viscount

He was the 11th Marquess of Queensbury (1896–1954). John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry was the one who caused Oscar Wilde's terrible downfall. It is a terrible shame that the name Queensberry is forever connected with homophobia. I adore the spats (probably incorrect nomenclature for it).

Francis Archibald Kelhead Douglas was born 17 Jan 1896, son of Percy Sholto Douglas (10th Marquess of Queensberry) and Anna Maria (nee Walters). He had an older sister, Lady Dorothy, b. 1894, and a younger brother, Lord Cecil, b. 1898. His mother died 25 Apr 1917. He was Commissioned into the Black Watch in January 1915 at the age of 19, and was married to his first wife, (of three, by whom he had a total of 4 children), Irene Clarice Richards, in December 1917. It was his grandfather, John Sholto Douglas, (who died when Francis was aged 4), who was arrested when he was so unwisely sued for criminal libel by Oscar Wilde in 1895, over the 41-year-old Wilde's relationship with John's 25-year-old son Alfred, (Percy's brother, and uncle of Francis), who in 1902 married Olive Eleanor Custance. John Sholto Douglas as 9th Marquess is recalled as the man who formally endorsed the rules codified by J G Chambers for the sport of amateur boxing. These quickly became adopted across the United Kingdom as the Marquess of Queensberry Rules, and synonymous with fair play in sport.//

stunting shot

From Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Douglas,_11th_Marquess_of_Q... Francis Archibald Kelhead Douglas (17 Jan 1896-27 Apr 1954) was the 11th Marquess of Queensberry. He was a Scottish representative peer in the 1920s. His parents were Percy Sholto Douglas, 10th Marquess of Queensberry and Anna Maria Walters (1866-1917). He married his first wife, Irene Clarice Richards, on 4 December 1917. [Divorced 1925 according to www.thepeerage.com thepeerage.com/p2067.htm] His second wife was Cathleen Sabine Mann, daughter of portrait artist Harrington Mann(married 18 March 1926, divorced 1946). His third wife was Muriel Beatrice Margaret Rowe-Thornett (widow of Albert Sidney Gore-Chunn) whom he married in 1947 in Westminster. (www.ancestry.co.uk Marriage Indexes) National Probate Calendar records his death as 27 Apr 1954 at The Grand Hotel, Folkestone, Kent. Probate granted to his widow. Effects £2521 8s 3d.

Help piece together the Life Stories of more than 8 million men and women who made a contribution during the First World War at www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/

British European Airways' Vickers Viscount 701, G-ALWE (c/n 4), named RMA Discovery, would be lost in a fatal crash with the loss of all 20 souls aboard, plus two on the ground, on March 14, 1957. See: vickersviscount.net/Index/VickersViscount004History.aspx aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19570314-0 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_European_Airways_Flight_411

Puzzling. The 4th Earl died in December 1914, aged 75. He was succeeded by his 7-yr-old grandson. This seems unlikely to be either of them.

Resolved. NYT of September 26, 1915 query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0B13F73B5812738... has a piece on British (including Irish) peers who had been killed or were missing in action. It features this photo as the fifth Earl of Erne. It appears that Henry William Crichton, Viscount Crichton (1872 - 1914) went missing on November 1, 1914, before his father died. And so he was referred to as the 5th Earl. His son presumably waited until later to be given the title.

histfam.familysearch.org/getperson.php?personID=I57837&am... a genealogical entry has the note: TITLES: Succeeded father (while missing in action) as Earl Erne of Crom Castle [I.], title created 1789, see 'The Complete Peerage', vol. 5 p. 93 fn. c. and indicates that he was "reinterred at Wervico Nord by the Germans." Burke's Annual Register books.google.com/books?id=Wu33Rq5P-0wC&pg=RA1-PA176&a... indicates that the Foreign Office received a telegram in June 1916 via the American Embassy in Berlin that his body had been found and reinterred.

Yes, unusual story.. Succeeded his father, but was most likely dead at the time of his succession.

Thank you swanq for the interesting background information. We may include it in the record.