2nd Earl of Swinton, DL (1937-2006)

The 2nd Earl of Swinton, DL, Yorkshire landowner and sometime Deputy Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords, died in North Yorkshire, 26 March, 2006. He was 69.

David Yarburgh Cunliffe-Lister was born 21 Mar 1937, son of Major the Hon. John Yarburgh Cunliffe-Lister (who died of wounds received in action in 1943), by his wife Anne Irvine (d. 1961), daughter of the Rev. Canon R.S. Medlicott.

He was educated at Winchester, and the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester.

Career:-> succeeded his grandfather in 1972, as Earl of Swinton (Peerage of the UK, created 1955); Viscount Swinton (created 1935), and Baron Masham (created 1955); Member of the North Riding of Yorks County Council, 1961-74; Member of North Yorkshire County Council, 1973-77; Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard (Deputy Government Chief Whip), 1982-86; Director of Leeds Permanent Building Society, 1987-93; Member of the Countryside Commission, 1987-93; JP for North Yorks (formerly North Riding) from 1961; Deputy Lieutenant for North Yorkshire, from 1978, &c.

Lord Swinton married in 1959, Susan Lilian Primrose Sinclair (b. 14 Apr, 1935), daughter of Sir Ronald Sinclair, 8th Baronet. His wife had been severely disabled in a riding accident only months before her marriage. A champion for the disabled she was elevated to the peerage, for life, in 1970, as Baroness Masham of Ilton.

Lord Swinton is survived by his wife and by 2 adopted children, Clare and John. The peerages now devolve upon his Lordship's brother, the Hon. Nicholas John Cunliffe-Lister, b. 4 Sept, 1939, whose 1st wife was the Hon Elizabeth Susan Whitelaw, eldest daughter of the 1st (and last) Viscount Whitelaw, KT, CH, MC, PC.

The funeral Service is at St Mary's Church, Masham, North Yorkshire, 6 April 2006.

Source: Daily Telegraph 29 Mar 2006


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