HEATHCOTE, Sir (Simon Robert) Mark 10th Bt OBE 1941-2025
Richard R
From the Telegraph of 5 Sep 2025: HEATHCOTE Sir Mark Simon Robert Bt OBE, died aged 84 on 29th August after a short illness. Survived by his sister Joanna and sons Alastair and Nicholas. After a short, private, family cremation a jolly memorial service will be held at a later date.
He was s of Brig-Gen Sir Gilbert Simon HEATHCOTE 9th Bt 1913-2014 and his 1st w Patricia Margaret 1917-2012 d of Brig James Travers LESLIE MC 1888-1976 by his 28 Oct 1914 m (St Cross with St Faith, Winchester) to Gladys Burrows 1888-1980 d of Alfred George BOUMPHREY 1860-1943 by his 10 June 1895 m (Chicago, Ill.) to Anne d’Esterre TAYLOR c1862-1933. He m 1976 Susan Mary d 2020 d of Lt-Col George ASHLEY of Rosamundford, Aylesbeare, Devon, and had two sons as above. His elder son succeeds him:
Sir ALASTAIR ROBERT Heathcote 11th Bt has yet to establish his claim, b 18 Aug 1977: the 2008 Olympic rowing silver medallist has a dau by his partner Camilla d of Andrew HARVEY.
DAUGHTER LIVING (by Camilla HARVEY)
Maddie Alexandra b 2016 reg Q3 Ken&Chelsea
BROTHER LIVING
NICHOLAS ALEXANDER b 21 July 1979, unm in DPB.
The only other person in the line of succession appears to be Richard John HEATHCOTE b 1951 (5xgt gs of Sir Gilbert John HEATHCOTE 2nd Bt 1689-1759), unm in DPB.
Paul Theroff
https://www.angelfire.com/realm/gotha/gotha/heathcote_burrell.html
Richard R
Obit in the Times of 26 Sep 2025:
E X T R A C T
Sir Mark Heathcote Bt obituary: MI6 officer with role in Falklands war
Intelligence officer with an appetite for adventure and life’s wilder shores who was head of the SIS station in Buenos Aires in the early 1980s dies aged 84
… Sir Mark Heathcote Bt was born in 1941 in Richmond, North Yorkshire, the nearest conurbation to Catterick military base where his father, Simon, a professional soldier, was teaching signals. Among Heathcote’s earliest memories were his father passing the family golden retriever, Thomas, out of a Bren carrier as his regiment drove past in convoy, probably on their way to Normandy. His father landed eight days after D-Day and survived to witness the signing of the German surrender document to Field Marshal Montgomery on May 4, 1945.
The family were of aristocratic lineage and a baronetcy, which had passed out of the family generations earlier into the titles of the Earls of Ancaster, returned to the family in 1983 following the untimely death by drowning of the future earl. Sir Mark Heathcote became the 10th baronet following the death of his father in 2014.
… He attended Eton, where he was president of the self-electing prefect society, Pop, and commanded the Combined Cadet Force. He also discovered talents for acting and rowing. One of his sons, Alastair, would go on to win a silver medal with the British rowing VIII at the Beijing Olympics in 2008….
… In 1976 Heathcote married Susan Ashley shortly before he was posted to the embassy in Athens, ostensibly as the press officer…
… His wife, Susan Ashley, predeceased him. He is survived by his sons, Alastair, who becomes the 11th baronet, and Nicholas.
Heathcote was a man of great charm and energy with an appetite for adventure and life’s wilder shores. He did not consider himself a brilliant spy, though his career path suggested he was at least very good at what he did. He once warned one of his sons, who was considering a career in government service, that he must prepare for a lonely professional life and much time spent trying to persuade people to do things they did not want to, albeit in a good cause. Though highly sociable he remained by temperament an outsider, politically somewhat left of many of his colleagues, and something of a maverick. Few in their seventies could claim, as Heathcote could, to have been threatened with an Asbo for holding excessively noisy parties.
Sir Mark Heathcote Bt OBE, MI6 officer, was born on March 1, 1941. He died following a short illness on August 25, 2025, aged 84
https://www.thetimes.com/article/77a4225f-01e4-46af-bbf1-6cd3a33e7340