William Ward, 3rd Earl of Dudley
William Kennedy Jones | |
|---|---|
| Succeeded by | Euan Wallace |
| Personal details | |
| Born | William Humble Eric Ward 30 January 1894 |
| Died | 26 December 1969 (aged 75) |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouses | Grace Maria Radziwill
(m. 1961) |
| Children | 3, including William, 4th Earl of Dudley |
| Parent(s) | William Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley Rachel Gurney |
| Education | Eton College |
William Humble Eric Ward, 3rd Earl of Dudley, MC TD (30 January 1894 – 26 December 1969), known as Viscount Ednam until 1932, was a British Conservative Party politician.
Early life
Lord Dudley was the eldest son of William Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley, and his wife Rachel (née Gurney) CBE. Among his siblings was George Ward, 1st Viscount Ward of Witley, Lady Gladys Honor Ward (wife of Maj. Percival Cunningham Allan Bridgeman) and Lady Morvyth Lillian Ward (wife of Constantine Evelyn Benson, a grandson of Robert Stayner Holford).
His paternal grandparents were
He was educated at Eton.
Career
Ward inherited a number of industrial concerns in the Black Country region of England, notably the Round Oak Steelworks[1] and Baggeridge Colliery. In 1937, he set up Dudley Zoo[2] within the grounds of Dudley Castle, once the seat of the Barons of Dudley.
Military service
Dudley was commissioned into the
After the war, he joined the Staffordshire Yeomanry, becoming a major and receiving the Territorial Decoration. In 1933 he was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 51st (Midland) Medium Brigade, Royal Artillery.[3][4]
Political career
Dudley sat as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hornsey from 1921 to 1924 and for Wednesbury from 1931 to 1932 and served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Under-Secretary of State for India, Lord Winterton, between 1922 and 1924. He also held the honorary post of High Sheriff of Worcestershire in 1930.[5]
In the House of Lords, Dudley was notable for opposing the Sexual Offences Act 1967, which partially decriminalized male homosexuality. He stated,
- "I cannot stand homosexuals. They are the most disgusting people in the world... Prison is much too good a place for them; in fact, that is a place where many of them like to go—for obvious reasons."[6][7][8]
Gay rights activist Peter Tatchell said, "The Earl of Dudley's contribution in the Lords sums up the level of the opposition's argument [to the bill]."[6]
Personal life
Dudley married firstly Lady Rosemary Millicent Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (1893–1930), only surviving daughter of Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 4th Duke of Sutherland, on 8 March 1919. She died in a plane crash in 1930, aged 36. Their children were:
- Miguel Angel Carcano, who was the Argentine Ambassador to the U.K. They divorced in 1960 and he married the Scottish actress and socialite Maureen Swanson.
- John Jeremy Ward (1922–1929), who died in childhood.
- Peter Alistair Ward (1926–2008), who married Claire Leonora Baring, a granddaughter of Tracy Louise Ward and actress Rachel Wardbefore divorcing.
He married secondly Viscountess (Frances) Laura Long née Charteris (1915–1990), daughter of Guy Lawrence Charteris and former wife of Walter Long, 2nd Viscount Long, on 25 February 1943. The marriage was childless and they were divorced in 1954. Laura went on to marry Michael Temple Canfield in 1960 and, after his death in 1969, John Spencer-Churchill, 10th Duke of Marlborough shortly before his death. The Dowager Duchess of Marlborough died in 1990.
In 1961, Dudley married thirdly to Grace Maria (
Dudley died in December 1969, aged 75, and was succeeded by his eldest son William.
After his death, his widow lived with the American editor Robert B. Silvers for nearly four decades from 1975 until her death in 2016.[10][11]
Other relationships
He is said to have fathered a daughter, Judy Montagu, in 1923 with the aristocrat and socialite
Mandy Rice-Davies claimed that the Earl was one of the customers at Murray's Cabaret Club, where she worked as a showgirl, and that he proposed to her when she was 17. "I could have been a dowager duchess by the time I was 22." she said.[14]
Notes
- ^ Knox, Collie (1957). Steel at Brierley Hill. Manchester: Newman Neame.
- ^ "Zoo History". Dudley Zoological Gardens. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
- ^ Burkes.
- ^ Monthly Army List.
- ^ "No. 33592". The London Gazette. 28 March 1930. p. 1958.
- ^ a b Bedell, Geraldine (24 June 2007). "Coming out of the dark ages". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
- ISBN 9781446434093.
- ISBN 9781137496980.
- ^ Death notice, The New York Times, 31 December 2016
- ^ Scott, Janny (1 November 1997). "IDEAS: One Mind, But What A Mind; Defining the Passions of the Liberal Elite For Over 2 Decades". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
- ^ "Chip McGrath Profiling New York Review of Books Editor Robert Silvers for the Times". The New York Observer. 27 March 2009. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
- ^ themitfordsociety (19 February 2017). "A Dangerous Devotion: Venetia Montagu". The Mitford Society. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
- ^ "A Six-Decade Roman Holiday". Vanity Fair November 2011.
- TheGuardian.com. 19 December 2014.
References
- Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 100th Edn, London, 1953.
- Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
- Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages [better source needed]
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs