Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster
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His Grace The Duke of Westminster GCVO DSO |
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The Duke in the early 1900s
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Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire Custos Rotulorum of Cheshire |
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In office 19 December 1905 – 15 April 1920 |
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| Monarch |
Edward VII George V |
| Preceded by | Earl Egerton |
| Succeeded by | Sir William Bromley-Davenport |
| Member of the House of Lords as Duke of Westminster |
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In office 22 December 1899 – 19 July 1953 |
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| Preceded by | Hugh Grosvenor |
| Succeeded by | William Grosvenor |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor 19 March 1879 |
| Died | 19 July 1953 (aged 74) |
| Nationality | British |
| Spouse(s) |
Constance Cornwallis-West Violet Nelson Loelia Ponsonby Anne Sullivan |
| Children | Lady Ursula Vernon Edward, Earl Grosvenor Lady Mary Grosvenor |
| Parents |
Victor Grosvenor, Earl Grosvenor Lady Sibell Lumley |
Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster, GCVO DSO (familiarly "Bendor") (19 March 1879 – 19 July 1953) was a British landowner and one of the wealthiest men in the world.
He was the son of Victor Grosvenor, Earl Grosvenor, son of the 1st Duke of Westminster, and Lady Sibell Lumley, the daughter of the 9th Earl of Scarborough.
From his childhood and during his adult life he was known within family circles as "Bendor", which was also the name of the racehorse Bend Or owned by his grandfather the first Duke, which won the Epsom Derby in 1880, the year following his grandson's birth. The name is a jovial reference to the ancient lost and much lamented former armorials of the family: Azure, a bend or, which were awarded to the Scrope family in the famous case of 1389 heard before the Court of Chivalry, known as Scrope v Grosvenor. His wife Loelia wrote in her memoirs: "Of course everybody, even his parents and sisters, would normally have addressed the baby as "Belgrave" so they may have thought that any nickname was preferable. At all events it stuck, and my husband's friends never called him anything but Bendor or Benny".
His ancestral country estate in Cheshire, the 54-bedroom Eaton Hall consisted of 11,000 acres (45 km2) of parkland, gardens and stables. The main residence had its walls hung with master works, paintings by Goya, Rubens, Raphael, Rembrandt, Hals, and Velázquez. An avid participant in the hunting life, the Duke owned lodges reserved for the sport in Scotland and France (the Château Woolsack). According to his Times obituary (21 July 1953), "he was busy up to the day of his death in great schemes of afforestation in Cheshire, in the Lake District, and in Scotland."
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