Alan Percy, 8th Duke of Northumberland
The Duke of Northumberland KG, CBE, MVO, TD | |
---|---|
![]() Alan Ian Percy, in a Grenadier Guards uniform, by Alexander Bassano – 1900s | |
Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland | |
In office 19 July 1918 – 23 August 1930 | |
Personal details | |
Born | London | 17 April 1880
Died | 23 August 1930 London | (aged 50)
Spouse(s) | |
Children | 6, including Henry, Hugh, and Elizabeth |
Parents | Henry Percy, 7th Duke of Northumberland Lady Edith Campbell |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Shield_of_Arms_of_Alan_Percy%2C_8th_Duke_of_Northumberland%2C_KG%2C_CBE%2C_MVO%2C_TD.png/262px-Shield_of_Arms_of_Alan_Percy%2C_8th_Duke_of_Northumberland%2C_KG%2C_CBE%2C_MVO%2C_TD.png)
Alan Ian Percy, 8th Duke of Northumberland, KG, CBE, MVO, TD (17 April 1880 – 23 August 1930) was a British peer, army officer, and newspaper proprietor.
Military career[]
Percy was a second lieutenant of the 2nd Volunteer Battalion the Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment), when he was admitted as a second lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards on 24 January 1900.[1] He was part of a detachment sent to South Africa in March 1900 to reinforce the 3rd battalion during the Second Boer War,[2] and served with his regiment there until the war ended. For his service, he received the Queen's South Africa Medal. Following the end of the war, he returned to the United Kingdom in August 1902.[3] During his time as ADC in Canada, he undertook a wager to walk 111 miles from one city to another in three days—despite blizzards and heavy snowfall, he completed the challenge and won the wager. During the First World War he served with the Grenadier Guards, working with the Intelligence Department to provide eyewitness accounts of battles and the front line. His brother Lord William Percy also served during the war; wounded in 1915, he spent the remainder of the war working as a military attorney. He was made a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur. On 1 October 1918 he was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment).[4][5]
Political activities[]
Politically Percy was a Tory diehard.[6] He was a staunch supporter of the House of Lords. He wrote for the National Review on military matters.
From 1921, he funded the Boswell Publishing Company, and then in 1922 until his death, the Patriot, a radical right-wing weekly which published articles by Nesta Webster and promulgated a mix of anti-communism and anti-semitism.[7]
In 1924, he acquired an interest in The Morning Post.
Other activities[]
The Duke was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland. For one year before his death, he served as Chancellor of the University of Durham, a role his father had also held. His father, the 7th Duke, was an alderman on the Middlesex County Council up to his death. In July 1918, he was chosen to fill the vacancy on the council in his father's place.[8]
Family[]
Percy was the son of Henry Percy, 7th Duke of Northumberland, and Lady Edith Campbell.[4]
On 18 October 1911, Percy married Lady Helen Magdalan Gordon-Lennox (daughter of Charles Gordon-Lennox, 7th Duke of Richmond). They had six children:[4][9]
- Henry George Alan Percy, 9th Duke of Northumberland (15 July 1912, killed in action 21 May 1940)
- Hugh Algernon Percy, 10th Duke of Northumberland (6 April 1914, died 11 October 1988); he married Lady Elizabeth Montagu Douglas Scott on 12 June 1946. They have seven children.
- Lady Elizabeth Ivy Percy (25 May 1916 – 16 September 2008); she married Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton on 2 December 1937. They have five children.
- Lady Diana Evelyn Percy (23 November 1917 – 16 June 1978); she married John Egerton, 6th Duke of Sutherland on 29 April 1939. They had no children.
- Lord Richard Charles Percy (11 February 1921 – 20 December 1989). Educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford. Joined the Grenadier Guards in 1941, serving with the Regiment's 1st Battalion in the Guards Armoured Division in North West Europe until retiring with the rank of Major in 1946; joined the Territorial Army regiment, the Northumberland Hussars in 1947 (Lieutenant-Colonel commanding 1958–1961). He was a lecturer in Zoology at Newcastle University for 36 years.[10] He married Sarah Jane Elizabeth Norton (1937–1978) on 10 September 1966. They had two children:
- Algernon Alan Percy (17 March 1969)
- Josceline Richard Percy (2 June 1971)
- Lord Richard Percy married secondly Hon. Clayre Campbell in 1979.
- Lord Geoffrey William Percy (8 July 1925 – 4 December 1984); he married Mary Elizabeth Lea on 27 May 1955. They had one daughter:
- Diana Ruth Percy (22 November 1956)
The 8th Duke died on 23 August 1930[4] and was buried in the Northumberland Vault, within Westminster Abbey.[11] He was succeeded in the dukedom and his other titles by his eldest son, George.[4]
Works[]
- A Year Ago: Eye-witness's Narrative of the War from March 30th to July 18th, 1915, with E. D. Swinton, Longmans, Green & Co., 1916.
- "The Realities of the Situation," The Patriot, Vol. I, No. 1, 9 February 1922.
- First Jewish Bid For World Power, Reprinted from the Patriot, January, 1930.
- The Shadow on the Moor, 1930
- "La Salamandre" The story of a vivandière 1934
Other
- W. H. Mallock, Democracy; being an Abridged Edition of 'The Limits of Pure Democracy', with an introduction by the Duke of Northumberland, Chapman & Hall, Ltd., 1924.
References[]
- ^ "No. 27156". The London Gazette. 23 January 1900. p. 431.
- ^ "The War – the Queen and the Grenadier Guards". The Times (36090). London. 15 March 1900. p. 10.
- ^ "The War – Return of Troops". The Times (36842). London. 9 August 1902. p. 11.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 100th Edn, London, 1953: 'Northumberland'.
- ^ Army List.
- ^ Roy Palmer Domenico, Mark Y. Hanley (editors) Encyclopedia of Modern Christian Politics: L-Z Greenwood Press (2006) p440
- ^ Markku Ruotsila, 'The Antisemitism of the Eighth Duke of Northumberland's the Patriot, 1922–1930', Journal of Contemporary History 39:1 (2004), 71–92
- ^ "Middlesex County Council. New Alderman Elected". Ealing Gazette and West Middlesex Observer. 3 August 1918. p. 6.
- ^ Lundy, Darryl (4 July 2015). "Alan Ian Percy, 8th Duke of Northumberland". The Peerage. Wellington, New Zealand: John Cardinal's Second Site. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
- ^ Guards Magazine, Spring 1990
- ^ "Elizabeth, Duchess of Northumberland & Percy Family". Westminster Abbey. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
Further reading[]
- Ruotsila, Markku (2005). "The Catholic Apostolic Church in British Politics," Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. LVI (1), pp. 75–91.
External links[]
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alan Percy, 8th Duke of Northumberland. |
- 1880 births
- 1930 deaths
- Chancellors of Durham University
- Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
- Dukes of Northumberland
- Grenadier Guards officers
- Knights of the Garter
- Lord-Lieutenants of Northumberland
- Members of the Royal Victorian Order
- British Army personnel of World War I
- Percy family
- British Army personnel of the Mahdist War
- British Army personnel of the Second Boer War
- Burials at Westminster Abbey
- British landowners
- Conservative Party (UK) politicians
- Members of Middlesex County Council
- English anti-communists
- Antisemitism in England
- 20th-century British businesspeople
- Surtees Society