Sir Mark Adair Hodson, 8th Baronet 1964-2023

 Sir Mark Adair Hodson, 8th Baronet, died 18 January, 2023, aged 58.

Sir Mark is the third Hodson baronet to die in the past nine months. His uncle, Sir Michael, the 6th Baronet, died 8 April, 2022, and his father, Sir Patrick, the 7th Bt, died 21 July, 2022.

He was born 9 April, 1964, eldest son of Sir Patrick Hodson, 7th Baronet (1934-2022), and his wife the former June Shepherd-Cross, and succeeded to the baronetcy (Ireland, cr 1789), on his father's demise, 21 July, 2022.

He married in 1991, Kathleen Mary Florence Bissill, daughter of William Rippon Bissill, and his wife the former Hon Charmaine Elizabeth Violet Cecilia Wilson (1930-2018), daughter of the 3rd Baron Nunburnholme (1904-74), and his wife the former Lady Mary Beatrice Thynne (1903-74), daughter of the 5th Marquess of Bath (1862-1946), &c.

Sir Mark leaves a widow, and a daughter, Charlotte (born 1996), and a son, Edward Charles Adair Hodson (born 7 May, 1998), who now succeeds as 9th baronet.

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Catherine Anna Reed 1960-2023

 Catherine Anna Reed, who died 18 January, 2023, the day after her 63rd birthday. She was descended maternally from the Backhouse baronets.

She was born 17 January, 1960, the elder daughter of Arthur Wreford Reed (1932-1989), and his wife the former Jenifer Ann (Jenny) Backhouse (born 24 March, 1938), daughter of Major Sir John Edmund Backhouse, 3rd Baronet (1909-1944). 

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Diarmaid Hugh Douglas-Hamilton 1940-2023

 Diarmaid Hugh Douglas-Hamilton, who died in Beverly, Massachusetts, USA, 19 January, 2023, aged 82, was a scion of the Dukes of Hamilton & Brandon. 

He was born 17 June, 1940, 1st son of Squadron Leader Lord David Douglas-Hamilton (1912-1944), and his wife the former Ann Prunella Stack, OBE (1914-2010); & was a grandson of the 13th Duke of Hamilton & Brandon (1862-1940); and married 1stly, 14 Oct, 1967 (div 1982) Margaret Barlow Hambrecht; and married 2ndly, 1983, Margaret Mary Spencer, daughter of Duncan MacGlashan Spencer, of New York, United States. he is survived by his second wife and two step-children.

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Trotter/Smilga engagement

 The engagement was announced 23 January, 2023, between Algernon David B. Trotter (born 1987), scion of that landed gentry family of Mortonhall, son of Gerald Richard Trotter (born 6 Dec, 1946), of Westminster, London, and his wife the former Caroline D.B. Sheppard (born 1951), and Ieva Smilga, elder daughter of Mr & Mrs Andis Smilga, of Valmiera, Latvia.

The 15th Earl of Eglinton > Lady Edith Mary Montgomerie > Lt-Col John Trotter > Gerald Richard Trotter > Algernon Trotter

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Aitchison/Rule engagement

 The engagement was announced 23 January, 2023, between Harry Walter Jeremy Aitchison (born 16 May, 1994), scion of the Aitchison baronets, only son of Jeremy David Aitchison (born 10 Apr, 1959), of Duncton, West Sussex, and his wife the former Ruth Mary Timmis, & Catherine Lucy Rule (born circa 1995) daughter of Douglas Rule, of Monks Eleigh, Suffolk, and the late Sarah Rule (nee Clayton).

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Mainwaring-Burton/Leatham engagement

 The engagement wasannounced 21 January, 2023, between Archie J. Mainwaring-Burton (born 24 July, 1986), scion of that landed gentry family, elder son of Guy Anthony Mainwaring-Burton (born 4 November, 1956), of St John, Jersey, Channel Islands, and his wife the former Bridget Mary Riley (born 5 January, 1958), descended from the Viscounts Molesworth, & Charlotte Elisabeth Leatham (born 1989), scion of that landed gentry family, daughter of Mark Leatham (born 1955), of Lyons Gate, Dorset, and his late wife the former (Elisabeth) Joanna (Jojo) Blake (1963-2014).

The 8th Viscount Molesworth > Hon Andalusia Molesworth > Lt-Col Christopher Riley > Maj John Riley > Bridget Mary Riley > Archie Mainwaring-Burton

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Speers/Conyngham engagement

 The engagement was announced 21 January, 2023, between Cian Speers, son of Jonny and Susan Speers, of Monkstown, Co Dublin, & the Lady Tamara Jane Conyngham (born 17 April, 1991), daughter of the 8th Marquess Conyngham (born 23 May, 1951), of Slane Castle, Co Meath, and his second wife the former Lady Iona Charlotte Grimston (born 25 October, 1953), daughter of the 6th Earl of Verulam (1912-1973).

Lady Tamara has an elder half-brother, Alexander, styled Earl of Mount Charles (born 30 Jan, 1975), and a half sister, Lady Henrietta (born 1976), wife of the 6th Earl of Lichfield (born 19 July, 1978).

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Fears grow for missing aristocrat

 Concern is growing for the safety of Constance Dorothea Marten (born 1987) who disappeared with Mark Gordon and their two-day-old child after abandoning their car on the M61. Miss Marten is a great-granddaughter of the 3rd Baron Alington. 

The couple abandoned their burning car on the hard shoulder of the M61 and fled – an aristocrat, a sex offender, and their baby, born just one or two days before. From the inferno near Bolton, thought to have destroyed all their belongings, they travelled first to Liverpool, then to Harwich in Essex, to Colchester and on to East Ham station in east London, over the course of two days.

That blurry CCTV footage from 7 January, 2023, is the last confirmed sighting of 35-year-old Constance Marten, the heiress’s face wrapped in a red scarf, her baby swaddled inside her coat. Alongside her is 48-year-old convicted rapist Mark Gordon, his head covered and bowed away from the camera. Police, concerned for the health of the baby, have been searching for the couple, but they are thought to have with them a large amount of cash, allowing them to stay off the grid.

So just how did Marten, whose father was a page of honour to Queen Elizabeth II, go from gracing the pages of society bible Tatler to being on the run with a man who, after burgling and raping a woman as a teenager, spent 20 years imprisoned in Florida before being deported to Britain?

Marten’s father, Napier Anthony Sturt Marten (born 28 March, 1959) points to an estrangement that began when his daughter met Gordon, tearing her away from family and friends to embark on an itinerant life. Making a heartfelt plea to Constance through The Independent newspaper, Napier – his voice wavering with emotion – told his daughter: “Darling Constance, even though we remain estranged at the moment, I stand by, as I have always done and as the family has always done, to do whatever is necessary for your safe return to us.

Constance is a granddaughter of the Hon Mary Anna Sibell Elizabeth Marten, OBE, (nee Sturt), who died at Crichel, Wimborne, Dorset, 18 January, 2010, aged 80. She was a a scion of the extinct Barons Alington (dau of the 3rd Baron), & was a goddaughter of HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother & was a close friend of the Queen & Duke of Edinburgh; she was born in London 12 September, 1929, as the Hon Mary Anna Sturt, dau of the 3rd Baron Alington (1896-1940), by his wife the former Lady Mary Sibell Ashley-Cooper, dau of the 9th Earl of Shaftesbury, KP,GCVO, sometime Lord Steward to the Household of King George V & Queen Mary, by his wife Lady Constance Sibell Grosvenor (d 1957), a great friend of Queen Mary, dau of Earl Grosvenor, and sister of Bendor, 2nd Duke of Westminster, &c. Her marriage to Lieutenant-Commander George Gosselin Marten, MVO, DSC, RN, son of Vice-Admiral Sir Francis Marten, KBE, CB, CMG, CVO, took place at Holy Trinity Church, Brompton, 25 Nov 1949. He was an equerry to King George VI, and the marriage was attended by King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duchess of Kent, Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone and Major-General the Earl of Athlone. The Hon Mrs Marten was High Sheriff of Dorset in 1989. 

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The 3rd Baron Hemingford 1934-2022

 Lord Hemingford, the 3rd Baron, died 17 December, 2022, aged 88.

Dennis Nicholas Herbert was born 25 July, 1934, son of the 2nd Baron (1904-1982), and his wife the former Elizabeth McClare Clark (d 29 July, 1979); and succeeded to the peerage (created, UK, 1943), on his father's death, 19 June, 1982.

 His grandfather was the politician Sir Dennis Herbert, who served as a Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons from 1931 to 1943. His father, the second Baron, notably served as Lord Lieutenant of Huntingdon and Peterborough from 1968 to 1974.

Lord Hemingford was Assistant Washington correspondent for The Times between 1961 and 1965. He was Middle East correspondent between 1966 and 1968, and was deputy features editor between 1968 and 1970. He was editor of the Cambridge Evening News, 1970-1974. He was editor director of Westminster Press between 1974 and 1992.He was appointed Fellow, Royal Society of Arts (F.R.S.A.) in 1989. He was deputy chief executive of Westminster Press between 1992 and 1995.His home was The Old Rectory, Hemingford Abbots, Huntingdonshire.

Lord Hemingford married firstly, 8 November, 1958, Jennifer Mary Toresen Bailey, CBE (who died 8 Jan, 2018), daughter of Frederick William Bailey, of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, by whom he had issue, a son, Christopher, and three daughters, Elizabeth, Caroline and Alice. He married 2ndly, in 2020, Jill Paton Walsh, who died 18 October, 2020, aged 83, who was a novelist ranging from children’s stories to Dorothy Sayers mysteries. Her novel Knowledge of Angels was turned down by 19 British publishers, but the Booker Prize judges thought differently and shortlisted it. Lady Hemingford was born Gillian Bliss, in North Finchley, 29 April, 1937, the oldest of four children of John Llewellyn Bliss, an engineer and pioneering television cameraman, and his wife Patricia (Patsy).  

His only son, the Hon Christopher Dennis Charles Herbert (born 4 July, 1973), now succeeds as 4th Baron Hemingford.

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Cecil Edward Guinness, CVO 1924-2022

Cecil Edward Guinness, CVO, who died 29 December, 2022, aged 98, was a scion of the eponymous Irish brewing dynasty.

Guinness was educated at the University of Belfast and the School of Brewing, Birmingham University. Edward began his career as a junior brewer in 1945 and rose to become the Director of Guinness and the Vice Chairman of Guinness International. He served as Chairman of the UK Trustees of the Duke of Edinburgh Commonwealth Study Conferences for many years and often remarked that the program had “a profound effect on my future thinking and indeed my life”. Guinness served as a Patron and Director on numerous Boards including the Trustees Queen Elizabeth, Foundation for Disabled People, International School of Creative Art, Lister Institute of Preventative Medicine, Dame Alice Owens School Potters Bar, and the Wine and Spirit Trades Benevolent Society. He was a published author, having penned The Guinness Book of Guinness, Fulmers Fallen (co-author), and A Brewers Tale, Memoirs.

He was born in 1924, son of John Cecil Cope Jenkinson Guinness (1890-1970), and his wife the former Betty Davies (1902-1976); and married in 1951, Elizabeth Thompson, by whom he had three daughters, Charlotte (born 5 Nov, 1955),  Henrietta (born 1957), and Diana (born circa 1962).

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Raphael Henry Philip de Laszlo (born 2022)

 Lydia Alice de Laszlo (born 1980), a descendant of the Dukes of Norfolk, gave birth to a son, Raphael Henry Philip, 12 December, 2022.

Lydia is a daughter of Martin Richard de Laszlo (1940-2017), and his wife the former Mary Gwendolen Freeman (born 1 February, 1945), daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel John Edward Broke Freeman (1910-1986), and his wife Lady Winefride Alice Fitzalan Howard (1914-2006), daughter of the 15th Duke of Norfolk (1847-1917).

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Sir Samuel Whitbread, KCVO 1937-2023

 Sir Samuel Whitbread, KCVO, who died 17 January, 2023, aged 85, was chairman of the family brewing company Whitbread plc for eight years, and was Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire from 1991 to 2012.

Samuel Charles Whitbread was born 22 February, 1937, scion of that landed gentry family, son of Major Simon Whitbread (1904-1985), and his wife the former Helen Beatrice Margaret Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis (1917-2006), scion of the Barons Clinton.

He married 31 August, 1961, Jane Mary Hayter, daughter of Charles William John Hugh Hayter, by whom he had issue, three sons, Charles (born 3 Jan, 1963), Henry (b 2 Feb, 1965), and William (b 29 July, 1966), and a daughter, Victoria (b 1969).

Whitbread served on the board of the eponymous brewing company from 1972 until 2001, and was a director of  Whitbread Farms Ltd from 1985 and was also a director of Whitbread Investments and Sun Alliance. He served as a magistrate for Bedfordshire from 1969, served as High Sheriff of the county for the 1973–74 year, and in 1974 was appointed a deputy lieutenant and returned as a county councillor (serving on the council until 1982). He was also chairman and later president of the Mid-Bedfordshire Conservative Association. From 1991 to 2012, Whitbread was also Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire, during which time he received three royal visits and two honorary doctorates. He was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society in 1994 and of the Society of Antiquaries in 2007. In 2012, he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.

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Mulgrave/Lyster engagement

 The engagement was announced 18 January, 2023, between John Samuel Constantine Phipps, styled Earl of Mulgrave (born 26 November, 1994), elder son and heir of the 5th Marquis of Normanby (born 24 February, 1954), of Mulgrave Castle, near Whitby, North Yorkshire, and his wife the former Nicola Shulman, & Rosa Frances Lyster, daughter of Mr and Mrs Richard Lyster, of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

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Rohays Georgina Galitzine 1952-2023

 Rohays Georgina Galitzine, wife of Prince Alexander Galitzine, and a descendant of the Royal House of Romanov, died 7 January, 2023. She was 70.

Rohays was a descendant of Nicholas I, Tsar of Russia, and was a close friend of members of the British Royal Family. She had numerous British aristocratic links. A sister of the Countess of Dalhousie, and a first cousin of the late Duchess of Abercorn, and of Natalia, Duchess of Westminster.

She was born Rohays Georgina Butter, 9 April, 1952, the third daughter of Maj Sir David Butter, KCVO (1920-2010), and his wife the former Myra Alice Werhner (1925-2022), scion of the Wernher baronets, a close friend from childhood of the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and a member of Queen Elizabeth II's inner circle of friends, who died only weeks before Her Majesty. 

Rohays Butter married 7 May, 1988, Prince Alexander Peter Galitzine (born 6 September, 1945), son of Maj Prince George Galitzine (1916-1992), and his 1st wife Anne Marie, Baronin von Slatin (1916-2007), by whom she had issue, Princess Sasha Alice Natalia (born 10 Feb, 1989), and Princess Nadhezda Georgina (born 9 July, 1990).

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Rory Corbin Darroch-Thompson (born 2022)

 Jamie Barys, wife of Duncan Darroch-Thompson (born 1986), scion of the Darroch of Gourock landed gentry family, gave birth to a son, Rory Corbin, 16 December, 2022, in Singapore, a brother for (Duncan) Hamish, who was born 14 November, 2020.

Duncan is a son of Matthew John Thompson, later Darroch-Thompson (born 1954), and his wife Claire Nicola Darroch (born 23 December, 1956), daughter of Duncan Darroch of Gourock, 8th of Gourock (1931-2011).

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Andrée Marie Noel (née Duchen) (died 2023)

Andrée Marie Noel (née Duchen) died 12 January, 2023, aged 94.

She was born circa 1928, a daughter of Pierre Duchen, of Bayonne, France. She married 22 December, 1977, as his second wife, Colonel Archibald Charles William (Archie) Noel (1914-1997), scion of the Earls of Gainsborough, son of Major the Hon Charles Herbert Francis Noel (1885-1947), a William IV descendant, by his wife the former May Dick (1884-1964).

The funeral takes place at the Brompton Oratory, 31 January, 2023.

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The Hon (Patrick) Christopher Orde-Powlett 1931-2023

 The Hon Christopher (Kit) Orde-Powlett, who died 11 January, 2023, aged 91, was a scion of the Barons Bolton.

(Patrick) Christopher Orde-Powlett was born 9 April, 1931, younger son of the 6th Baron Bolton (1900-1963), and his wife the former Victoria Mary Villiers (1903-1933), scion of the Earls of Clarendon and a descendant of the 19th century prime minister Lord John Russell.

He married 29 September, 1962, (Elizabeth) Jane Kent, daughter of Arthur Spencer Kent, by whom he had issue, two daughters, Rosamund Jane (b 22 July, 1964), and (Heather) Victoria (born 5 Feb, 1966).

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Müller/Johnson-Wheeler engagement

The engagement was announced 14 January, 2023, between Patrick A. Müller, only son of Mr Jürgen  and Mrs Johanna Korb-Müller of Giessen, Germany, & Lara Lettice Johnson-Wheeler (born 1993), descended from the Royal House of Württemberg, daughter of the Rt Hon (Alexander) Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, MP, PC (born 19 June, 1964), Prime Minister & First Lord of the Treasury, 2019-2022, & his former wife the former Marina Claire Wheeler, KC (born 18 August, 1964).

Miss Johnson-Wheeler is a direct descendant of the House of Hanover:-

George II, King of Gt Britain & Ireland

I

Frederick, Prince of Wales

I

Princess Augusta of Gt Britain & Ireland

I

Princess Auguste Caroline Friederike Luise of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

I

Prince Paul Heinrich Karl Friedrich August of Württemberg

I

Karolina von Rottenburg 

I

Hubert Freiherr von Pfeffel

I

Marie Luise Freiin von Pfeffel

I

Irene Williams

I

Stanley Johnson

I

Boris Johnson

I

Lara Lettice Johnson-Wheeler

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Holt/Bourne-Arton engagement

 The engagement was announced 14 January, 2023, between Thomas Harrison Holt (born 1986), son of James Harrison Holt (b 1936), and his late 2nd wife, the former Mary Allison Thomas (1947-2020), of Ravenswick, North Yorkshire, and Holly Emma Bourne-Arton (born 17 December, 1994), scion of that landed family, of Tanfield, North Yorkshire, daughter of Richard William Bourne-Arton (born 1966), of Tanfield, and his wife the former Daphne Elizabeth Benson (born 1964).

Thomas Holt's firs marriage, 28 Dec, 2016, was to Lucinda Caroline Egerton (b 30 Aug, 1982), scion of that landed gentry family.

Susan Joan Constable Maxwell (nee Davies) (died 2022)

 Susan Joan Constable Maxwell (nee Davies) died 30 December, 2022. The daughter of W. Trevor Davies, of Pontllanfraith, Monmouthshire, she married 20 January, 1962, Wing Commander Michael Hugh Constable Maxwell, DSO, DFC (1917-2000), scion of the Lords Herries of Terregles, son of the Hon Bernard Constable Maxwell (1848-1938), of Beauly, Inverness-shire, and his second wife the Hon Alice Mary Charlotte Fraser (1870-1958), scion of the Lords Lovat, by whom she had two sons, Hugh Peter (b 16 May, 1963), and Thomas Bernard (b 1 Dec, 1966).

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