Francis Hastings, 16th Earl of Huntingdon
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Francis John Clarence Westenra Plantagenet Hastings, 16th Earl of Huntingdon (30 January 1901-24 August 1990), known as Viscount Hastings until 1939, was a British artist, academic and Labour politician.
Huntingdon was the son of Warner Francis John Plantagenet Hastings, 15th Earl of Huntingdon, and his wife Maud Margaret (née Wilson), and was educated at Eton, Christ Church, Oxford, and the Slade School of Art, London. He was a pupil of the Mexican mural painter Diego Rivera and had exhibitions in notably London, Paris, Chicago and San Francisco. He was also a Professor at the Camberwell College of Arts and the Central School of Arts & Crafts, London. During the Second World War he was Deputy Controller of Defence of the Andover Rural District Council from 1941 to 1945. Huntingdon succeeded in the earldom in 1939 and took his seat on the Labour benches in the House of Lords. He served under Clement Attlee as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries from 1945 to 1950. He was later Chairman of the Committee of the Society of Mural Painters between 1951 and 1958 and was the author of The Golden Octopus and Commonsense about India.
Lord Huntingdon married firstly Cristina, daughter of Camillo Casati Stampa di Soncino, Marchese di Roma, and his wife Luisa, in 1925. They had one daughter (Lady Moorea, who married Woodrow Wyatt) but were divorced in 1943 (she died in 1953). He married secondly Margaret, daughter of Harry George Lane and former wife of Bryan Wallace (son of Edgar Wallace), in 1944. They had two daughters. Lady Huntingdon was a writer and critic and published books on Beatrix Potter, Samuel Johnson and the Brontë sisters. Lord Huntingdon died in August 1990, aged 89, and was succeeded in the earldom by his first cousin once removed William Edward Robin Hood Hastings-Bass. Lady Huntingdon died in 1994.
[edit] References
- Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
- Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page
- www.thepeerage.com
- The New York Times article on the death of Margaret, Countess of Huntingdon
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Donald Scott The Duke of Norfolk |
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries with Percy Collick 1945–1947 George Brown 1947–1950 1945–1950 |
Succeeded by George Brown The Earl of Listowel |
| Peerage of England | ||
| Preceded by Warner Francis John Plantagenet Hastings |
Earl of Huntingdon 1939–1990 |
Succeeded by William Edward Robin Hood Hastings Bass |
