Cecil O'Bryen Fitz-Maurice, 8th Earl of Orkney (3 July 1919 – 5 February 1998) was a Scottish peer. He held the subsidiary titles of Viscount of Kirkwall and Baron of Dechmont. Born in 1919, Fitz-Maurice was the younger son of Captain Douglas Frederick Harold FitzMaurice

RNAS The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

(died 1937), a great grandson of the 5th Earl, by his marriage to Dorothy Janette, daughter of Captain Robert Dickie, RN.'Orkney, 8th Earl of', in ''Who Was Who'' (London: A. & C. Black, 1920–2008); online edition by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, December 2007 His elder brother Douglas Hubert Hamilton FitzMaurice (1916–1942) was killed in action during 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 opposi ...

.Douglas Hubert Hamilton FitzMaurice
at peerage.com, accessed 22 April 2011 He joined the Royal Army Service Corps on the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and served in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He later served in the

Korean war , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

from 1950 to 1951. In 1951, he inherited the

Earldom of Orkney The Earldom of Orkney is the official status of the Orkney Islands. It was originally a Norse feudal dignity in Scotland which had its origins from the Viking period. In the ninth and tenth centuries it covered more than the Northern Isles (' ...

from a cousin, Edmond Walter FitzMaurice, 7th Earl of Orkney (1867–1951). In 1953, the new Lord Orkney married Rose Katharine Durk, the younger daughter of J. W. D. Silley, of Brixham, but they had no children. He died in 1998 and was succeeded by his kinsman Oliver Peter St John. With the granting of seats in 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 Westminste ...

to all Scottish peers, which took effect in August 1963, Orkney gained a seat in the Lords, which was then expected to be for life. He did not live to see the enactment of the

House of Lords Act 1999 The House of Lords Act 1999 (c. 34) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. The Act was given Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. For centuries, the House of Lords ...

which would have cost him his seat, removing most hereditary peers. At the time of his death, Orkney was living in Princes Road,

Ferndown Ferndown is a town and civil parish in Dorset in southern England, immediately to the north of Bournemouth and Poole. The parish, which until 1972 was called ''Hampreston'', includes the communities of Hampreston, Longham, Stapehill and Trick ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

Notes

External links

1919 births 1998 deaths Earls of Orkney People from Ferndown British Army personnel of World War II Royal Army Service Corps soldiers British Army personnel of the Korean War {{Orkney-bio-stub