Basil Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 4th Marquess of Dufferin and Ava
Basil Sheridan Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 4th Marquess of Dufferin and Ava | |
|---|---|
| Born | Template:Birth date |
| Died | March 25, 1945 (aged 35) |
| Occupation(s) | Soldier, politician |
| Years active | 1931–1945 |
| Known for | British soldier and Conservative Party politician; Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies (1937–1940) |
Basil Sheridan Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 4th Marquess of Dufferin and Ava (6 April 1909 – 25 March 1945), known as the Earl of Ava between 1918 and 1930, was a British soldier and Conservative Party politician.
Early life
As the firstborn and sole son of the 3rd Marquess of Dufferin and Ava and Brenda Woodhouse, he received the courtesy title Earl of Ava following his father's accession in 1918. His grandfather, descended from the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan, was the prominent 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, who held the position of Viceroy and Governor-General of India.
His education included attendance at Lockers Park School, Eton College, and Balliol College, Oxford. At Eton, he secured the distinguished Rosebery Prize for history at just sixteen years old. During his time at Oxford, he developed friendships with notable figures such as Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford and poet John Betjeman, who portrayed him as "the dark, heavy-lidded companion" in his poem Brackenbury Scholar of Balliol.
Career
Following university graduation, Lord Dufferin embarked on a political path, delivering his inaugural speech in the House of Lords in December 1931 at age 22 during discussions concerning India. Soon thereafter, he participated in research tours as part of the Indian Franchise Committee.
Upon returning from India, he took on roles as Parliamentary Private Secretary first to the 11th Marquess of Lothian and later to the 3rd Viscount Halifax, who occupied significant government positions between 1932 and 1937. Lord Dufferin led the Primrose League from 1932 to 1934, served as a Lord-in-waiting to King George VI between 1936 and 1937, and held the office of Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1937 until his resignation in 1940.
War service
In 1940, he stepped down from his governmental duties to enlist in the British Army, turning down a role within Churchill’s wartime coalition. Commissioned as a captain in the Royal Horse Guards, he was seconded in 1941 to oversee the Empire Division at the Ministry of Information. After completing a special overseas assignment in 1942, he returned to military service in 1944.
While attached to the Indian Field Broadcasting Unit on 25 March 1945, Lord Dufferin was fatally struck by a Japanese mortar shell during operations just days before his thirty-sixth birthday.
Personal life
On 3 July 1930, Lord Dufferin married Maureen Constance Guinness, an heiress to a brewing fortune and daughter of Hon. Arthur Ernest Guinness as well as granddaughter of Edward Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh, at St. Margaret's, Westminster. The couple had three children:
- Lady Caroline Maureen Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood (1931–1996), who married three times including to painter Lucian Freud and poet Robert Lowell.
- Lady Perdita Maureen Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood (born 1934)
- Sheridan Frederick Terence Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 5th Marquess of Dufferin and Ava (1938–1988), who wed his fourth cousin Serena Belinda "Lindy" Rosemary Guinness in 1964.
Lord Dufferin has no known burial site; his name is commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission on the Rangoon Memorial located at Taukkyan War Cemetery. A Celtic cross at Campo Santo burial ground in Clandeboye, County Down, stands as a tribute to him and his family’s wartime sacrifices. Poet John Betjeman honored him with In Memory of Basil, Marquess of Dufferin and Ava.
Following his death, his widow remarried twice—first to Major Harry Alexander Desmond Buchanan MC (later divorced) and subsequently to judge John Maude QC—while retaining her original married title. Maureen, Lady Dufferin, passed away on 3 May 1998 and is interred at Clandeboye.
Further reading
- Articles with short description
- Articles with hCards
- No local image but image on Wikidata
- 1909 births
- 1945 deaths
- Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
- Blackwood family
- British Army personnel killed in World War II
- Conservative Party (UK) Baronesses- and Lords-in-Waiting
- Foreign Office personnel of World War II
- Marquesses of Dufferin and Ava
- Ministers in the Chamberlain peacetime government, 1937–1939
- Ministers in the Chamberlain wartime government, 1939–1940
- People educated at Eton College
- People educated at Lockers Park School
- Royal Horse Guards officers
- Filmed killings
- Burials at Taukkyan War Cemetery
- Marquesses in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
- Guinness family