James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 3rd Earl of Ancaster

Gilbert James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 3rd Earl of Ancaster, TD (8 December 1907 – 29 March 1983) styled Lord Willoughby de Eresby from 1910 to 1951, was a British Conservative politician.


The Earl of Ancaster

James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby
Member of Parliament
for Rutland & Stamford
In office
21 November 1933  3 February 1950
Preceded byNeville Smith-Carington
Succeeded bySir Roger Conant
Personal details
Born
Gilbert James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby

(1907-12-08)8 December 1907
Died29 March 1983(1983-03-29) (aged 75)
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s)
Nancy Phyllis Louise Astor
(m. 1933; died 1975)
Children2
Parents
EducationEton College
Alma materMagdalene College, Cambridge

Early life

Ancaster was the son of Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 2nd Earl of Ancaster, and American heiress Eloise Lawrence Breese. His younger brother John died unmarried in 1970, and his two sisters, Lady Catherine and Lady Priscilla, married John St Maur Ramsden and Col. Sir John Renton Aird, 3rd Baronet, respectively.[1]

He was educated at Eton and Magdalene College, Cambridge. At Cambridge, he was a member of the University Pitt Club.[2]

Career

In 1933 he was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament (MP) for Rutland and Stamford, a seat he held until 1950. From 1933 to 1935 Ancaster was "Baby of the House", the youngest member of the House of Commons. He served in the Second World War as a major in the 153rd Leicestershire Yeomanry Regiment in the 5th Guards Armoured Brigade, and was mentioned in despatches.

In 1951 Ancaster was summoned to the House of Lords through a writ of acceleration in his father's junior title of Baron Willoughby de Eresby. He succeeded as third Earl of Ancaster later that year upon the death of his father. Apart from his political career he was also Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire from 1950 to 1975 and Joint Lord Great Chamberlain from 1951 to 1983.[1]

Personal life

On 27 July 1933, Lord Ancaster married Nancy Phyllis Louise Astor (1909–1975), the only daughter of Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor and Nancy Astor (the American-born British politician who was the first female Member of Parliament to take her seat). Together, James and Nancy were the parents of two children, one son and one daughter:[1]

The Countess of Ancaster died on 2 March 1975. Lord Ancaster died in March 1983, aged 75. On his death the earldom and barony of Aveland became extinct, while he was succeeded in the ancient barony of Willoughby de Eresby by his daughter Nancy, who also succeeded him as joint Lord Great Chamberlain. His Heathcote baronetcy was inherited by his distant relative Gilbert Simon Heathcote.[6]

References

  1. "Ancaster, Earl of (UK, 1892 - 1983)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  2. Fletcher, Walter Morley (2011) [1935]. The University Pitt Club: 1835-1935 (First Paperback ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-1-107-60006-5.
  3. http://thepeerage.com/p681.htm#i6807
  4. http://www.willoughbygallery.com/ The Willoughby Memorial Trust
  5. Peter W. Hammond, editor, The Complete Peerage or a History of the House of Lords and All its Members From the Earliest Times, Volume XIV: Addenda & Corrigenda (Stroud, Gloucestershire, U.K.: Sutton Publishing, 1998), page 24
  6. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th Edition, edited by Charles Mosley, Wilmington, Delaware, 2003, vol III, p. 4196, ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Neville Smith-Carington
Member of Parliament for Rutland & Stamford
19331950
Succeeded by
Sir Roger Conant
Preceded by
Roland Robinson
Baby of The House
19331935
Succeeded by
Charles Taylor
Court offices
Preceded by
The 2nd Earl of Ancaster
Lord Great Chamberlain
1951–1952
Succeeded by
The Marquess of Cholmondeley
Honorary titles
Preceded by
The Lord Brownlow
Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire
1950–1975
Succeeded by
Sir Henry Nevile
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby
Earl of Ancaster
1951–1983
Extinct
Peerage of England
Preceded by
Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby
Baron Willoughby de Eresby
(writ of acceleration)

1951–1983
Succeeded by
Nancy Jane Marie Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby
Baronetage of Great Britain
Preceded by
Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby
Baronet
(of London)
1951–1983
Succeeded by
Gilbert Simon Heathcote
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