His Grace
The Duke of Northumberland
KG, CBE, MVO, TD
Alan Ian Percy, in a Grenadier Guards uniform, by Alexander Bassano – 1900s
Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland
In office
19 July 1918 – 23 August 1930
Personal details
Born(1880-04-17)17 April 1880
London
Died23 August 1930(1930-08-23) (aged 50)
London
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1911)​
Children6, including Henry, Hugh, and Elizabeth
Parent(s)Henry Percy, 7th Duke of Northumberland
Lady Edith Campbell
Garter-encircled shield of arms of Alan Percy, 8th Duke of Northumberland, KG, as displayed on his Order of the Garter stall plate in St. George's Chapel.

Alan Ian Percy, 8th Duke of Northumberland, KG, CBE, MVO, TD (17 April 1880 – 23 August 1930) was a British peer, army officer, and newspaper proprietor.

Military career

Percy was a second lieutenant of the 2nd Volunteer Battalion the Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment), when he was admitted as a second lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards on 24 January 1900.[1] He was part of a detachment sent to South Africa in March 1900 to reinforce the 3rd battalion during the Second Boer War,[2] and served with his regiment there until the war ended. For his service, he received the Queen's South Africa Medal. Following the end of the war, he returned to the United Kingdom in August 1902.[3] During his time as ADC to the Governor General of Canada, he undertook a wager to walk 111 miles from one city to another in three days—despite blizzards and heavy snowfall, he completed the challenge and won the wager. During the First World War he served with the Grenadier Guards, working with the Intelligence Department to provide eyewitness accounts of battles and the front line. His brother Lord William Percy also served during the war; wounded in 1915, he spent the remainder of the war working as a military attorney. He was made a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur. On 1 October 1918 he was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment).[4][5]

Political activities

Politically Percy was a Tory diehard.[6] He was a staunch supporter of the House of Lords. He wrote for the National Review on military matters.

From 1921, he funded the Boswell Publishing Company, and then in 1922 until his death, the Patriot, a radical right-wing weekly which published articles by Nesta Webster and promulgated a mix of anti-communism and antisemitism.[7]

In 1924, he acquired an interest in The Morning Post.

Other activities

The Duke was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland. For one year before his death, he served as Chancellor of the University of Durham, a role his father had also held. His father, the 7th Duke, was an alderman on the Middlesex County Council up to his death. In July 1918, he was chosen to fill the vacancy on the council in his father's place.[8]

Family

Percy was the son of Henry Percy, 7th Duke of Northumberland, and Lady Edith Campbell.[4]

On 18 October 1911, Percy married Lady Helen Magdalen Gordon-Lennox (daughter of Charles Gordon-Lennox, 7th Duke of Richmond). They had six children:[4][9]

Lord Richard Charles Percy married secondly Hon. Clayre Campbell in 1979.
  • Lord Geoffrey William Percy (8 July 1925 – 4 December 1984); he married Mary Elizabeth Lea on 27 May 1955. They had one daughter:
    • Diana Ruth Percy (22 November 1956)

The 8th Duke died on 23 August 1930[4] and was buried in the Northumberland Vault, within Westminster Abbey.[11] He was succeeded in the dukedom and his other titles by his eldest son, George.[4]

Works

Other

References

  1. ↑ "No. 27156". The London Gazette. 23 January 1900. p. 431.
  2. ↑ "The War – the Queen and the Grenadier Guards". The Times. No. 36090. London. 15 March 1900. p. 10.
  3. ↑ "The War – Return of Troops". The Times. No. 36842. London. 9 August 1902. p. 11.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 100th Edn, London, 1953: 'Northumberland'.
  5. ↑ Army List.
  6. ↑ Roy Palmer Domenico, Mark Y. Hanley (editors) Encyclopedia of Modern Christian Politics: L-Z Greenwood Press (2006) p440
  7. ↑ Markku Ruotsila, 'The Antisemitism of the Eighth Duke of Northumberland's the Patriot, 1922–1930', Journal of Contemporary History 39:1 (2004), 71–92
  8. ↑ "Middlesex County Council. New Alderman Elected". Ealing Gazette and West Middlesex Observer. 3 August 1918. p. 6.
  9. ↑ Lundy, Darryl (4 July 2015). "Alan Ian Percy, 8th Duke of Northumberland". The Peerage. Wellington, New Zealand: John Cardinal's Second Site. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  10. ↑ Guards Magazine, Spring 1990
  11. ↑ "Elizabeth, Duchess of Northumberland & Percy Family". Westminster Abbey. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2018.

Further reading

  • Ruotsila, Markku (2005). "The Catholic Apostolic Church in British Politics," Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. LVI (1), pp. 75–91.
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