Charles Alan Andrew Cathcart, the 7th Earl Cathcart (born 30 November 1952), styled Lord Greenock until 1999, is a Scottish peer and Conservative member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

and

Chief of the Name and Arms The Scottish Gaelic word means children. In early times, and possibly even today, Scottish clan members believed themselves to descend from a common ancestor, the founder of the clan, after whom the clan is named. The clan chief (''ceannard c ...

Clan Cathcart Clan Cathcart is a Lowland Scottish clan. History Origins of the Clan The lands of Cathcart are named after the River Cart in Renfrewshire. ''Caeth-cart'' means the ''strait of Cart''. Rainaldus de Kethcart appears to have been the progenitor ...

Early life

Cathcart was born on 30 November 1952. He is the only son of

Alan Cathcart, 6th Earl Cathcart Major General Alan Cathcart, 6th Earl Cathcart (22 August 1919 – 15 June 1999), styled Lord Greenock until 1927, was a British Army officer who served as Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin from 1970 until his retirement in 1973. Milit ...

and the former Rosemary Clare Marie Gabrielle Smyth-Osborne. After his mother's death, his father married Marie, Lady Weldon. Cathcart was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...

, an all-boys public school in Berkshire. Having attended the Mons Officer Cadet School, he was commissioned in the Scots Guards,

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

, as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army unt ...

on 5 August 1972. On 2 March 1975, he was moved to the Regular Army Reserve of Officers, thereby ending his period of active service. He ceased to belong to the reserve on 5 August 1980.

Career

Lord Cathcart was an Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. He succeeded to the title Earl Cathcart upon the death of his father,

, in 1999.

Parliamentary career

In 2007 he was elected as one of the 92 remaining hereditary peers, replacing The Lord Mowbray. In April 2019, he opposed an extension to the

Article 50 Withdrawal from the European Union is the legal and political process whereby an EU member state ceases to be a member of the Union. Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union ( TEU) states that "Any Member State may decide to withdraw from t ...

process, stating that "every English and Welsh region outside the M25 would be happy to leave the EU without a deal if no agreement has been reached by the end of next week."

Personal life

In 1981 he married Vivien Clare Skinner; she is an interior decorator under the name Vivien Greenock. Together, they have two children: * Lady Laura Rosemary Cathcart (born 1984); she married author and journalist

William Cash Sir William Nigel Paul Cash (born 10 May 1940) is a British politician who has served as a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1984. A member of the Conservative Party, he was first elected for Stafford and then for Stone in Staffordshire in 1997. ...

, son of Sir Bill Cash, in 2014. * Alan George Cathcart, Lord Greenock (born 1986)

Descendants

Through his daughter, Lady Laura, he is a grandfather of Cosima Cash (born 2015) and Rex William Charles Cash (born 2017).Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes.''

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington (Unami language, Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North ...

, U.S.A.:

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher founded in 1826, when the Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage, knightage and landed gentry of Great ...

(Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 1, page 719.

References

External links

* 1952 births Living people Conservative Party (UK) hereditary peers Earls in the Peerage of the United Kingdom People educated at Eton College Scots Guards officers Graduates of the Mons Officer Cadet School {{UK-earl-stub Cathcart Cathcart