Military Wiki
The Right Honourable
The Earl of Home
KT CVO CBE
Official portrait of The Earl of Home 2020 crop 2
Official portrait, 2020
Member of the House of Lords

In office
11 November 1999 – 22 August 2022
Election 1999
Preceded by Seat established
Succeeded by The 5th Baron Ashcombe

In office
24 September 1996 – 11 November 1999
Preceded by The 14th Earl of Home (disclaimed, 1963)
Succeeded by Seat abolished
Personal details
Born David Alexander Cospatrick Douglas-Home
(1943-11-20)20 November 1943
London, England
Died 22 August 2022(2022-08-22) (aged 78)
The Hirsel, Berwickshire, Scotland
Political party Conservative
Spouse(s) Jane Williams-Wynn (m. 1972)
Children 3
Alma mater Christ Church, Oxford

David Alexander Cospatrick Douglas-Home, 15th Earl of Home, KT CVO CBE (/ˈhjuːm/; 20 November 1943 – 22 August 2022) was a British banker and hereditary peer. He was a Conservative member of the House of Lords from 1996 until his death in 2022.

Background and education[]

Home was born in London, the only son of Sir Alec Douglas-Home, the 14th Earl of Home and British prime minister and later Lord Home of the Hirsel, and Elizabeth Alington, daughter of Cyril Alington.[1] He was educated at Ludgrove School,[2] Eton College, and Christ Church, Oxford.[1]

In 1963, the year his father disclaimed his earldom (and became prime minister), David discontinued the use of his courtesy title, Lord Dunglass.[3][4]

Career[]

Home succeeded to his father's disclaimed earldom after his death in October 1995.[1] When the hereditary peers of the House of Lords were reduced under the House of Lords Act 1999, he was elected as one of the 92 that were allowed to remain. He sat as a Conservative, having served some time on the Conservative front bench.[1]

Apart from his political career, Lord Home worked in finance. In 1974, he joined Morgan Grenfell and worked in Egypt, Hong Kong, and Thailand.[1] From 1999 to 2013, he was chairman of the private bank Coutts & Co.[1] He was also President of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation and Chief of the Name and Arms of Home.[1]

Home was appointed a Knight of the Order of the Thistle (KT) in the 2014 New Year Honours.[5]

Personal life[]

Lord Home married Jane Margaret Williams-Wynne (born 20 February 1949), of the Williams-Wynn baronet family, in 1972.[1] They had three children:[6][full citation needed]

  • Lady Iona Katherine Douglas-Home (born 1980), married the Hon. James Thomas Wingfield Hewitt (b. 1979), son and heir of the 9th Viscount Lifford, on 5 April 2008. They have three sons:
    • Harry Alexander Wyldbore Hewitt (born 9 February 2010)
    • Rory David Wingfield Hewitt (born 3 February 2012)
    • Nico James Cospatrick Hewitt (born 15 May 2015)
  • Lady Mary Elizabeth Douglas-Home (born 1982), married Christopher Gurth Clothier. They have one daughter:
    • Eira Thursday Clothier (born 5 January 2013)
    • Seren Clothier
  • Michael David Alexander Douglas-Home, 16th Earl of Home (born 30 November 1987), married to Sally Underhill[7]

Death[]

Lord Home died from lung disease at The Hirsel on 22 August 2022, at the age of 78.[1][8] He was succeeded in the earldom by his only son, Michael.[9]

Honours and arms[]

Official portrait of The Earl of Home

Portrait by Chris McAndrew, 2018

Honours[]

Ribbon Description Date
Order of the Thistle UK ribbon Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle (KT) 31 December 2013[5][10]
Royal Victorian Order UK ribbon Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) 14 June 1997[11]
Order of the British Empire (Civil) Ribbon Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) 31 December 1990[12]

Arms[]

Coat of arms of D
Coat of Arms of Alec Douglas-Home, 14th Earl of Home
Notes
Arms of the 12th and later Earls with the collar of the Order of the Thistle (for the 12th to 15th Earls).
Coronet
The coronet of an Earl.
Crest
1st, on a cap of maintenance proper, a lion’s head erased argent (Home); 2nd, on a cap of maintenance proper, a salamander vert, encircled with flames of fire proper (Douglas).
Escutcheon
Quarterly: 1st and 4th grand quarters counter-quartered, 1st and 4th vert, a lion rampant argent, armed and langued gules (Home); 2nd and 3rd argent, three popinjays vert, beaked and membered gules (Pepdie of Dunglas); overall an escutcheon or, charged with an orle azure (Landale); 2nd and 3rd grand quarters counter-quartered, 1st azure, a lion rampant argent, armed and langued gules, crowned with an imperial crown or (Lordship of Galloway); 2nd or, a lion rampant gules, armed and langued azure, debruised of a ribbon sable (Abernethy); 3rd argent, three piles gules (Lordship of Brechin); 4th or, a fesse checky azure and argent, surmounted of a bend sable, charged with three buckles of the field (Stewart of Bonkill); overall on an escutcheon argent, a man's heart, ensigned with an imperial crown proper, and a chief azure, charged with three mullets of the field (Douglas).
Supporters
Two lions argent, armed and langued gules.
Motto
True to the end.[13]

Ancestry[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 "The Earl of Home obituary". 5 September 2022. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-earl-of-home-obituary-n5f5jf2cr. Retrieved 5 September 2022. 
  2. Barber, Richard (2004). The Story of Ludgrove. Oxford: Guidon Publishing for the Ludgrove School Trust. p. 100. ISBN 0-9543617-2-5. 
  3. "Lord Home of the Hirsel – Obituary Archived 24 March 2020 at the Wayback Machine.", The Times, 10 October 1995. Template:Moved resource
  4. "No. 43156". 12 November 1963. p. 9249. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/43156/page/9249 
  5. 5.0 5.1 "No. 60728". 31 December 2013. p. 1. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/60728/supplement/1 
  6. Theroff (2007). "Descendants of King James VI & I" updated November 2007.
  7. "Announcements – Engagements: Lord Dunglass and Miss S.A. Underhill". The Daily Telegraph. 27 May 2016. http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/engagements/203043/lord-dunglass-and-miss-s.a.-underhill. 
  8. "DOUGLAS-HOME – Deaths Announcements – Telegraph Announcements". http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/259098/douglas-home. 
  9. [Telegraph Obituaries] (2022-08-31). "The Earl of Home, prime minister's son who, as chairman of Coutts, became the Queen's banker – obituary" (in en-GB). The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2022/08/31/earl-home-prime-ministers-son-who-chairman-coutts-became-queens/. 
  10. "No. 27347". 31 December 2013. p. 3197. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/Edinburgh/issue/27347/page/3197 
  11. "No. 54794". 13 June 1997. p. 4. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/54794/supplement/4 
  12. "No. 52382". 30 December 1990. p. 8. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/52382/supplement/8 
  13. Hesilrige, Arthur G. M. (1921). Debrett's Peerage and Titles of courtesy. 160A, Fleet street, London, UK: Dean & Son. p. 483. https://archive.org/details/debrettspeeraget00unse/page/483. 

External links[]

Peerage of Scotland
Disclaimed
Title last held by
Alec Douglas-Home
Earl of Home
1995–2022
Member of the House of Lords
(1996–1999)
Succeeded by
Michael Douglas-Home
Parliament of the United Kingdom
New office
created by the House of Lords Act 1999
Elected hereditary peer to the House of Lords
under the House of Lords Act 1999
1999–2022
Succeeded by
The Lord Ashcombe
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The original article can be found at David Douglas-Home, 15th Earl of Home and the edit history here.