Edward Delaval Henry Astley, 22nd Baron Hastings, 12th Baronet Astley (14 April 1912 – 25 April 2007) had many interests, including politics, ballet, charity work, Italy, and renovating Seaton Delaval Hall.

Early life

Lord Hastings was born at Melton Constable Hall in Norfolk, the son of Albert Astley, 21st Baron Hastings and Marguerite Nevill, daughter of the 3rd

Marquess of Abergavenny Marquess of Abergavenny (pronounced Aber''genn''y) in the County of Monmouth, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom created on 14 January 1876, along with the title Earl of Lewes (pronounced "Lewis"), in the County of Sussex, for the ...

. The ancient Hastings barony had been established in 1290, but lay dormant from 1389, when there were multiple claimants, and then abeyant from 1542. It was revived for Jacob Astley in 1841, who became the 16th Baron. He was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

, but his father decided that he was not clever enough to attend

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. He was sent to learn French and Spanish overseas. He was a friend of Sarah Churchill, daughter of

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

Career

Early career and military service

He worked for the Gold Coast Selection Trust in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

, and joined the supplementary reserve of the Coldstream Guards in the 1930s. He spent 14 months in the United States, taking a

road trip A road trip, sometimes spelled roadtrip, is a long-distance journey on the road. Typically, road trips are long distances travelled by automobile. History First road trips by automobile The world's first recorded long-distance road trip by t ...

of in a

Ford V-8 Ford engines are those used in Ford Motor Company vehicles and in aftermarket, sports and kit applications. Different engine ranges are used in various global markets. 3 cylinder A series of Ford DOHC 12-valve inline-three engines with Twin Indep ...

. He returned to England when the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

broke out, arriving home shortly before the evacuation from

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.Intelligence Corps, and was posted to North Africa and then Italy, where his language skills became valuable. He ran radio and theatre services in liberated Italy.

Rhodesia

Back in England, he became a director of London and Eastern Trade Bank, before leaving London to run a farm near

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kn ...

, growing

Virginia tobacco This article contains a list of tobacco cultivars and varieties, as well as unique preparations of the tobacco leaf involving particular methods of processing the plant. (E.g. cavendish tobacco.) Types Aromatic Fire-cured Prior to the Am ...

, maize, peanuts and pasture seed. He became active in the local United Party. He met his wife, the former model Katie Hinton (known as Nicki), daughter of Captain H. V. Hinton, in Africa. They married in 1954 and honeymooned on Elba, where he later built a holiday villa for his family, including three children and his two stepchildren. He supported

Garfield Todd Sir Reginald Stephen Garfield Todd (13 July 1908 – 13 October 2002) was a liberal Prime Minister of Rhodesia, Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia from 1953 to 1958 and later became an opponent of white minority rule in Rhodesia. Background T ...

's United Rhodesia party.

22nd Baron Hastings

He spent more time in England after he succeeded to the titles on his father's death in 1956, although Melton Constable Hall had been sold to the Duke of Westminster in 1948. He became a government whip in the Conservative administrations of

Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was a British Conservative statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Caricatured as "Supermac", he ...

and

Sir Alec Douglas-Home Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel (; 2 July 1903 – 9 October 1995), styled as Lord Dunglass between 1918 and 1951 and being The 14th Earl of Home from 1951 till 1963, was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conse ...

from 1961 to 1962, and a Parliamentary Secretary to Sir Keith Joseph, Bt., the Minister of Housing and Local Government, from 1962 to 1964. He took charge of the Bills that became the Clean Air Act 1968 and Water Resources Act 1968. He joined the Opposition front bench after Labour won the

1964 general election The following elections occurred in 1964. Africa * 1964 Cameroonian parliamentary election * 1964 Central African Republic parliamentary election * 1964 Central African Republic presidential election * 1964 Dahomeyan general election * 1964 Gabo ...

, attacking the new Land Commission, which he likened to land

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

. He criticised Labour's policies towards Rhodesia, particularly economic sanctions. He continued to run his farm through the years of

UDI Udi may refer to: Places * Udi, Enugu, a local government areas and city in Nigeria * Udi, a place in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, India People * Udi Gal (born 1979), Israeli Olympic sailor * Udi Vaks (born 1979), Israeli Olympic judoka ...

and civil war, finally selling it to the

Government of Zimbabwe The politics of Zimbabwe takes place in a framework of a full presidential republic, whereby the President is the head of state and government as organized by the 2013 Constitution. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative pow ...

in 1982. He moved to

Fulmodeston Fulmodeston or Fulmodeston-cum-Croxton is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is located south-east of Fakenham and north-west of Norwich, along the course of River Stiffkey. Fulmodeston parish also include ...

Hall in Norfolk in 1967. He sat in the House of Lords until the House of Lords Act 1999 removed most of the

hereditary peer The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of September 2022, there are 807 hereditary peers: 29 dukes (including five royal dukes), 34 marquesses, 190 earls, 111 viscounts, and 443 barons (disregarding subsid ...

Patronage

He developed a love of ballet after seeing the

Ballets Russes The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Revolution disrupted society. A ...

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

in the 1930s. He was a governor of the Royal Ballet from 1979 to 1992. He became a trustee of the Sadler's Wells Ballet Fund set up by

Ninette de Valois Dame Ninette de Valois (born Edris Stannus; 6 June 1898 – 8 March 2001) was an Irish-born British dancer, teacher, choreographer, and director of classical ballet. Most notably, she danced professionally with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, ...

, chairman of the Royal Ballet Benevolent Fund from 1966 to 1983, and chairman of the Dance Teachers' Benevolent Fund from 1982 to 1999. His second son Justin was born with

Down's syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual disa ...

. He became patron of the Camphill Villages Trust, donating Thornage Hall near Fakenham in Norfolk and surrounding land. He was a vice-president of the

British Epilepsy Association Epilepsy Action is a British charity providing information, advice and support for people with epilepsy. Activities Epilepsy Action provides freephone and email helplines and a wide range of information booklets, web pages and e-learning cou ...

from 1962 to 1964, president from 1965 to 1993, and then honorary past president until his death in 2007. The Association named its highest award the Lord Hastings Award in his honour. He was also president of the

Epilepsy Research Foundation Epilepsy Research Institute, formerly Epilepsy Research UK, is a British medical research charity dedicated to funding and supporting research into epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recur ...

and the Joint Epilepsy Council. He was a governor and vice-chairman of the British Institute of Florence for almost 40 years, from 1959 to 1997. He was president of the British-Italian Society from 1967 to 1995. He launched the Italian People's Flood Appeal to help Italians caught up in floods in the 1960s, to supplement other charities, such as the

Venice in Peril Fund Venice in Peril Fund CIO is a British registered charity. It raises funds to restore and conserve the art and architecture of Venice, and to investigate ways to protect them against future risks, particularly rising sea levels. Although it fo ...

, which were established to conserve artworks. For this work, he was appointed a Grand Officer of the

Italian Order of Merit The Italian honours system is a means to reward achievements or service to the Italian Republic, formerly the Kingdom of Italy including the Italian Social Republic. Orders of chivalry Italian Republic There are five orders of knighthood ...

in 1968.

Seaton Delaval Hall

He spent 51 years restoring Seaton Delaval Hall in Northumberland, an outstanding example of English

Baroque architecture Baroque architecture is a highly decorative and theatrical style which appeared in Italy in the early 17th century and gradually spread across Europe. It was originally introduced by the Catholic Church, particularly by the Jesuits, as a means t ...

, designed by

Sir John Vanbrugh Sir John Vanbrugh (; 24 January 1664 (baptised) – 26 March 1726) was an English architect, dramatist and herald, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restorati ...

in 1718 for Admiral George Delaval. It had been badly damaged by fire in 1822, and used as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

camp in the

. The central block and west wing were repaired and refurbished, and a

parterre A ''parterre'' is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the part of ...

laid out. The house opened to the public. It became his permanent home in 1990.

Death

Hastings died aged 95 and was succeeded by his son, Delaval Astley, 23rd Baron Hastings.

References

External links

Obituary
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The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'', 5 May 2007
Obituary
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The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 19 May 2007
Obituary
from

Epilepsy Action Epilepsy Action is a British charity providing information, advice and support for people with epilepsy. Activities Epilepsy Action provides freephone and email helplines and a wide range of information booklets, web pages and e-learning cou ...

, May 2007
Obituary
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 29 May 2007
Obituary
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', 6 June 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hastings, Edward Delaval Henry Astley, 22nd Baron 1912 births 2007 deaths Barons Hastings British Army personnel of World War II Intelligence Corps officers Ministers in the Macmillan and Douglas-Home governments, 1957–1964 People educated at Eton College People from Seaton Delaval People from North Norfolk (district) 20th-century English nobility