The 4th Earl of Dudley 1920-2013

_. The Earl of Dudley (4th Earl in the Peerage of the UK, created 1860), died 16 November, 2013. He was 93. William Humble David Ward was born 5 January, 1920, son of the 3rd Earl of Dudley, by his first wife, Lady Rosemary Leveson-Gower, daughter of the 4th Duke of Sutherland. The Prince of Wales (afterwards King Edward VIII and Duke of Windsor) stood sponsor at his christening. His mother, who died as the result of an accident in 1930, had been widely suggested as a bride for the Prince. He married firstly, 10 June, 1946 (div 1961) Stella Carcano, daughter of the Argentine Ambassador to the Court of St James, Don Miguel Carcano, KCMG, KBE, by whom he had issue, one son, David, and two daughters, Rosemary and Anne-Marie; he married secondly, 24 Aug, 1961, the Rank starlet, Maureen Swanson (who died in Nov 2011), by whom he had a further 2 sons, William (deceased) and the Hon Leander Ward, born 30 Oct, 1971, and five daughters, Susanna, Melissa, Victoria, Amelia and Cressida. He succeeded his father as 4th Earl of Dudley, 26 Dec, 1969. The family honours now pass to the son from his first marriage, (William Humble) David Jeremy Ward, styled Viscount Ednam, who was born 27 March, 1947. The 5th Earl is the father of an only child, a daughter, Lady Bethany Rowena Ward, who was born in 1977. -=-