George Bingham, 5th Earl of Lucan

The Earl of Lucan in 1943

Colonel George Charles Bingham, 5th Earl of Lucan GCVO KBE CB TD PC DL (13 December 1860 – 20 April 1949), styled Lord Bingham from 1888 to 1914, was a British soldier and Conservative politician.

Background and education

Lucan was the son of Charles Bingham, 4th Earl of Lucan, and Lady Cecilia Catherine Gordon-Lennox.^[1] He was educated at Harrow, and later at Sandhurst.

Military career

Lucan was commissioned into the Rifle Brigade in 1881, retiring with the rank of Captain in 1896. In 1900 he joined the 1st London Rifle Volunteers as a Major, rising to the rank of Colonel.

Political career

Lucan was appointed High Sheriff of Mayo for 1902–03. ^[2]

He was briefly a Member of Parliament for the Chertsey constituency in Surrey as a member of the Conservative Party. He was elected in a by-election on 7 July 1904, and defeated in the United Kingdom general election, 1906 by the Liberal candidate F. J. Marnham. In August 1914 he was elected a Irish Representative Peer. He served under David Lloyd George, Andrew Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin as a Lord-in-Waiting (government whip in the House of Lords) from 1920 to 1924 and under Baldwin from 1924 to 1929. The latter year he was appointed Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms, a post he held until the government fell later that year and again in the National Government from 1931 to 1940. He was also a Deputy Lieutenant of County Mayo and Middlesex.

Family

Lord Lucan married Violet Sylvia Blanche Spender Clay, with whom he had four children:^[1]

Grave of the 5th Earl of Lucan in All Saints' parish churchyard, Laleham, Middlesex

• George Charles Patrick Bingham, 6th Earl of Lucan (24 November 1898 – 21 January 1964)
• Lady Barbara Violet Bingham (17 August 1902 – 17 December 1963), who married John Bevan
• Hon. John Edward Bingham (29 February 1904 – 1992)
• Lady Margaret Bingham (16 September 1905 – 17 August 1977) married Field Marshal the 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, son of James Alexander, 4th Earl of Caledon

In 1922 the Lucans gave up their seat at Laleham, and the majority of the estate including Laleham House was sold. Like his father before him, Lord Lucan had earlier bestowed a portion to the community for parkland.

Lord Lucan died in April 1949, aged 88, and was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest son George, who in contrast to his father became a Labour politician. The Dowager Lady Lucan died in 1972.

References

1. The Peerage
2. The County Families of the United Kingdom. Edition 59.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Lucan