George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 5th Duke of Sutherland

George Granville Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 5th Duke of Sutherland

George Granville Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 5th Duke of Sutherland KT , PC (born August 29, 1888 in Cliveden , Buckinghamshire , † February 1, 1963 ), was a British nobleman , patron of the film industry and a politician of the Conservative Party . He had minor political offices in the administration under Andrew Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin and was Lord Steward of the Household from 1935 to 1936 . The British film industry's Sutherland Trophy is named after him.

background

Sutherland was the eldest son of Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 4th Duke of Sutherland and Lady Millicent St Clair-Erskine , a daughter of Robert St Clair-Erskine, 4th Earl of Rosslyn . As his father's Heir Apparent , he carried the courtesy title Earl Gower until 1892 and the courtesy title Marquess of Stafford from 1892 to 1913 . He was born in Cliveden House in Buckinghamshire and attended Summer Fields School in Oxford and Eton College .

military service

Sutherland served 1909-1910 as a regular army lieutenant with the Royal Scots Grays and 1910-1912 as a captain in the 5th Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders of the Territorial Force . From 1914 he was Honorary Colonel of this battalion.

He was later accepted into the Royal Naval Reserve , where he served during World War I and was promoted to Commander . In 1914 he commanded HMT Catania and served 1914-15 for the British Military Mission in Belgium. He then commanded a motor flotilla between Egypt and the Adriatic from 1915–17 . He got the Order of the Crown of Italy .

Political career

Sutherland inherited his father's title in 1913 and thereby became a member of the House of Lords . At the same time he became Lord Lieutenant of Sutherland , which he remained until 1944. He became Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1921 and became part of the Conservative governments of Andrew Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin . He served 1922–1924 as Under-Secretary of State for Air and 1925–1928 as Paymaster-General and 1928–1929 as Under-Secretary of State for War . He became Knight of the Thistle in 1929 . In 1936 he was sworn in on the Privy Council and became Lord Steward of the Household , a post he held until 1937. At that time he wore The Orb of the British Crown Jewels at the coronation of King George VI .

Film industry

Sutherland was the first director of the British Film Institute (BFI) from 1922 to 1939 and remained its patron until his death. That named the Sutherland Trophy, awarded from 1958, after him.

family

Sutherland married Lady Eileen Gwladys Butler , daughter of Charles Butler, 7th Earl of Lanesborough , on April 11, 1912 . After her death in 1943, he married Clare Josephine O'Brian on July 1, 1944. Sutherland died in 1963 at the age of 74 without leaving any descendants of his own. His titles were therefore divided: The Earldom of Sutherland and the Lordship of Strathnaver went to his niece, the only daughter of Lord Alastair Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Elizabeth Sutherland, 24th Countess of Sutherland . His remaining titles are only inheritable in the male line and fell to his distant relative John Egerton, 5th Earl of Ellesmere .

He was a notorious philanderer , and Barbara Cartland claimed he might be the father of her daughter Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer , Princess Diana's stepmother , though she thought Prince George was an option.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} The Complete Peerage, Volume XII . St Catherine's Press, 1953, p. 568.
2. ↑ Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, 1913 . Kelly's,, p. 1007.
3. ↑ London Gazette . No. 33071, HMSO, London, July 31, 1925, p. 5130 ( PDF , English).
4. ↑ London Gazette . No. 33505, HMSO, London, June 11, 1929, p. 3858 ( PDF , English).
5. ↑ London Gazette . No. 34335, HMSO, London, October 27, 1936, p. 6833 ( PDF , English).
6. ↑ London Gazette . No. 34306, HMSO, London, July 20, 1936, p. 4663 ( PDF , English).
7. ↑ 1963 London Film Festival Program , London: BFI

predecessor	Office	successor
Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower	Duke of Sutherland 1913-1963	John Egerton
Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower	Earl of Sutherland 1913-1963	Elizabeth Sutherland