George Petty-Fitzmaurice, 8th Marquess of Lansdowne
George John Charles Mercer Nairne Petty-Fitzmaurice, 8th Marquess of LansdowneDL, was a British peer and Conservative politician. He held the office of Justice of the Peace for Perthshire in 1950. He held the office of Deputy Lieutenant of Wiltshire in 1952. He held the office of Lord-in-Waiting between 1957 and 1958. He held the office of Joint Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign Office between 1958 and 1962. He held the office of Minister of State, Commonwealth and Colonial Affairs between 1962 and 1964. He was invested as a Privy Counsellor in 1964.
Lord Lansdowne was married four times. His first wife was Barbara Dempsey Chase, only child of Harold Stuart Chase, a real-estate investor of Santa Barbara, California, and Detroit, Michigan, and his wife, née Gertrude Boyer, formerly Stearns. They married on 18 March 1938; Lady Lansdowne died on 18 February 1965, from injuries sustained in "a shotgun blast in the gunroom at her Scottish home, Meikleour House.... The police called it an accident". They had four children:
Lady Caroline Margaret Petty-Fitzmaurice ; she, like her mother, died in a shooting accident.
* Emily Jane Mercer Nairne ; married Dominic Robertson, has issue - three daughters.
* Samuel George Mercer Nairne ; married Claire Aussudre, and has issue two sons and one daughter.
* Joseph Douglas Mercer Nairne ; married Melissa Wakeley, and has issue, one son and one daughter.
Lady Georgina Elizabeth Petty-Fitzmaurice ; married Guy Hamilton in 1974, and married Robert Eric Miller in 1981. She lives in London and has two children and three grandchildren.
* Josiah Stirling Hamilton ; married Justine Miller and lives in Santa Barbara, California - has issue, one son and one daughter.
* Emma Carissa Hamilton ; married David Malina and lives in New York City - has issue, one daughter.
On 22 December 1969, Lord Lansdowne married, secondly, Selina Polly Dawson Carnegie, daughter of David Eccles, 1st Viscount Eccles, and former wife of Robin Andrew Duthac Carnegie. They were divorced in 1978. By this marriage, Lord Lansdowne had one stepson, Andrew James Carnegie. Lord Lansdowne's third wife was Gillian Anna Morgan, daughter of A.E. Morgan and his first wife, the former Nancye Little-Jones. She and Lord Lansdowne married on 15 October 1978. On 12 July 1995, Lord Lansdowne married Penelope Eve Astor, widow of Lord Lansdowne's half-brother the Hon. John Astor, former wife of David Rolt, and daughter of Commander George Francis Norton Bradford.
