Lord Edward Hay
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Lord Edward Douglas John Hay DL (2 November 1888 – 18 June 1944) was a British soldier, at the time of his death
commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually give ...
of the
Grenadier Guards The Grenadier Guards (GREN GDS) is the most senior infantry regiment of the British Army, being at the top of the Infantry Order of Precedence. It can trace its lineage back to 1656 when Lord Wentworth's Regiment was raised in Bruges to protect ...
. Hay saw active service in the First World War, after which he was posted on diplomatic missions. He was killed by a German V-1 flying bomb.


Life

Born on 2 November 1888 in
East Lothian East Lothian (; ; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In ...
, Scotland, Hay was the younger son of William Hay, 10th Marquess of Tweeddale, of
Yester House Yester House is an early 18th-century mansion near Gifford in East Lothian, Scotland. It was the home of the Hay family, later Marquesses of Tweeddale, from the 15th century until the late 1960s. Construction of the present house began in 1699, ...
,
East Lothian East Lothian (; ; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In ...
, Hay was the brother and heir-presumptive of the 11th Marquess.LIEUTENANT COLONEL Lord EDWARD DOUGLAS JOHN HAY, Service Number: 24133
cwgc.org, accessed 20 December 2020
He attended
Ludgrove School Ludgrove School is an English independent school, independent boys' Preparatory school (UK), preparatory boarding school. Ludgrove was founded in 1892 at Ludgrove Hall in Middlesex by the Old Etonian sportsman Arthur Dunn. Dunn had been employed ...
. Hay saw active service in the 1914–1918 War at
Gallipoli The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...
, and in Egypt and France.''
Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...
'', volume 3 (2003), p. 3965
He was at the
Paris Peace Conference Agreements and declarations resulting from meetings in Paris include: Listed by name Paris Accords may refer to: * Paris Accords, the agreements reached at the end of the London and Paris Conferences in 1954 concerning the post-war status of Germ ...
from 1919 until it concluded in 1920. After that, as a Captain in the Grenadier Guards he was Staff Captain to
General Sir Edmund Ironside Field Marshal William Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron Ironside, (6 May 1880 – 22 September 1959) was a senior officer of the British Army who served as Chief of the Imperial General Staff during the first year of the Second World War. Ironside j ...
for Special Missions to Hungary and Romania, then from 1921 to 1923 was Military Secretary to
Sir Herbert Samuel Herbert Louis Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel (6 November 1870 – 5 February 1963) was a British Liberal politician who was the party leader from 1931 to 1935. He was the first nominally-practising Jew to serve as a Cabinet minister and to become ...
, High Commissioner for Palestine. Hay was also a member of
Essex County Council Essex County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Essex in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county; the non-metropolitan county excludes Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock which ...
. In 1938, he was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant for Essex, and was then of Hill Hall,
Theydon Mount Theydon Mount is a village and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of the county of Essex, England. The village is notable for the Grade I listed Elizabethan mansion, Hill Hall. History The name "Theydon" is thought to mean 'valley wh ...
. He was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in the
Essex Regiment The Essex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1958. The regiment served in many conflicts such as the Second Boer War and both World War I and World War II, serving with distinction in all three. ...
and then returned to the Grenadier Guards to command his old regiment.


Marriages and children

In 1917, Hay married firstly Violet Florence Catherine Barclay, known as Bridget, only daughter of Major Cameron Barclay. They had two children, Marioth Christina Hay (1918–2006) and David George Montagu Hay (1921–1979), later 12th Marquess of Tweeddale."Tweeddale, Marquess of (S, 1694)", www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk, accessed 20 December 2020 His first wife died on 17 March 1926. On 5 July 1928, Hay married secondly Audrey Clara Lilian Birkin, a younger daughter of Sir Thomas Latham, 1st Baronet. She was recently divorced from Sir Tim Birkin,
Baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
, a racing driver, and Hay became the step-father of her two small daughters, Pamela and Sara. Anthony Cave Brown, ''"C": The Secret Life of Sir Stewart Graham Menzies, Spymaster to Winston Churchill'' (London: Macmillan, 1987), p. 718 Together they had a daughter, Caroline Susan Elizabeth Hay (1930–2020).


Death

On 12 June 1944, the Germans launched Operation ''Eisbär'', a campaign of
V-1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb ( "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Reich Aviation Ministry () name was Fieseler Fi 103 and its suggestive name was (hellhound). It was also known to the Allies as the buzz bomb or doodlebug a ...
attacks on the London area. On Sunday, 18 June, just after 11 a.m., a V-1 made a direct hit on the
Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks The Royal Military Chapel, commonly known as the Guards' Chapel, is a British Army place of worship that serves as the religious home of the Household Division at the Wellington Barracks in Westminster, Greater London. Completed in 1838 in the st ...
, during a service. This brought the chapel’s concrete roof down on top of the congregation, killing 121 people, with 141 seriously injured. The rubble within the chapel was ten feet deep in places. When the roof collapsed, Hay was just walking back to his seat, after reading a lesson, and was among those killed. He was buried in
Theydon Mount Theydon Mount is a village and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of the county of Essex, England. The village is notable for the Grade I listed Elizabethan mansion, Hill Hall. History The name "Theydon" is thought to mean 'valley wh ...
, Essex.


Later events

Hay’s widow married twice more. Firstly, in 1948, Niall Greville Chaplin, younger son of
Eric Chaplin, 2nd Viscount Chaplin The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, Eirik, or Eiríkur is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Nor ...
, from whom she was divorced in 1952, and in December 1952 Major General Sir Stewart Graham Menzies,
Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service The Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service serves as the head of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, also commonly known as MI6), which is part of the United Kingdom intelligence community. The chief is appointed by the Secretary of State fo ...
. Hay’s son,
David Hay David Hay (born 29 January 1948) is a Scottish former football player and manager. He broke into the Celtic team in the late 1960s, as one of a generation of players who continued a highly successful era for the club. A contract dispute betwee ...
, succeeded as Marquess of Tweeddale in 1967. He married twice and had five children, the eldest of whom, born in 1947, was named Edward Douglas John Hay, after his grandfather, and became 13th Marquess.


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hay, Edward Douglas John 1888 births 1944 deaths Burials in Essex Military personnel from East Lothian Deputy lieutenants of Essex Essex Regiment officers Grenadier Guards officers British Army personnel of World War I British Army personnel killed in World War II Younger sons of marquesses Deaths by German airstrikes during World War II People educated at Ludgrove School