Arthur Ponsonby, 11th Earl of Bessborough

The Earl of Bessborough
Spouse(s) 1. Patricia Minnigerode
2. Anne Marie Galitzine (née Slatin)
3. Madeleine Lola Margaret Grand
Father Maj. Hon. Cyril Myles Brabazon Ponsonby
Mother Rita Narcissa Longfield
Born 11 December 1912
Died 5 April 2002 (aged 89)

Arthur Mountifort Longfield Ponsonby, 11th Earl of Bessborough (11 December 1912 – 5 April 2002), was a British peer. [1]

He was the son of Maj. Hon. Cyril Myles Brabazon Ponsonby (1881–1915), second son of Edward Ponsonby, 8th Earl of Bessborough, and his wife Rita Narcissa Longfield, daughter of Lt. Col. Mountifort John Courtenay Longfield. He inherited the earldom on 5 December 1993 when his first cousin Frederick Ponsonby, 10th Earl of Bessborough, died without a male heir.

Education and career

He was educated at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge. Later he rose to the rank of Captain in the service of the Welsh Guards and saw action in the Second World War.

Family

On 28 July 1939 he married Patricia Minnigerode (died 12 September 1952), daughter of Col. Fitzhugh Lee Minnigerode, and together they had two children:

Following the death of his first wife he remarried, on 20 September 1956, Anne Marie Galitzine (née Slatin), former wife of Prince George Galitzine and daughter of Lt. Gen. Sir Rudolf Carl von Slatin (Baron von Slatin). They were divorced in 1963.

He married for the third time on 17 December 1963, Madeleine Lola Margaret Grand, daughter of Maj. Gen. Laurence Douglas Grand, and together they had two children:

Lady Bessborough is the founder of the New Art Centre in London and the Roche Court Sculpture Garden.[2]

Death and succession

He died on 5 April 2002 and was succeeded by his eldest son Myles Ponsonby, 12th Earl of Bessborough.

References

External links

Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by
Frederick Ponsonby
Earl of Bessborough
1993–2002
Succeeded by
Myles Ponsonby