David Peter Mason, DL, who died 15 March, 2025, aged 73, was seated at Eynsham Park, Oxfordshire, home of the Mason family for five generations since 1866. He was a former High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, and a deputy lieutenant of the county.
He was descended from the Lindsay Earls of Crawford & Balcarres.
David Mason was born in 1951, the elder son of Michael Henry Mason (1900-1982), and his second wife the former Dorothy Margaret Sturdee (1915-2006). His father's first wife, who died in 1950, was the Hon Annette Baird (1905-500, daughter of Viscount Stonehaven and the Countess of Kintore.
He was a grandson of James Francis Mason (1861-1929), and his wife Lady Evelyn Margaret Lindsay (1870-1944), daughter of the 26th Earl of Crawford & Balcarres (1847-1913).
He married in 1980, Monique Juranville, by whom he had issue, a son, Michael James (born 1991), and three daughters, Natalie Elizabeth (born 1981), Catherine Evelyn (born 1984), and Chantal Louise (born 1989).
He took over the running of the family estate when his father died in 1982. And until 2020 was responsible for the running of Eynsham Park. He had a career in the Army, and he served 3 tours of duty in Northern Ireland; then in 1974 he volunteered for secondment to the Sultan of Oman’s Armed Forces.
He distinguished himself on active service in the Dhofar War in 1975 by personally saving 12 men’s lives in battle and then later rescuing others from a minefield. He was awarded the Sultan’s Bravery Medal. After leaving the Army in 1979 Mason joined Sir Ranulph Fiennes on the Transglobe Expedition, travelling to both the South and North Poles.
He published his first novel in 1992, Shadow over Babylon, which was an immediate International No.1 bestseller. He was later (1994-5) appointed High Sheriff of Oxfordshire. He was made a Deputy Lieutenant for the county in 2004. He handed over the running of Eynsham Park to his son Michael in 2020.
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