Viscountess Lambton, wife of the disclaimed Earl of Durham
Michael Rhodes
Lambton [the disclaimed 6th Earl of Durham], died in hospital, 13
February, 2003.
Lady Lambton was aged 79/80.
For a matter of days in 1970 she was Countess of Durham, before her
husband discliamed his honours for life.
It was as the 19 year-old Belinda [Bindy] Blew-Jones, daughter of
Major Douglas Holden Blew-Jones, of Westward Ho!, North Devon, and Mrs
Violet Blew-Jones, that she married Antony Claud Frederick Lambton,
Viscount Lambton, heir to the 5th Earl of Durham, in August, 1942.
The marriage [in a London register office after a wartime engagement
of about a week] remained a secret until the details were published in
the press in January, 1943.
Belinda had been doing war work in a factory, and she met Lambton, 20,
who had been invalided out of Sandhurst, when he was training to be a
precision fitter.
The aristocrat was working a daily eight hour shift for £2 2s 6d a
week. He was however, heir to a vast north country fortune based on
coal mining and land.
Some families collect stamps, others hoard valuable paintings, but the
Lambton family seem to have collected stately homes. Lord Lambton, in
the 1960s, was heir to no fewer than five spelndid homes. These
included Witton Castle, on the Yorkshire-County Durham border; Lambton
Castle, in Co. Durham; Biddick Hall [in the grounds of Lambton
Castle]; a Vicotian pile at Fenton, Wooler, Northumberland; & West
Marden Hall, Chichester; the family were also possessed of an elegant
town house in London.
The Lambtons produced five daughters, Lucinda, Beatrix, Rose, Anne,
Isabella, and one son, Ned.
Lord Lambton served as Conservative MP for Berwick upon Tweed from
1951 to 1973, and was Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Ministry of
Defence in the Heath Government, but was forced to resign in May,
1973, over a "call-girl" scandal.
It was announced at the time that Lady Lambton would stand by her
disgraced husband. However, by the mid-1970s the press made frequent
references to Lord & Lady Lambton living apart. Lord Lambton was
reported to be openly living with a lady friend, a member of the
Baring baking dynasty.
In 1977, Bindy Lambton purchased a house in King's Road Chelsea,
whilst her husband found refuge at Cetinale, near Siena, one of the
loveliest of all Tuscan houses, built in the 17th century for Cardinal
Chigi, nephew of Pope Alexander VII.
In February, 1970, Bindy's husband had succeeded to the earldom of
Durham, but he disclaimed his peerages later that month in order to
remain in the House of Commons, and he was allowed by Mr Speaker
Selwyn Lloyd to retain his courtesy title of Viscount Lambton, as the
eldest son of a peer. The ruling caused an outcry in the Commons.
Willie Hamilton, Labour MP for West Fife, said: "The MP is seeking to
have his cake and eat it...If he gets his way with it, I want to be
called Lord Fife from now on."
Lady Lambton's eldest daughter is the writer and broadcaster, Lucinda
Lambton [Lady Worsthorne]; Beatrix, the second daughter, married Guy
Nevill, a godson of the Queen, & heir presumptive to the Marquess of
Abergavenny, but he died tragically in 1993; Anne is an actress, and
unmarried [?]; Lady Isabella married the baronet Sir Philip
Naylor-Leyland; the son, Edward, a godson of the Tory PM Anthony Eden
uses his father's barony , and is styled as Lord Durham. His first
wife took off with Jools Holland, the musician.
The funeral will take place, 26 February, 2003, at Chelsea Old Church;
followed a day later by burial in County Durham.
--
Michael Rhodes
Michael Rhodes
> Viscountess Lambton, wife of one of Britain's wealthiest men, Viscount
> Lambton [the disclaimed 6th Earl of Durham], died in hospital, 13
> February, 2003.
>
> Lady Lambton was aged 79/80.
She was 81.
The Telegraph obit. says she was born 23 December, 1921, the daughter
of Major Douglas Holden Blew-Jones, of Westward Ho, a tall, handsome
officer in the Life Guards with size 24 feet. Her mother, Violet
Birkin, was one of three daughters of the Nottingham lace king, Sir
Charles Birkin, Bt, & she was therefore a niece of Freda Dudley Ward
[Marchesa de Casa Maury], mistress of Edward VIII.
--
Michael Rhodes
Jay Linn
news:beb1d3e8.03021...@posting.google.com...
> It was announced at the time that Lady Lambton would stand by her
> disgraced husband. However, by the mid-1970s the press made frequent
> references to Lord & Lady Lambton living apart. Lord Lambton was
> reported to be openly living with a lady friend, a member of the
> Baring baking dynasty.
<snip>
> Willie Hamilton, Labour MP for West Fife, said: "The MP is seeking to
> have his cake and eat it...If he gets his way with it, I want to be
> called Lord Fife from now on."
Why shouldn't he have his cake and eat it? He was from a baking
dynasty, after all.
<smirk>
--
Jay Linn
"America is the only nation in history which has miraculously gone directly
from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of
civilization." - Georges Clemenceau (thanks to insultmonger.com)
Michael Rhodes
> > reported to be openly living with a lady friend, a member of the
> > Baring baking dynasty.
>
> <snip>
>
> > Willie Hamilton, Labour MP for West Fife, said: "The MP is seeking to
> > have his cake and eat it...If he gets his way with it, I want to be
> > called Lord Fife from now on."
>
> Why shouldn't he have his cake and eat it? He was from a baking
> dynasty, after all.
>
> <smirk>
The Baking branch of the family are now doing slightly better than the bankers.
Louis Epstein
: Lady Lambton's eldest daughter is the writer and broadcaster, Lucinda
: Lambton [Lady Worsthorne]; Beatrix, the second daughter, married Guy
: Nevill, a godson of the Queen, & heir presumptive to the Marquess of
: Abergavenny, but he died tragically in 1993; Anne is an actress, and
: unmarried [?]; Lady Isabella married the baronet Sir Philip
: Naylor-Leyland; the son, Edward, a godson of the Tory PM Anthony Eden
: uses his father's barony , and is styled as Lord Durham. His first
: wife took off with Jools Holland, the musician.
I note that said wife's godfather wrote in the Spectator some years
back that it was the young husband who had "deserted her almost before
their marriage bakemeats had cooled,though not before begetting an heir".
-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.
Michael Rhodes
> In alt.obituaries Michael Rhodes <mig73alle...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> : Lady Lambton's eldest daughter is the writer and broadcaster, Lucinda
> : Lambton [Lady Worsthorne]; Beatrix, the second daughter, married Guy
> : Nevill, a godson of the Queen, & heir presumptive to the Marquess of
> : Abergavenny, but he died tragically in 1993; Anne is an actress, and
> : unmarried [?]; Lady Isabella married the baronet Sir Philip
> : Naylor-Leyland; the son, Edward, a godson of the Tory PM Anthony Eden
> : uses his father's barony , and is styled as Lord Durham. His first
> : wife took off with Jools Holland, the musician.
>
> I note that said wife's godfather wrote in the Spectator some years
> back that it was the young husband who had "deserted her almost before
> their marriage bakemeats had cooled,though not before begetting an heir".
Yes, Lord Durham married Christabel McEwen in 1983, and the heir,
Frederick, was born 23 February, 1985.