Hugh Trefusis Brassey

He was the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Edgar Hugh Brassey, grandson of Henry Arthur Brassey, and his wife Margaret Harriet Trefusis, daughter of Hon. Walter Rodolph Trefusis.[2] Brassey was educated at Eton College and at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.[3]

He joined in the Royal Scots Greys as second lieutenant in 1935[4] During the Second World War, he was involved in the Syria-Lebanon Campaign in 1941 and the Battle of El Alamein in the following year.[1] He took part in the Salerno Landings of 1943 and also in the Normandy Landings of 1944.[1] In 1944, Brassey was decorated with the Military Cross[5] and the French Croix de Guerre.[3] After the war, he was transferred as lieutenant-colonel to the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry in 1955.[1]

In the New Year Honours 1959 Brassey was awarded an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.[6] He was appointed aide-de-camp to Queen Elizabeth II in 1964, a post he held for five years.[7] In 1974, Brassey was appointed colonel of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.[8]

He entered the Yeomen of the Guard[9] as exon in 1964[10] and became its ensign in 1970.[11] Brassey was promoted to adjutant and clerk of the cheque the year thereafter[12] and finally to lieutenant in 1979.[13] Following his retirement in 1985, he was made as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.[2]

He was High Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1959[14] and represented the county also as Justice of the Peace.[3] Having been already Deputy Lieutenant from 1956[15] and Vice Lord Lieutenant from 1968,[16] Brassey was nominated Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire in 1981, an office he held until 1989.[17] He was invested a Knight of the Venerable Order of Saint John in 1982.[18]

On 18 July 1939, he married Joyce Patricia Kingscote (1917-2006), daughter of Captain Maurice John Kingscote, and had by her three daughters and two sons.[1]