George Bingham, 8th Earl of Lucan

Last updated

The Right Honourable

The Earl of Lucan
8th  Earl of Lucan
Bingham arms.svg
Arms of Bingham: Azure, a bend plain cottised between six crosses patée or [1]
Predecessor John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan
Other titles4th Baron Bingham (UK)
8th Baron Lucan (IRE)
14th Baronet of Castlebar (NS)
BornGeorge Charles Bingham
(1967-09-21) 21 September 1967 (age 56)
London, England
Residence Belgravia, London
Spouse(s)
Anne-Sofie Foghsgaard
​
​
(m. 2016)​
Issue2, including Charles Lars John Bingham, Lord Bingham
Parents John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan
Veronica Mary Duncan
OccupationBanker

George Charles Bingham, 8th Earl of Lucan (born 21 September 1967), styled Lord Bingham until 2016, is a British hereditary peer. He is a paternal third cousin of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Contents

Background and early life

George Charles Bingham, 8th Earl of Lucan, was born on 21 September 1967, the only son of Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan, and Veronica Mary Duncan. [2]

He is the thrice great-grandson of Field Marshal The 3rd Earl of Lucan, who is remembered for his role in the Crimean War, leading the cavalry division which included the Heavy Brigade and the Light Brigade, the latter of which was involved in the Charge of the Light Brigade. The Binghams are an Anglo-Irish aristocratic family. [2]

Lucan was educated at Eton College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He married Anne-Sofie Foghsgaard (known as "Fie"; b. 1977) at St George's, Hanover Square, London, on 14 January 2016. She is the daughter of Danish industrialist Lars Foghsgaard, the former owner of the Spott Estate in East Lothian, Scotland. [2] They have two children, a daughter, Lady Daphne, born in 2017, and a son, Lord Bingham (Charles Lars John), born in 2020. [2] [3] Lady Lucan is a fashion designer. [4]

Lord Lucan has two sisters: Lady Frances Bingham (born 1964), and Lady Camilla Bloch KC (born 1970), who married Michael Bloch KC in 1998. [2]

Lucan's father, the 7th Earl, disappeared in November 1974 after the murder of the family nanny Sandra Rivett. The 8th Earl and his sister Lady Camilla are not convinced that their father was responsible for Sandra Rivett's death. [5] [6]

Succession

In the 1990s the Probate Registry (a division of the High Court of Justice) gave leave for the 7th Earl to be sworn dead by his trustees, and the family was granted probate over his estate in 1999, but no death certificate was issued. [7] In 1998, Bingham, supported by sworn statements from his entire living family save for his mother, and by the Metropolitan Police, applied for his father to be declared dead for House of Lords purposes. The Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine of Lairg, decided he was unable to issue Bingham his writ of summons to the Lords without a death certificate for his father. [8] In October 2015, twelve months after the Presumption of Death Act 2013 came into effect, [9] Bingham sought for his father to be declared dead at the General Register Office (GRO), which issues death certificates; in this case, an application to the High Court was necessary. [10] On 3 February 2016, a judge declared the GRO could issue the certificate, allowing Bingham to inherit the peerages. [11] [12]

On 23 May 2016, Lucan formally petitioned the House of Lords to have his succession recognised. [13] On 7 June, the House declared that he had established his claims to the titles, and he was directed to be entered on the register of hereditary peers maintained in connection with the House of Lords Act 1999 by virtue of his subsidiary title Baron Bingham in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. [14] [15] As of March 2018, he had not stood in the internal Lords by-elections for replacing of the 92 electable hereditary representative peers (upon their retirements or deaths).

Related Research Articles

Peerages in the United Kingdom form a legal system comprising both hereditary and lifetime titles, composed of various ranks, and within the framework of the Constitution of the United Kingdom form a constituent part of the legislative process and the British honours system. The term peerage can be used both collectively to refer to the entire body of titled nobility, and individually to refer to a specific title. British peerage title holders are termed peers of the Realm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan</span> British peer and missing murder suspect

Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan, commonly known as Lord Lucan, was a British peer who disappeared after being suspected of murder. He was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat, the eldest son of George Bingham, 6th Earl of Lucan, and Kaitlin Dawson. Lucan was an evacuee during the Second World War but returned to attend Eton College, and served with the Coldstream Guards in West Germany from 1953 to 1955. Having developed a taste for gambling, he played backgammon and bridge, and was an early member of the exclusive group of rich British gamblers at the Clermont Club. Lucan's losses often exceeded his winnings, yet he left his job at a London-based merchant bank and became a professional gambler. He was known as Lord Bingham from April 1949 until January 1964, during his father's lifetime.

The order of precedence in the United Kingdom is the sequential hierarchy for Peers of the Realm, officers of state, senior members of the clergy, holders of the various Orders of Chivalry, and is mostly determined, but not limited to, birth order, place in the line of succession, or distance from the reigning monarch. The order of precedence can also be applied to other persons in the three legal jurisdictions within the United Kingdom:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earl of Lucan</span> Title in the peerage of Ireland

Earl of Lucan is a title which has been created twice in the Peerage of Ireland for related families.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan</span> British Army officer

George Charles Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan,, styled Lord Bingham before 1839, was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat and British Army officer. He was one of three men, along with Captain Nolan and Lord Raglan, responsible for the fateful order during the Battle of Balaclava in October 1854 that led to the Light Brigade commander, The Earl of Cardigan, leading the Charge of the Light Brigade. He was subsequently promoted to field marshal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marquess of Cholmondeley</span> Title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

Marquess of Cholmondeley is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1815 for George Cholmondeley, 4th Earl of Cholmondeley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earl of Haddington</span> Title in the Peerage of Scotland

Earl of Haddington is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1627 for the noted Scottish lawyer and judge Thomas Hamilton, 1st Earl of Melrose. He was Lord President of the Court of Session from 1616 to 1625. Hamilton had already been created Lord Binning in 1613 and Lord Binning and Byres, in the County of Haddington, and Earl of Melrose, in the County of Roxburgh, in 1619. These titles were also in the Peerage of Scotland. The title of the earldom derived from the fact that he was in possession of much of the lands of the former Melrose Abbey. However, Hamilton was unhappy with this title and wished to replace it with "Haddington". In 1627 he relinquished the earldom of Melrose and was instead created Earl of Haddington, with the precedence of 1619 and with limitation to his heirs male bearing the surname of Hamilton. This derived from the fact that he considered it a greater honour to take his title from a county rather than from an abbey. Hamilton was a member of the prominent Scottish family of that name and descended from John de Hamilton, younger son of Walter de Hamilton, who was granted the feudal barony of Cadzow and who is also the ancestor of the Dukes of Hamilton and Dukes of Abercorn.

The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of August 2023, there are 805 hereditary peers: 30 dukes, 34 marquesses, 189 earls, 110 viscounts, and 442 barons.

Margaret Alison of Mar, 31st Countess of Mar is a Scottish hereditary peer and politician. She was a crossbench member of the House of Lords from 1975 to 2020 and was one of 92 hereditary peers elected to remain in the Lords in 1999. She is the holder of the original earldom of Mar, the oldest peerage title in the United Kingdom. She is the only suo jure countess and was the only female hereditary peer in the House of Lords from 2014 to 2020. She is also a farmer and former specialist goats cheesemaker in Great Witley, Worcestershire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Lytton-Cobbold, 2nd Baron Cobbold</span> British peer (1937–2022)

David Antony Fromanteel Lytton-Cobbold, 2nd Baron Cobbold, was a British hereditary peer and member of the House of Lords.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Bingham, 5th Earl of Lucan</span> British soldier and politician (1860–1949)

Colonel George Charles Bingham, 5th Earl of Lucan, 1st Baron Bingham,, known by the courtesy title of Lord Bingham from 1888 to 1914, was a British soldier and Conservative politician.His sister Rosalind Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn, was a paternal great-grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Shane William Desmond Alexander, 2nd Earl Alexander of Tunis, styled Lord Rideau between 1952 and 1969, is a British hereditary peer.

George Charles Patrick Bingham, 6th Earl of Lucan MC, known as Lord Bingham from 1914 to 1949, was an Irish peer, British soldier and Labour politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Bingham, 1st Earl of Lucan</span> Irish peer and politician

Charles Bingham, 1st Earl of Lucan, known as Sir Charles Bingham, 7th Baronet, from 1750 until 1776, was an Irish peer and politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Bingham, 2nd Earl of Lucan</span> Irish landowner and Tory politician

Richard Bingham, 2nd Earl of Lucan, styled The Honourable from 1776 to 1795 and subsequently Lord Bingham until 1799, was an Irish peer and Tory politician.

Following the enactment of the House of Lords Act 1999, the number of hereditary peers entitled to sit in the House of Lords was reduced to ninety-two. The Earl Marshal and the Lord Great Chamberlain were entitled to sit ex officio; the remaining ninety were elected by all the hereditary peers before the passing of the reform. Since November 2002, by-elections have been held to fill vacancies left by deaths, resignations or disqualifications of those peers. Since the passing of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014, by-elections have also been held to fill vacancies left by the retirements of those peers.

Nancy Jane Marie Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 28th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, is an English peer and member of the Astor family. She is a 1⁄4 holder of the office of Lord Great Chamberlain, which is exercised by the 7th Baron Carrington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Boyle, 15th Earl of Cork</span> British hereditary peer and member of the House of Lords (born 1945)

John Richard Boyle, 15th Earl of Cork and 15th Earl of Orrery is a British hereditary peer and a member of the House of Lords, where he sits as a Crossbencher. Boyle was an officer in the Royal Navy and then had a career in the sugar industry before inheriting his titles in 2003.

Lady Camilla Bingham KC is a British barrister.

References

  1. ↑ Montague-Smith, P.W. (ed.), Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage, Kelly's Directories Ltd, Kingston-upon-Thames, 1968, p.715
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Debrett's Peerage & Baronetage. Debrett's. 2019. ISBN   978-1999767006.
  3. ↑ "Country clothing range opens a new chapter in the Lucan dynasty history", Daily Express , 20 February 2018
  4. ↑ "Country couture meets city slick in the Countess of Lucan's latest lookbook". Tatler. 19 May 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  5. ↑ "Murdered nanny's son claims Lord Lucan was alive in 2002". The Independent. 3 February 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  6. ↑ Dominic Gover, "Lord Lucan TV Drama Condemned by Aristocrat's Daughter". 4 November 2013, International Business Times
  7. ↑ "Family close a chapter in Lord Lucan saga", The Birmingham Post, 28 October 1999, archived from the original on 10 June 2014, retrieved 14 June 2012
  8. ↑ Dodd, Vikram (31 July 1999). "Ruling on Lucan means son cannot take Lords seat". The Guardian . Archived from the original on 27 October 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  9. ↑ "Passing of the Presumption of Death Act". Missing People. Retrieved 16 October 2015. The Bill was given Government support, and moved through each of its Parliamentary stages to become the Presumption of Death Act 2013 in March 2013. The new Act came fully into force on 1 October 2014.
  10. ↑ Johnson, Andrew (16 October 2015). "After 40 years, Lord Lucan may finally be declared dead". The Independent . Archived from the original on 16 October 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  11. ↑ "Lucan death certificate granted". BBC News . 3 February 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  12. ↑ "House of Lords Business (Wednesday 8 June 2016)". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  13. ↑ "Minutes of Proceedings of Monday 23 May 2016" (PDF). House of Lords. 24 May 2016.
  14. ↑ "Minutes of Proceedings of Tuesday 7 June 2016". House of Lords.
  15. ↑ "Lady Lucan, widow of Lord Lucan, found dead in London". BBC News. 27 September 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Earl of Lucan
2016–present		Incumbent
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.