Loel Guinness

Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox officeholder Group Captain Thomas Loel Evelyn Bulkeley Guinness, Template:Postnominals (9 June 1906 – 31 December 1988)<ref name="burke">Template:Cite book</ref> was a British politician, Royal Air Force officer, business magnate and philanthropist. He was Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Bath (1931–1945) and achieved fame as a fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain during World War II. Guinness also financed the purchase of the Calypso, leasing her for one symbolic franc a year<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> to famous oceanic explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau.<ref name="LGObit1989"/>

Early life

File:Meraud, Tanis, & Loel Guinness.jpg

Loel Guinness and his sisters as children

File:20110815-tombeau-guinness1 rcr8.jpg

Grave of Loel Guinness’s mother, in Mougins, France

Born in Manhattan and raised in the United States and England, Loel Guinness was the only son of Benjamin Seymour Guinness (1868–1947) a wealthy New York-based, Anglo-Irish financier from whom he inherited a fortune.<ref name="1931Election" /> He had two sisters: Meraud Michelle Wemyss Guinness<ref name="1929WEdding">Template:Cite news</ref> and Tanis Eva Guinness.<ref name="burke" />

He was educated at Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and thereafter gained the rank of lieutenant in the service of the Irish Guards.<ref name="burke" />

Career

After taking flying lessons, Guinness joined the Royal Aero Club in 1928.<ref>Great Britain, Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificates, 1910–1950</ref> The following year, he became one of the first private citizens in England to own an airplane and soon he was a member of the County of London's Auxiliary Air Force squadron. He later served as president of Air Work Ltd., an aircraft-parts supplier, and of British United Airways.<ref name="LGObit1989"/>

In 1931, on his third try, Guinness was elected to Parliament for Bath<ref name="1931Election">Template:Cite news</ref> and was named parliamentary private secretary to Sir Philip Sassoon, the Under Secretary for Air from 1931 to 1935. He held his seat until 1945, when he stood down.<ref name="LGObit1989"/>

Second World War

Guinness gained the rank of group captain in the service of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. When the Second World War broke out in 1939, Guinness went on active duty with the Royal Air Force. In 1940 he flew as a fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain, famously buying a petrol station near his aerodrome when his driving was restricted by rationing. In 1944 he became commander of a wing of the Second Tactical Air Force and by the war's end he had been Mentioned in Despatches five times. He was invested as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1942. The Netherlands made him a Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau and France made him an Officer of the Legion of Honour and awarded him a Croix de Guerre.<ref name="LGObit1989"/>

Personal life

Guinness's first marriage was to The Hon. Joan Barbara Yarde-Buller (1908–1997), eldest daughter of the 3rd Baron Churston.<ref name="1927Engagement">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="1927Wedding">Template:Cite news</ref> Before their divorce, they had a son, Patrick Benjamin Guinness,<ref name="1931Birth">Template:Cite news</ref> who was killed in an automobile accident near Rarogne, Switzerland.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Joan left him for Prince Aly Khan, the eldest son of the Aga Khan III, the 43rd Shia Imam, and Guinness successfully sued Joan and Khan on grounds of adultery. Joan and Khan did not defend the charges and the judge, Mr Justice Bucknill, granted Guinness a decree nisi and full custody of their son and ordered Khan to pay court costs.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Joan married Khan on 18 May 1936, a few days after the divorce became absolute.<ref name="1935Div">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="1935Costs">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="1936Abso">Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1936, he married his second wife, Lady Isabel Violet Kathleen Manners (1918–2008), daughter of the 9th Duke of Rutland.<ref name="1936Engagment">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="1936Wedding">Template:Cite news</ref> The Guinnesses were prominent in society at Palm Beach.<ref name="1936Party">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="1937Yacht">Template:Cite news</ref> Together, they were the parents of a son and a daughter, Serena Belinda Rosemary ("Lindy") Guinness, who became the Marchioness of Dufferin upon her marriage to the 5th Marquess of Dufferin.<ref name="LGObit1989"/>

In a reversal of the outcome of his first marriage, in 1951, Lady Isabel was granted a divorce after accusing him of adultery, which he did not contest.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On 7 April 1951,<ref name="1951Wedding">Template:Cite news</ref> he married his third wife, the Mexican socialite Gloria Rubio y Alatorre (1913–1980).<ref name="GGObit1980">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="1961MrsGuinness">Template:Cite news</ref> Her daughter, Dolores married his eldest son.<ref name="LGObit1989"/><ref name="Newill2015">Template:Cite news</ref>

On 31 December 1988, Guinness died of heart disease at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, United States.<ref name="LGObit1989">Template:Cite news</ref> He was buried with the remains of his third wife at the Bois-de-Vaux Cemetery, Lausanne.

References

Notes

Sources

• Mosley, Charles, Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 107th edition, volume 2, page 1695.
• Vickers, Hugo, The Unexpurgated Beaton: The Cecil Beaton Diaries as He Wrote Them, 1970–1980, Knopf, New York, 2003.

External links

• Template:Hansard-contribs
• Obituary: Loel Guinness, 82, R.A.F. Flier And a Socialite on 2 Continents, The New York Times, 3 January 1989.