Parry-Crooke/Eve engagement

 The engagement was announced 18 October, 2024, between James Pierre M. Parry-Crooke (born 1991), scion of that landed gentry family, of Friston House, son of Simon Bagot Parry-Crooke (born 1955), of Clapham, and his wife the former Isobelle Savornin, & Ruth Sarah M. Eve (born 1992), daughter of Richard M. Eve, of Oxford, and his wife the former Brid O'Kelly.

The Parry-Crooke descent from the Earls of Kinnoull:-

The 8th Earl of Kinnoull > Most Rev Hon Robert Hay-Drummond > Very Rev Edward Hay-Drummond > Edward William Auriol Drummond-Hay > James de Vismes Drummond-Hay > Louisa Drummond-Hay > Catherine Bucknall > Imogen Tuker > Simon Parry-Crooke > James Parry-Crooke

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Crote/Warde-Norbury engagement

 The engagement was announced 18 October, 2024, between Owen Robert J. Crote (born 1997), son of Mrs Val Crote, of Chiswick, and Isobel Cordelia Emily Warde-Norbury (born 22 February, 2000), scion of that landed gentry family, of Hooton Pagnell, daughter of Mark William Antony Warde-Norbury (born 29 July, 1962), of London, and his wife the former Lucianne Wainwright.

Isobel Warde-Norbury is a granddaughter of William George Antony Warde-Norbury (1936-2014), and his wife, Philippa Margery Warde-Norbury,(who died 10 January, 2015, aged 76), & was a scion of the Cooke baronets {Bt, E, 1661, of Wheatley Hall, Yorks}. 

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Timothy Roger Victor Hancox Neame 1938-2024

 Timothy Roger Victor Hancox (Tim) Neame, who died 13 October, 2024, was a scion of that Irish landed gentry family.

He was born in 1938, son of Colonel Lionel George Cotterill Neame (1897-1980), and his first wife the former Daisy Hancox (who married as her 3rd husband, 13 Apr, 1949, Lt-Col the 2nd Viscount Allenby (1903-84), and died 1985); and married in 1965, Susan Carol Shaw, daughter of T.W. Shaw, of Manor Farm House, Wokingham, Berkshire, by whom he had three sons, Richard, Christopher and Henry. 

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McMicking/Borrows engagement

 The engagement was announced 16 October, 2024, between George Henry Borrows (born 1993), son of Simon Alexander Borrows (born 1959), of Puttenham, Surrey, and his wife the former Sally Anne Weston (born 1957), and Isabella Jane Sophia (born 1994), daughter of Charles Neil McMicking (born 1965), of Miltonise, New Luce, Wigtownshire, and his wife the former Diana Jane Hall (born 1966).

Isabella is a descendant of the Earls of Cork & Orrery.

Edmund Boyle, 7th Earl of Cork (1742-1798) > Vice-Admiral Hon Sir Courtenay Boyle (1770-1844) > Charles Boyle (1806-85) > Lt-Col Lionel Boyle (1851-1920) > Richard Courtenay Boyle (1902-86) > Belinda Boyle (b 1940) > Charles McMicking (b 1965) > Isabella McMicking (b 1994)

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James Kemp Nairne 1923-2024

Maj. James Kemp Nairne, late the Seaforth Highlanders, died 13 October, 2024, aged 100.

An officer in the Seaforth Highlanders (ret. 1960), he was with The Scotsman between 1960 and 1965.  He was a Queen's Messenger between 1965 and 1968. The Queen's Messengers are couriers employed by the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). They hand-carry secret and important documents to British embassies, high commissions, and consulates around the world. Many King’s Messengers were retired Army personnel. Messengers generally travel in plain clothes in business class on scheduled airlines with their consignment.

Maj. Nairne was born 7 December, 1923, son of Lt.-Col. Charles Sylvester Nairne (1880-1966), and his wife the former Edith Dalmahoy Kemp (1888-1975).

He was a younger brother of Sir Patrick Nairne, GCB, MC, PC (1921-2013). sometime Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Security and Master of St Catherine's College, Oxford (1981–88). A member of the Privy Council, appointed in 1982 when he became a member of Lord Franks' official inquiry into the Falklands War, and a governor of the Ditchley Foundation.  He was Chancellor of the University of Essex from 1982 to 1997.

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Nigel Edward Corbally Stourton 1937-2024

 Nigel Edward Corbally Stourton, who died 5 October, 2024, aged 87, was a scion of the Lords Mowbray, Segrave & Stourton.

He was born 9 March, 1937, son of the Hon Edward Planagenet Joseph Corbally Stourton (1880-1966), and his wife the former Beatrice Cicely Page (1907-2004), and was a grandson of Alfred, 20th Baron Stourton, 24th Baron Segrave, and 23rd Baron Mowbray (1829-1893). 

He married firstly, 22 Oct, 1960 (div 1975), Frances Deirdre Morton Lancaster (who died 1 Oct, 2016), daughter of Maj. Patrick William Morton Lancaster (1914-86), of Wapsbourne Manor, Sussex; married 2ndly, at Cape Town, South Africa, September, 1995, Lavinia, Baroness Fermoy (born 18 April, 1941), widow of the 5th Baron Fermoy (1939-1984), and daughter of Maj. John Pitman (1907-43), and his wife the former Elizabeth Cattanach Donaldson (1908-1997).

His second wife was an aunt (by her marriage to Lord Fermoy) of Diana, Princess of Wales.

From his first marriage he leaves two sons, Edward (born 1961), Nicholas (born 1963), and was predeceased by a son, Patrick (1965-2002).

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Clementine Winifred Mary Bowyer (born 2024)

Verena Elpseth Crawley Bowyer [born 1992, nee Smith], wife of Robert J. Bowyer, and scion of the Woollcombe landed gentry family, gave birth to a daughter, Clementine Winifred Mary, 12 September, 2024, a sister for Angus Peregrine Oliver, who was born 16 May, 2022.

Robert Bowyer is a son of Mr & Mrs Jonathan Bowyer, of Coniston, Cumbria.

Verena Smith is the eldest daughter of Oliver Geoffrey Woollcombe Smith [born 12 August, 1947], of Healaugh, near Tadcaster, Yorkshire, scion of the Samuel Smith brewing family, by his wife the former Priscilla Mary Elspeth Crawley [born 1959].

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Griffin/McWhirter engagement

The engagement was announced 14 October, 2024, between Charles Radclyffe D. Griffin, son of Lieutenant-Colonel Ralph R.D. Griffin (born 1963), of Monmouth, Monmouthshire, and his wife the former Louise M. Morris, & Christabel Katharine de Marie (Kitty) McWhirter (born 1996), fifth daughter of the late Iain C.H. McWhirter (b 1959), and his wife the former Clare Louise Gadsden (born 29 June, 1960, now Mrs Clare McWhirter, of Aldeburgh, Suffolk), descended from the Haggerston baronets.

Kitty McWhirter is a granddaughter paternally of (Alan) Ross McWhirter (1925-1975), the author, compiler and publisher, who was editor and compiler of the Guinness Book of Records. He was assassinated by the IRA, 27 November, 1975.

Kitty's mother is a daughter of Sir Peter Gadsden, GBE (1929-2006), Lord Mayor of London, 1979-80, and his wife Belinda Ann de Marie Haggerston (born 23 Sept, 1933), daughter of Sir Hugh Carnaby de Marie Haggerston, 11th Baronet (1906-71).

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Charles Weston Brooke 1951-2024

 Charles Weston Brooke, who died 6 October, 2024, aged 73, was a scion of the Brooke baronets of Almondbury, Yorks.

He was born 27 January, 1951, the second son of Major Sir John Weston Brooke, 3rd Baronet (1911-1983), by his wife the former Rosemary Nevill (1912-1979), scion of the Earls (later Marquesses) of Abergavenny.

He married in 1984, Tanya Elizabeth Maurice, daughter of Antony Thelwell Maurice, of Lloran, Robertson, New South Wales, Australia, by whom he had issue, a son John Weston 'Jock' Brooke (born 23 Feb, 1992), and two daughters, Nicola (born 1985), and Emily (born 1988).

Charlie Brooke was the younger brother and heir presumptive to his elder brother, Sir Alistair Weston Brooke, 4th Baronet (born 12 Sept, 1947).

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Rinalda Malvina Maitland-Titterton 1940-2024

 Rinalda Malvina Maitland-Tittterton (nee Baird), who died 7 October, 2024, aged 84, was a scion of the Earls of Kintore & Viscounts Stonehaven.

She was born 17 April, 1940, the eldest child of Squadron Leader the Hon Robert Alexander Greville Baird, RAF (1910-1943), and his wife the former Dorviegelda Malvina MacGregor(1910-1997), and was a granddaughter of the 1st Viscount Stonehaven, GCMG, DSO, PC (1874-1941), and his wife Ethel, suo jure Countess of Kintore (1874-1974), 10th holder of the Scottish earldom.

She married 23 April, 1963, Major David Henry Sandford Maitland-Titterton, TD (born 1933), son of Maj David Maitland-Titterton (1904-1988),  an officer of arms, scion of a landed gentry family, who was an officer of arms in the Court of the Lord Lyon, serving as Falkland Pursuivant from 1969 to 1971, Ormond Pursuivant from 1971 to 1982 and Marchmont Herald between 1982 and his death in 1988, by his wife the former Mary Etheldritha Audrey Leslie (1908-  ), scion of that landed gentry family, by whom she had issue, a son Rupert (born 28 Aug 1965), and a daughter, Shân Gelda Jane 'Tiddy' (born 10 Nov, 1967).

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Sir Geoffrey Pattie, PC 1936-2024

 Sir Geoffrey Pattie, PC, who died 8 October, 2024, aged 88, was the former Conservative MP for Chertsey and Walton, 1974-97, a member of the Privy Council, and a junior minister in the Thatcher administration.

He was born 17 January, 1936, & educated at Durham School, and St Catharine's College, Cambridge where he obtained an MA Honours Degree in Law  and was later made an Honorary Fellow of the College. He then joined the army, becoming a captain in the Royal Green Jackets. Pattie was chairman of the SCL Group. He served with the Queen's Royal Rifles 1959-66 and achieved the rank of captain. He served as honorary colonel of the 4th Battalion, Royal Green Jackets since January 1996. Pattie was a director at advertising agency Collett Dickenson Pearce from 1966 until 1979, as managing director from 1969 to 1973. During the 1990s he held several senior marketing positions in companies belonging to General Electric Company, including Marconi Defence Systems and was Marketing Director of the group itself from 1997–99.  He was senior partner at Terrington Management retiring in December 2015.

In 1967 Pattie was elected to the Greater London Council as one of four councillors representing the London Borough of Lambeth. He served a single three-year term, stepping down in 1970. After being beaten by Labour's Tom Driberg at Barking in 1966 and 1970, Pattie was elected as Member of Parliament for Chertsey and Walton in February 1974 – a seat he held until his retirement in May 1997.

In May 1979, he was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Defence (RAF). From January 1983 until September 1984 he was then appointed to Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Defence Procurement and then served as Minister of State for Defence Procurement. He continued his public service as Minister of State for Industry until 1987, with responsibility for Science, Civil Aviation, Space and Technology.

He was appointed to the Privy Council in the 1987 New Year Honours. Immediately after he left ministerial office he was created Knight Bachelor in the 1987 Birthday Honours List. He was vice-chairman of the Conservative Party in 1990.

He was elected an Honorary Fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge in 2007.

He married 1 Oct, 1960, Tuëma Caroline Eyre-Maunsell (born 12 April, 1938), daughter of Charles William Eyre-Maunsell, of Lisnarick, Co Fermanagh, scion of that Irish landed family, by his wife the former Honor Mabel Purser, by whom he had issue.

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Iain Alexander Gunn of that Ilk, MBE (1933-2024), Chief of the Clan Gunn

 Iain Alexander Gunn of that Ilk, MBE, Chief of the Clan Gunn, died in Caithness, 9 October, 2024. He was 91.

He was born 25 March, 1933, son of John Bain Gunn (1893-1946), and his wife the former Annie Eleanor Smith.

He was a solicitor and director of the General Council of British Shipping 1976-91, a deputy lieutenant for Caithness. He married in 1963, Aline Lavender James (born 1933), by whom he has issue, a son, John William Gunn of Banniskirk, yr (born 15 Aug, 1964), and a daughter, Helen Mary Aline.

His wife, known as Bunty, and as Bunty James was one of the presenters of the late 1960's and 1970's educational ITV children's series "How" along with Jack Hargreaves, Jon Miller and Fred Dinenage.

On 25 September 2015, the Lord Lyon King of Arms for Scotland issued an interlocutor recognizing Iain Alexander Gunn of Banniskirk as Chief of Clan Gunn. He became Iain Alexander Gunn of that Ilk, Chief of Clan Gunn. At a Family Convention, held in Orkney on July 18, 2015, a petition to the Lyon Court requesting this recognition was approved and sent to the Lyon for action. For the first time in 230 years the Clan has a recognized Chief. Iain previously served as Commander of Clan Gunn for over forty-three years. Iain Alexander Gunn of Banniskirk was appointed the second Commander of Clan Gunn, by commission of Lord Lyon on 9 June 1972. He was Secretary of the Clan Gunn UK Society on its establishment in 1961. The first Commander was his paternal uncle, William Gunn of Banniskirk, who held the title from 1967 to 1968. In 1978, the previous Chief of Clan Keith and the then Commander of Clan Gunn signed a peace treaty at the site of the Chapel of St. Tayrs, ending the feud between the two clans which began in 1478. The Clan Gunn is a highland Scottish clan associated with lands in northeastern Scotland, including Caithness,

 Sutherland and, arguably, the Orkney Isles. Clan Gunn is one of the oldest Scottish Clans, being descended from the Norse Jarls of Orkney and the Pictish Mormaers of Caithness.

His son now succeeds to the clan chieftainship.

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Mirabel Cecil (nee Walker) (died 2024)

 Mirabel Cecil (nee Walker), who died 5 October, 2024, aged 80, was the widow of Hugh Peniston Cecil (1941-2020), scion of the Marquesses of Salisbury.

She was the former Mirabel Walker, daughter of Richard Fife Walker, OBE [1910-2001], of The Close, Withington, Gloucestershire, by wife the former Christine Mabel Wilkes [1909-1968], and married 20 Oct, 1972, Hugh Peniston Cecil (born 29 December, 1941),  the second son of Lord [Edward Christian] David Cecil, [1902-86], by his wife the former Rachel Mary Veronica MacCarthy [1909-82], and he was a grandson of the 4th Marquess of Salisbury [1861-1947]. Mirabel's brother-in-law was the actor Jonathan Cecil [1939-2011].

Mrs Cecil leaves issue, two sons, Conrad [born 1973], and David [born 1978], and two daughters, Clementine [born 1975], and Stella [born 1984].

He husband died 11 March, 2020, aged 78.

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Jasper William Meadows Clutterbuck (born 2024)

Louisa Alice J. Clutterbuck (nee North, born 1990), wife of Jack Rupert Meadows Clutterbuck [born 1990], scion of that landed gentry family, gave birth to a son, Jasper William Meadows, 8 October, 2024.

Louisa is a daughter of Mr & Mrs William North, of Tedstone Delamere, Herefordshire, and Jack Clutterbuck is the eldest son of the late Hugh Meadows Clutterbuck [1959-2011], by his former wife the former Camilla Nicholson [1962-2018]

Jasper is descended from the Barons Sudeley, Faringdon, &c.

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Wiggin/O'Boyle engagement

 The engagement was announced 12 October, 2024, between George Robert Wiggin (born 1994), scion of the baronets of that name, son of David Peter Wiggin (born 5 January, 1960), of Bentworth, Hampshire, and his wife the former Susan Emma Burrowes (born 4 Apr, 1963), and Kate E. O'Boyle, daughter of Mr Brian O'Boyle, of London, and Mrs Barbara O'Boyle, of London.

George Wiggin is descended from Sir Henry Wiggin, 1st Baronet (1867-1939), and from the 1st Viscount Chilston (1851-1926).

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The 7th Earl of Portarlington 1938-2024

 The Earl of Portarlington, 7th Earl in the Peerage of Ireland, died 6 October, 2024. He was 86. 

Lord Portarlington who had homes in Australia and at Gledswood, Melrose, Roxburghshire, was the 7th Earl (created 1785), and also Viscount Carlow (Peerage of Ireland, cr 1776), and Baron Dawson (Peerage of Ireland, cr 1770).

George Lionel Yuill Seymour Dawson-Damer was born 10 August, 1938, the elder son of Air Commodore George Dawson-Damer, styled Viscount Carlow (born 20 Dec, 1907 - died on active service 17 Apr, 1944), and his wife the former Peggy Cambie  (who married 2ndly, 14 Nov 1945 (div. 1956) Peter George Hodges Nugent, of Willards Farm, Dunsfold, co. Surrey;  and died 1 Nov 1963), 2nd daughter of Charles Cambie, of Toronto, Canada. 

 Educated at Eton College, he served as a Page of Honour to Queen Elizabeth II between April 1953 and February 1955. In 1956 he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant into the Irish Guards.  In 1965 he was appointed a director of G. S. Yuill and Company in Sydney, Australia.

George Dawson-Damer was styled Viscount Carlow from his father's death in 1944 until he succeded his grandfather the 6th Earl of Portarlington in his three peerages, 4 July, 1959.

The 7th Earl married 26 July, 1961, Davina Windley, 1st daughter of Sir Edward Henry Windley KCMG KCVO (1909-72), of Quenington, co. Gloucester, sometime Governor of The Gambia, by his wife Patience Anne Sergison-Brooke, only child by his first wife of Gen Sir Bertram Norman Brooke later Sergison-Brooke KCB KCVO CMG DSO.

The 7th Earl had issue, three sons, (1) Charles, Viscount Carlow (born 6 Oct, 1965), a Page of Honour to Queen Elizabeth II 1979-81; (2) Capt the Hon Edward Dawson-Damer, CVO (born 10 Nov, 1967), Equerry to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother 1992-1994; and (3) the Hon Henry Dawson-Damer (born 5 Aug, 1971), and one daughter, Lady Marina Davina Dawson-Damer (born 8 Aug, 1969). The eldest son, Charles, now succeeds to his father's three Irish peerages.

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The 5th Baron Delamere 1934-2024

  The Baron Delamere, who has died aged 90, was the fifth baron in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, a landowner in Kenya, of the family who were central figures in the 'Happy Valley Set'.

Hugh George Cholmondeley was born 18 January, 1934, son of the 4th Baron Delamere (1900-1979), and his first wife the former Phyllis Anne Montagu Douglas Scott (1904-1978), scion of the Dukes of Buccleuch & Queensberry (and a granddaughter of the 5th Duke of Buccleuch and the 7th Duke of Rutland). The Delameres were members of the Kenyan 'Happy Valley' set, made famous by the book and film 'White Mischief'.

Hugh Cholmondeley's step-mother, was the femme fatale and beauty Diana Colvile (former wife of Vernon Motion;  widow of Sir Henry John Delves Broughton, 11th Bt.;  former wife of Gilbert de Preville Colvile; who died in 1987), 2nd daughter of Seymour Caldwell, of Hove, co. Sussex. Before she married the 4th Baron, she was at the centre of a story so shocking that it was turned into the best-selling book White Mischief, later a film starring Greta Scacchi as the libidinous socialite. In 1941 Diana's lover the Earl of Erroll, a dissolute womaniser – played by Charles Dance in the film – was shot dead at the wheel of his car on the outskirts of Nairobi. But there were no witnesses to the shooting and the crime remains unsolved.

As the Hon Hugh Cholmondeley he married 11 Apr 1964, Mrs Ann Willoughby Tinné (former wife of Michael Patrick Tinné), & only daughter of Sir Patrick Muir Renison GCMG (1911-1965), of Freeman's Farm House, Mayfield, co. Sussex, sometime Governor of Kenya, by whom he had one son.

The Old Etonian succeeded his father as 5th Baron Delamere, 13 April, 1979. His homes were the vast 200,000 acre estate at Sugoni Farm, Soysambu, Elmenteita, Kenya, and in London's Holland Park Road.

Lord and Lady Delamere had one son, the Hon Thomas Patrick Gilbert Cholmondeley (born 19 January, 1968).  In April 2005 at Kenya Thomas Cholmondeley accidentally shot and killed an undercover Kenya Wildlife Service ranger, believing him to be an armed robber, and in May 2009 at Kenya he was convicted of manslaughter for killing a poacher on his estate in May 2006. He died from a cardiac arrest, 16 August, 2016.

Lord Delamere is succeeded in the peerage (created in 1821), by a grandson, Hugh Derrick Cholmondeley, who was born 9 November, 1998.

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Baroness Smith of Cluny: peerage gazetted

 The life peerage recently conferred upon Catherine Smith KC, has been gazetted in the name, style and title of Baroness Smith of Cluny, of Cluny in the City of Edinburgh. She was introduced into the House of Lords, 10 October, 2024.

Baroness Smith of Cluny (born 4 May, 1973), the Advocate General for Scotland, is a daughter of the late Rt Hon John Smith, MP PC (1938-1994), the Scottish politician who was Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from July 1992 until his death in May 1994. He was also Member of Parliament for Monklands East.

Her mother is Elizabeth Smith, Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill, DL (born 4 June, 1940), who was raised to the peerage with a life barony in the months following John Smith's sudden death. I believe it will be the first case of a mother and daughter sitting together in the House of Lords.

Baroness Smith's sister is Sarah Elizabeth Smith (born 22 Nov, 1968), the Scottish radio and television journalist with the BBC. She is BBC News's North America Editor.

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Davidson/Manners marriage

 The marriage took place, 5 October, 2024, at  St James's Church, St James's Square, London, between Capt Adam Davidson, eldest son of Geoffrey and Jill Davidson, & the Hon Catherine Mary Patricia (Kate) Manners (born 1992), second daughter of the 6th Baron Manners (born 5 May, 1956), and his first wife the former Lanya Mary Patricia Heitz (now Dr Lanya Manners).

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Life peerage for Poppy Gustafsson

The King has been pleased to approve the appointment of Poppy Gustafsson OBE as Minister of State (Minister for Investment) jointly in the Department for Business and Trade and HM Treasury. His Majesty has also been pleased to signify His intention of conferring a Peerage of the United Kingdom for Life on Poppy Gustafsson OBE, 10 October, 2024.

Poppy Clare V. Gustafsson (nee Prentis), was born 24 August, 1982.

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Kaberry/Packe-Drury-Lowe engagement

 The engagement was announced 10 October, 2024, between Maximillian James Michael Kaberry (born 1998), eldest son of the late James Winston Kaberry (1970-2020) and his late wife the former Sarah Patricia King (b 1972), and Lilyana Julietta Packe-Drury-Lowe (born 4 April, 2000), scion of that landed gentry family, daughter of Edward Packe-Drury-Lowe (born 1965), of Prestwold Hall, Loughborough, Leicestershire, and his wife (Sheila) Juliet Cursham (born 1960).

The bride-to-be is a descendant of the Earls of Kilmorey:-

2nd Earl of Kilmorey (1787-1880) > Francis, Viscount Newry (1815-51) > Lady Lucy Needham (d 1917) >John Drury-Lowe (1881-1949) > John Packe-Drury-Lowe (1905-60) > Simon Packe-Drury-Lowe (1938-2015) > Edward Packe-Drury-Lowe (b 1965) > Lilyana Packe-Drury-Lowe (b 2000)

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