William Gaspard Guy Romilly, 4th Baron Romilly (8 March 1899 – 29 June 1983) was a British

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 ...

Early life

He was the only child of

John Romilly, 3rd Baron Romilly John Gaspard Le Marchant Romilly, 3rd Baron Romilly (1 March 1866 – 23 June 1905) was a British hereditary peer and soldier. Early life Romilly was born on 1 March 1866. Of Huguenot ancestry from Montpellier, he was the only child of William R ...

and the former Violet Edith Grey-Egerton (1870–1906). Of Huguenot ancestry from

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

, his paternal grandparents were William Romilly, 2nd Baron Romilly and, his first wife, the former Emily Idonea Sophia Le Marchant (eldest daughter of Lt.-Gen. Sir John Gaspard Le Marchant). His mother was the only daughter of Sir Philip Grey-Egerton, 11th Baronet of Oulton Park and the Hon. Henrietta Elizabeth Sophia Denison (eldest daughter of

Albert Denison, 1st Baron Londesborough Albert Denison Denison, 1st Baron Londesborough, KCH, FRS, FSA (21 October 1805 – 15 January 1860) was a British Whig Party politician and diplomat, known as Lord Albert Conyngham from 1816 to 1849. Early life and career Born Albert Denison ...

). His maternal uncle was

Sir Philip Grey Egerton, 12th Baronet Sir Philip Henry Brian Grey-Egerton, 12th Baronet JP DP (29 April 1864 – 4 July 1937) was a British soldier and aristocrat who was a member of the Grey and Egerton families. Early life Philip Henry Brian Grey-Egerton was born on 29 April 186 ...

. He was educated at Ludgrove School.

Career

Upon his father's early death on 23 June 1905, William inherited the barony at just six years old. Romilly was a veteran of the First World War, serving from 1918 to 1919 and a Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards from 1919 to 1923. During World War II, he became a Major of the

Reserve of Officers The Army Reserve is the active-duty volunteer reserve force of the British Army. It is separate from the Regular Reserve whose members are ex-Regular personnel who retain a statutory liability for service. The Army Reserve was known as the T ...

Personal life

On 3 December 1929, he was married to Hon. Diana Joan Sackville-West (1906–1975), the only daughter of

Charles Sackville-West, 4th Baron Sackville Major-General Charles John Sackville-West, 4th Baron Sackville, (10 August 1870 – 8 May 1962) was a British Army general and peer who served throughout the First World War and reached the rank of major general. In 1919, he was British Milita ...

and the former Maude Cecilia Bell (eldest daughter of Capt. Matthew John Bell of

Bourne Park Bourne Park may refer to: * Bourne Park (football ground), former home of Sittingbourne F.C. * Bourne Park House Bourne Park House is a Queen Anne style country house on Bourne Park Road, between Bishopsbourne and Bridge near Canterbury in Ken ...

). They divorced in 1944 and she married, as his third wife, Lt.-Col. Sir Douglas Hall, 2nd Baronet, in January 1951. On 19 December 1944, he married secondly to Dora Sybil Morris, a daughter of Reginald Morris of London. They remained married until her death on 24 April 1960. His third marriage was on 18 July 1966 to Marion Elizabeth Jessie (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Clover) Cecil, a daughter of Charles M. Clover of Pilgrim's Way, Blewbury. She was the former wife of Geoffrey Adams and Capt. Lionel Cecil. Although Lord Romilly married three times, he remained childless and upon his death on 29 June 1983 the barony became extinct.The Peerage
/ref> After his death, his widow Lady Romilly remarried, as his second wife, to Col. Edward John Sutton Ward (a son of Jean Templeton Ward and Sir John Hubert Ward) in 1986.

Arms

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Romilly, William Romilly, 4th Baron 1899 births 1983 deaths Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom People educated at Ludgrove School