John Francis Arthur St Aubyn, 4th Baron St Levan

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

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DL (23 February 1919 – 7 April 2013) was a British

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, decorated

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officer,

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, and

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figure. From 1978 to 2003, he was

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of the family seat of

St Michael's Mount St Michael's Mount (, meaning "Hoarfrost, hoar rock in woodland") is a tidal island in Mount's Bay near Penzance, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The island is a Civil parishes in England, civil parish and is linked to the town of Marazion ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

Early life

St Aubyn was born on 23 February 1919 in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England. He was the eldest son of the 3rd

Lord St Levan Baron St Levan, of St Michael's Mount in the County of Cornwall, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 4 July 1887 for the former Member of Parliament John St Aubyn, 1st Baron St Levan, Sir John St Aubyn, 2nd Baron ...

and his wife. His childhood was split between his parents' home in London and the

family seat A family seat, sometimes just called seat, is the principal residence of the landed gentry and aristocracy. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families t ...

, Cornwall. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

, an all-boys

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Eton, Berkshire Eton ( ) is a town in Berkshire, England, on the opposite bank of the River Thames to Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor, connected to it by Windsor Bridge. The civil parish, which also includes the village of Eton Wick two miles west of the town, had ...

. In 1938, he entered

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

to study for a degree. His university studies were interrupted by

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and his military service.

Military service

During his first year at university, in 1938, St Aubyn joined the

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(RNVR) as an

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. With the outbreak of

in 1939, he was allowed to continue at university. However, he did not complete his degree. He left university at the end of his second year to join up, having heard about the

Dunkirk Evacuation The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, or just Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the Second World War from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, in the ...

(27 May to 4 June 1940). He and a friend travelled by train from

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. There, they underwent an interview, and, being officer cadets in the RNVR, they were accepted for immediate service. Having been recruited in Chatham, he was sent to

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...

, Kent, to take command of a ship. He became

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of a newly seized Belgian merchant ship, therefore gaining his first independent command at 21 years old. He and his command then joined the

little ships of Dunkirk The Little Ships of Dunkirk were about 850 private boats that sailed from Ramsgate in England to Dunkirk in northern France between 26 May and 4 June 1940 as part of Operation Dynamo, helping to rescue more than 336,000 British, French, and othe ...

and he became involved in the Dunkirk Evacuation. He and his ship rescued 150 men from the beaches. Then he attended a training course to learn about

mine sweeping Minesweeping is the practice of removing explosive naval mines, usually by a specially designed ship called a minesweeper using various measures to either capture or detonate the mines, but sometimes also with an aircraft made for that purpos ...

. In August 1940, he was re-graded from temporary

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sub-lieutenant to temporary sub-lieutenant with seniority from 23 February 1940. Having completed his training, he was posted to the

Halcyon-class minesweeper The ''Halcyon'' class was a class of 21 oil-fuelled minesweepers (officially, "fleet minesweeping sloops") built for the British Royal Navy between 1933 and 1939. They were given traditional small ship names used historically by the Royal Nav ...

HMS ''Salamander''.

Personal life

St Aubyn married Susan (Sue) Maria Marcia Kennedy, daughter of Maj.-Gen. Sir John Noble Kennedy, in December 1970; she died in 2003. There were no children of the marriage. St Aubyn was succeeded in the barony and the baronetcy by his nephew James St Aubyn (born 6 June 1950) who became the 5th Lord St Levan. The 5th baron is the son of

Hon Hon or HON may refer to: People Given name * Cho Hŏn (1544–1592), Joseon militia leader * Ho Hon (1885–1951), North Korean politician Surname * Han (surname) (Chinese: 韩/韓), also romanized Hon * Louis Hon (1924–2008), French fo ...

Oliver Piers St Aubyn (born 12 July 1920, died 24 May 2006) who was the second son of the 3rd baron.The Peerage, page for Oliver St Aubyn
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Levan, John Saint Aubyn, 4th Baron 1919 births 2013 deaths Bards of Gorsedh Kernow 4 Deputy lieutenants of Cornwall Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Eton College Military personnel from London Military personnel from Cornwall Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

St Levan St Levan () is a civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish is rural with a number of hamlets of varying size with Porthcurno probably being the best known. Hewn out of the cliff at Minack Point and ...