William Astor, 3rd Viscount Astor
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William Waldorf Astor, 3rd Viscount Astor (13 August 1907 – 7 March 1966) was a British businessman and Conservative Party politician and a member of the prominent Astor family.
Known as Bill Astor, he was the son of the 2nd Viscount Astor and the Viscountess Astor. He was educated at Eton College and at New College, Oxford. In 1932, he was appointed to the office of Secretary to the Earl of Lytton, League of Nations Committee of Enquiry in what was then known as Manchuria.
First elected to the British House of Commons in 1935, he served as a Conservative for the constituency of Fulham East. Between 1936 and 1937 he held the office of Parliamentary Private Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty Samuel Hoare, who was then made Secretary of State for the Home Department in the new cabinet of Neville Chamberlain in 1937.
Active in thoroughbred horse racing, he inherited Cliveden Stud, a horse farm and breeding operation in the village of Taplow near Maidenhead.
He left politics for a time, but returned as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Wycombe in the 1951 general election, serving for two years. On his father's passing in 1952, he inherited his title, becoming the 3rd Viscount Astor and causing a by-election in Wycombe which was won by the Conservative candidate John Hall.
Astor then took over the family's Cliveden estate in Buckinghamshire where he and his family continued to live until his passing in 1966. He died from a heart attack aged 58. During the Profumo Affair he was accused of having an affair with Mandy Rice-Davies.
William Waldorf Astor married three times:
- 1) 1945: Sarah Kathleen Elinor Norton - (divorced 1953). They had one son, William Waldorf Astor, 4th Viscount Astor (born 1951)
- 2) 1955: Phillipa Victoria Hunloke - (divorced 1960). They had a daughter, Emily Mary Astor (born 1956)
- 3) 1960: Janet Bronwen Alun Pugh. They had two children, Janet Elizabeth Astor (born 1961) and Pauline Marian Astor (born 1964)
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: John Charles Wilmot |
Member of Parliament for Fulham East 1935–1945 |
Succeeded by: Michael Stewart |
| Preceded by: John Haire |
Member of Parliament for Wycombe 1951–1952 |
Succeeded by: Sir John Hall |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by: Waldorf Astor |
Viscount Astor 1952–1966 |
Succeeded by: William Waldorf Astor |
