bigham (1912–1995).[2] CareerLansdowne became a Justice of the Peace for Perthshire in 1950 and a Deputy Lieutenant of Wiltshire in 1952. In 1957 and 1958 he was a Lord-in-Waiting (government whip) and then was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office between 1958 and 1962 and Minister of State for Commonwealth and Colonial Affairs between 1962 and 1964.[3] Effectively his political career was ended by the election of the Labour government of 1964–1970. In 1964 he was appointed as a Privy Counsellor.[1] Personal lifeLansdowne was married four times.[2] On 18 March 1938 he married firstly Barbara Dempsey Chase (1918–1965), only child of Harold Stuart Chase (1890–1970),[2] a real-estate investor of Santa Barbara, California, and Detroit, Michigan, and his wife, née Gertrude Boyer. The first Lady Lansdowne died on 18 February 1965, from injuries sustained in a shotgun blast in the gunroom at her Scottish home, Meikleour House, found by the police to be an accident.[4] They had four children:
On 22 December 1969, Lansdowne married, secondly, Selina Polly Dawson Carnegie, a daughter of David Eccles, 1st Viscount Eccles, and former wife of Robin Andrew Duthac Carnegie, becoming the stepfather of Andrew James Carnegie (born 1963). This marriage ended in divorce in 1978.[2] On 15 October 1978 Lansdowne married thirdly Gillian Anna Morgan (1936–1982), daughter of Alured A.E. Morgan and his first wife, the former Nancye Little-Jones.[2] On 12 July 1995, Lansdowne married fourthly Penelope Eve Astor (died 2006), widow of his half-brother John Astor, a former wife of David Rolt, and daughter of Commander George Francis Norton Bradford.[2] References
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