John Skeffington, 14th Viscount Massereene

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John David Clotworthy Whyte-Melville Foster Skeffington, 14th Viscount Massereene and 7th Viscount Ferrard, Bart. (born 3 June 1940) is a British peer. He succeeded his father in 1992 and regularly attended the House of Lords (where he sat under the title Baron Oriel, his Irish Viscountcies not entitling him to a seat) until the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999 resulted in the removal of most hereditary peers from the chamber in 1999.

Educated at Millfield and the Institute Monte Rosa, he served in the Grenadier Guards regiment 1958 - 1961. He is a major landowner, holds various directorships, and is a stockbroker with M.D.Barnard & Co; member of the London Stock Exchange 1961 - 1964, and from 1970 to the present. He married in 1970, Ann Denise, daughter of the late Norman Rowlandson. They have two sons Charles Skeffington (heir), and one daughter, Harriette Murray Wells see East Ness.

Lord Massereene oversaw the sale of Chilham Castle, the family's ancestral home; it was originally put on the market in 1994, but was only sold (for a substantially lower sum of money) in 1996. Mick Jagger considered buying the castle[citation needed], as (reportedly) did Bob Geldof, but both decided against the purchase

Like his father, he is President of the Conservative Monday Club, and was a patron of Right Now! magazine edited by Derek Turner. He participated on the council of the Freedom Association and was a signatory to "The Sanity Petition" ("Sanity" is an acronym for "Subjects Against the NIce TreatY" [sic]) [1] as "Baron Oriel".

Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by
John Whyte-Melville-Skeffington
Viscount Massereene
1992–Present
Succeeded by
Current Incumbent
Preceded by
John Whyte-Melville-Skeffington
Viscount Ferrard
1992–Present
Succeeded by
Current Incumbent
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
John Whyte-Melville-Skeffington
Baron Oriel
1992–Present
Succeeded by
Current Incumbent

[edit] External links

[edit] Sources

The Times and Sunday Times online archives