Anthony Gerard Edward Noel, 5th Earl of Gainsborough

KStJ The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (), commonly known as the Order of St John, and also known as St John International, is an order of chivalry constituted in 1888 by royal charter from Queen Victoria and dedica ...

(24 October 1923 – 29 December 2009) was a British peer.

Biography

Lord Gainsborough succeeded his father,

Arthur Noel, 4th Earl of Gainsborough Arthur Edward Joseph Noel, 4th Earl of Gainsborough OBE TD (30 June 1884 – 27 August 1927) was a British peer. Early life Arthur Noel was the son of Charles Noel, 3rd Earl of Gainsborough and his wife Mary Elizabeth Dease, (her sister was th ...

, in the

earldom Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ''countess'' is used. The titl ...

in 1927. He attended Worth Priory in Sussex. When

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

started, he was on his way to the United States so he attended the Jesuit-run

Georgetown Preparatory School Georgetown Preparatory School (also known as Georgetown Prep) is a Jesuit college-preparatory school in Rockville, Maryland for boys in ninth through twelfth grade. It has a 93-acre (380,000 square meters) campus. It is the only Jesuit boarding s ...

, then located in

Washington DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. Returning to Britain in 1943 he was declared unfit for military service. When he was 30, the estate was free from debt and he moved back into Exton Hall.

Career

Gainsborough worked for

Vickers Supermarine Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in ...

in Southampton. Gainsborough served as chairman of Oakham Rural District Council, 1952-67 before becoming vice-chairman and then chairman of

Rutland County Council Rutland County Council, officially called Rutland County Council District Council, is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. Since 1997 the council has been a ...

, 1970–73. As president of the Rural District Councils Association in 1965, he played a prominent role in opposing the

Redcliffe-Maud Report The Redcliffe-Maud Report (Cmnd.4040) was a 1969 command paper report from the Royal Commission on Local Government in England, under the chairmanship of Lord Redcliffe-Maud. The commission was formed in 1966 to examine the structure of local go ...

's proposals for reorganising local councils which were implemented under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

. Gainsborough was Master of the

Worshipful Company of Gardeners The Worshipful Company of Gardeners is one of the livery companies of the City of London. A fraternity of Gardeners existed in the middle of the fourteenth century; it received a royal charter in 1605. The company no longer exists as a regulator ...

(1967); President, British Association,

Sovereign Military Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, and commonly known as the Order of Malta or the Knights of Malta, is a Catholic lay religious ...

(1968–74); Knight of the Venerable Order of St John (1970); Chairman of the

Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth The Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth in St John's Wood, London, England, is a Catholic charitable general hospital in north London. History and operations The hospital was founded in 1856 with a Catholic Church, Roman Catholic affiliation ...

from 1970 to 1980, and President of the Hospital from then until his death.

Family

He married at the

Brompton Oratory Brompton Oratory, also known as the London Oratory, is a neo-classical late-Victorian Catholic parish church in the Brompton area of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, neighbouring Knightsbridge, London. Its name stems from Oratorian ...

on 23 July 1947 Mary Stourton (24 September 1925 – 30 December 2018), elder daughter of Major the Hon. John Stourton MP and granddaughter of Charles Stourton, 24th Baron Mowbray, 25th Baron Segrave and 21st Baron Stourton. The Earl and Countess had eight children: * Lady Juliana Mary Alice Noel (born 27 January 1949); married Edward Foljambe, 5th Earl of Liverpool, two sons. * Anthony Baptist Noel, 6th Earl of Gainsborough (born 17 January 1950); married Sarah Winnington (of the Winnington baronets), one son (Henry Noel, Viscount Campden -

heir apparent An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...

to the titles). * Lady Maria Noel (born 3 February 1951); married Robert Pridden, one son and one daughter. * Lady Janet Noel (born and died 23 January 1953). * Lady Celestria Magdalen Mary Noel (born 27 January 1954); married Timothy Manville Hales (died 2019), one son and one daughter.www.orderofmalta.org.uk
/ref> * Gerard Edward Joseph Noel (born 23 January 1955); married Charlotte Dugdale, daughter of

Sir William Dugdale, 2nd Baronet Sir William Stratford Dugdale, 2nd Baronet, (29 March 1922 – 13 November 2014) was the chairman of Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa from 1975 to 1978. Dugdale arrived at Aston Villa as a director when they were in the third division, having bee ...

. They have one son, and two daughters. * Thomas Noel (born 9 March 1958 – 16 November 2022),

FRICS The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is a global professional body for those working in the Built Environment, Construction, Land, Property and Real Estate. The RICS was founded in London in 1868. It works at a cross-governmental ...

. * Edward Andrew Noel (born 22 October 1960); he married, firstly, Lavinia Jane Bingham, daughter of Commander George Edward Bingham, but divorced with no issue. He married, secondly, Sarah Kate Yeats-Brown, great-granddaughter of

Montague Yeats-Brown Montague "Monty" Yeats-Brown CMG (2 August 1834 – 22 February 1921) was a 19th-century British diplomat in Genoa and Boston. Life Yeats-Brown was born on 2 August 1834 on Palmaria, and was christened on an American warship then in harbou ...

. They have one son. Lord Gainsborough died in 2009 and was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest son Anthony.

References

1923 births 2009 deaths People from Rutland Councillors in Rutland 5

Anthony Anthony, also spelled Antony, is a masculine given name derived from the '' Antonii'', a '' gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descenda ...

People educated at Worth School Knights of the Order of St John Bailiffs Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta {{UK-earl-stub

Gainsborough Gainsborough or Gainsboro may refer to: Places * Gainsborough, Ipswich, Suffolk, England ** Gainsborough Ward, Ipswich * Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, a town in England ** Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency) * Gainsborough, Saskatchewan, Ca ...