Arthur Hill, 8th Marquess of Downshire

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Arthur Robin Ian Hill, 8th Marquess of Downshire (born May 10, 1929 in London , † December 18, 2003 ), was a British peer and politician .

life and career

He was the only son of Lord Arthur Francis Hill (1895-1953), the younger son of Arthur Hill, 6th Marquess of Downshire , and his wife Ishabel MacDougall († 1961). He was born in Brompton Square , London and educated at Eton College . From 1948 to 1950 he did his military service with the Royal Scots Guards , was stationed in West Germany and rose to the rank of second lieutenant . Then he was 1950-1955 trainee and worked for a Discount Bank until 1959 as accountants ( chartered accountant was allowed). As such, he worked at Gerrard & Reid between 1960 and 1963. From 1959 he was a Fellow , from 1962 Associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants . In 1963 he switched to agriculture .

Since his uncle Arthur Hill, 7th Marquess of Downshire was unmarried and childless, it was foreseeable that he would inherit his title as Heir Presumptive . His family's estates and extensive estates in Ireland and Berkshire , including the headquarters in Easthampstead Park , had since been fully sold, partly under the Irish Land Acts , partly in connection with the establishment of the planned town of Bracknell . So Hill looked for a new property as a family home. He finally acquired Clifton Castle near Hambleton in North Yorkshire around 1970 .

In March 1989 he finally inherited his uncle's Irish and British nobility titles, namely:

  • 8. Marquess of Downshire (Peerage of Ireland, 1789)
  • 8th Earl of Hillsborough (Peerage of Ireland, 1751)
  • 8th Earl of Hillsborough (Peerage of Great Britain, 1772)
  • 9. Viscount Hillsborough (Peerage of Ireland, 1717)
  • 8. Viscount Kilwarlin (Peerage of Ireland, 1751)
  • 8. Viscount Fairford (Peerage of Great Britain, 1772)
  • 9. Baron Hill of Kilwarlin (Peerage of Ireland, 1717)
  • 8th Baron Harwich (Peerage of Great Britain, 1756)

Associated with his British titles was a hereditary seat in the House of Lords , which he first occupied in November 1989. He belonged to the faction of the Conservative Party . He gave his inaugural address in October 1994 in the context of a debate on recent developments in Northern Ireland ; his speeches in parliament are recorded in the Hansard . By the House of Lords Act , the hereditary parliamentary seats were finally abolished, so that the marquess resigned from parliament in November 1999.

Marriages and offspring

He was married three times. His first marriage was in 1957 with Juliet Weld-Forester, a daughter of the 7th Baron Forester . He had three children with her:

After his first wife died in 1986, he married Diana Hibbert, daughter of Sir Ronald Cross, 1st Baronet, in 1989 as a second marriage. After she died in 1998, he married Tessa Prain for the third time in 2003.

He died on December 18, 2003 at the age of 74. His eldest son Nicholas inherited his title of nobility, who in 2013 also inherited the title of Baron Sandys from a distant relative .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Arthur Hill in the Hansard (English)

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Arthur Hill Marquess of Downshire
1989-2003 		Nicholas Hill
personal data
SURNAME Hill, Arthur, 8th Marquess of Downshire
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hill, Arthur Robin Ian, 8th Marquess of Downshire (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British peer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH May 10, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH December 18, 2003