The Right Honourable The Lord Harlech KCMG PC DL |
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36th British Ambassador to the US | |
In office 1961–1965 |
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Monarch | Elizabeth II |
President |
John Kennedy Lyndon Johnson |
Prime Minister |
Harold Macmillan Sir Alec Douglas-Home Harold Wilson |
Preceded by | Sir Harold Caccia |
Succeeded by | Sir Patrick Dean |
Member of Parliament for Oswestry |
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In office 1950–1961 |
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Preceded by | Oliver Poole |
Succeeded by | John Biffen |
Personal details | |
Born |
William David Ormsby-Gore 20 May 1918 London |
Died | 26 January 1985 Shrewsbury, Shropshire |
(aged 66)
Nationality | British |
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse(s) |
Sylvia Thomas (m. 1940; her death 1967) Pamela Colin (m. 1969; his death 1985) |
Children | Julian Ormsby-Gore Jane Ormsby-Gore Victoria Ormsby-Gore Alice Ormsby-Gore Francis Ormsby-Gore Pandora Ormsby-Gore |
Parents |
William Ormsby-Gore Lady Beatrice Edith Mildred Cecil |
Residence | Woodhill Estate, Oswestry, Shropshire |
Education |
St Cyprian's School Eton College New College, Oxford |
Alma mater | Oxford University |
Occupation | Airborne reconnaissance, farmer, politician, diplomat, television executive |
William David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech, KCMG PC DL (20 May 1918 – 26 January 1985), known as David Ormsby-Gore until 1964, was a British diplomat and Conservative Party politician.
William David Ormsby-Gore was born on 20 May 1918 in London, the second son of William Ormsby-Gore, 4th Baron Harlech, a Conservative politician, and Lady Beatrice Edith Mildred Gascoyne-Cecil. His maternal great-grandfather was British Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury. He was educated at St Cyprian's School, Eton College and New College, Oxford.
In 1939 he was commissioned into the Royal Artillery (Berkshire Yeomanry Field Regiment), served in the 'Phantom' reconnaissance unit, and worked with airborne and other special units. By the end of the War he held the rank of major on the general staff.
After the war his father handed over to him all his land, and Ormsby-Gore farmed the 400 acres (1.6 km²) of the Woodhill Estate, Oswestry, Shropshire. In 1948 he was commissioned a Major in the Shropshire Yeomanry, but left in 1950.
At the 1950 general election, he was elected Member of Parliament for Oswestry, which he remained until 1961. Under Prime Minister Anthony Eden he served briefly, from November 1956 to January 1957, as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; and under Prime Minister Harold Macmillan he was from 1957 to 1961 Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. After the election of U.S. President John F. Kennedy he was appointed British Ambassador to the United States on 18 October 1961. This meant that he had to take the Chiltern Hundreds on 1 June, so that he could resign from the House.