(Redirected from Gilbert James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 3rd Earl of Ancaster)'Gilbert James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 3rd Earl of Ancaster' (
8 December 1907–
29 March 1983), known as 'Lord Willoughby de Eresby' from 1910 to 1951, was a
British Conservative politician.
Ancaster was the son of
Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 2nd Earl of Ancaster and Eloise Lawrence Breese. He was educated at
Eton and
Magdalen College, Oxford. In 1933 he was elected to the
House of Commons for
Rutland and Stamford, a seat he held until 1950. From 1933 to 1935 Ancaster was "
Baby of the House", the youngest member of the House of Commons. He served in the
Second World War as a Major in the
Royal Artillery, and was
mentioned in despatches.
In 1951 Ancaster was summoned to the
House of Lords through a
writ of acceleration in his father's junior title of Baron Willoughby de Eresby. He succeeded as third Earl of Ancaster later that year upon the death of his father. Apart from his political career he was also
Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire from 1950 to 1975 and Joint
Lord Great Chamberlain from 1951 to 1983.
Lord Ancaster married the Hon. Nancy Phyllis Louise Astor, daughter of
Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor, in 1933. They had two children, one son and one daughter. His only son and
heir apparent, Timothy, Lord Willoughby de Eresby, went missing at sea off
Corsica in 1963, never to be seen again. Lord Ancaster died in March 1983, aged 75. On his death the earldom and barony of Aveland became extinct, while he was succeeded in the ancient
barony of Willoughby de Eresby by his only daughter
Nancy Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, who also succeeded him as joint
Lord Great Chamberlain. Lord Ancaster's baronetcy also survived, and was inherited by his distant relative
Gilbert Simon Heathcote.