Henry Milles-Lade, 5th Earl Sondes

Henry George Herbert Milles-Lade, 5th Earl Sondes (1 May 1940 – 2 December 1996), styled Viscount Throwley between 1941 and 1970, was a British peer. He inherited the title upon the death of his father in 1970 and the peerage became extinct when he died without an heir.^[1]

The fifth earl was considered a colourful character. In his pre-teen years he was a page at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II but was later expelled from Eton College for operating gambling books. He owned racehorses and greyhounds, but his strongest connection with sport was with Kent's only professional football club, Gillingham F.C., where he served as vice-chairman of the board of directors.^[2] Upon his retirement from the role, a large clock was erected at the club's Priestfield Stadium and dubbed the "Lord Sondes Clock" in his honour. The clock was removed as part of ground redevelopment work in the 1990s and its current whereabouts are unknown.

The Earl was married four times.^[2] His wives included the New York socialite Sharon McCluskey (daughter of Ellen Lehman McCluskey of the Lehman family),^[3] whom he married in 1981 and divorced in 1984,^[4] and another American whom he married in 1986, Phyllis Kane Schmertz (widow of Robert Schmertz, owner of the Boston Celtics), who survived him and inherited Lees Court, which she transformed into an agricultural business growing pharmaceutical and biofuel crops. The Earl was buried in the church in the village of Sheldwich in Swale.^[5]

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