Group Captain Group captain (Gp Capt or G/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries that have historical British influence. Group cap ...

Thomas Loel Evelyn Bulkeley Guinness, (9 June 1906 – 31 December 1988) was a British politician,

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

officer, business magnate and philanthropist. He was

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Member of Parliament (MP) for

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

(1931–1945) and achieved fame as a fighter pilot in the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force ...

during World War II. Guinness also financed the purchase of the ''Calypso'', leasing her for one symbolic franc a year to famous oceanic explorer

Jacques-Yves Cousteau Jacques-Yves Cousteau, (, also , ; 11 June 191025 June 1997) was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author. He co-invented the first successful open-circuit self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA), called the A ...

Early life

Born in Manhattan and raised in the United States and England, Loel Guinness was the only son of Benjamin Seymour Guinness, an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

banker from whom he inherited a fortune. His mother, his father's first wife, was Bridget Henrietta Frances Williams-Bulkeley (1870–1931), half-sister of Sir Richard Williams-Bulkeley, 12th Baronet, of an old and prominent

Anglesey Anglesey ( ; ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the Principal areas of Wales, county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which also includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island () and some islets and Skerry, sker ...

landed family. Loel Guinness had two sisters: Meraud Michelle Wemyss Guinness and Tanis Eva Bulkeley Guinness (who married Lt.-Cdr. Charles Edward Harold John Phillips, a grandson of John Pablo Bryce). He was educated at Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and thereafter gained the rank of

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

in the service of the Irish Guards.

Career

After taking flying lessons, Guinness joined the

Royal Aero Club The Royal Aero Club (RAeC) is the national co-ordinating body for air sport in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1901 as the Aero Club of Great Britain, being granted the title of the "Royal Aero Club" in 1910. History The Aero Club was foun ...

in 1928. The following year, he became one of the first private citizens in England to own an airplane and soon he was a member of the County of London's Auxiliary Air Force squadron. He later served as president of Air Work Ltd., an aircraft-parts supplier, and of British United Airways. In 1931, on his third try, Guinness was elected to Parliament for

and was named parliamentary private secretary to Sir Philip Sassoon, the Under Secretary for Air from 1931 to 1935. He held his seat until 1945, when he stood down.

Second World War

Guinness gained the rank of

group captain Group captain (Gp Capt or G/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries that have historical British influence. Group cap ...

in the service of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. When the

Second World War 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 ...

broke out in 1939, Guinness went on active duty with the

. In 1940 he flew as a fighter pilot in the

, famously buying a petrol station near his aerodrome when his driving was restricted by rationing. In 1944 he became commander of a wing of the Second Tactical Air Force and by the war's end he had been Mentioned in Despatches five times. He was invested as an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire 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 ...

in 1942. The Netherlands made him a Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau and France made him an Officer of the Legion of Honour and awarded him a Croix de Guerre.

Personal life

Guinness's first marriage was to The Hon. Joan Barbara Yarde-Buller (1908–1997), eldest daughter pf the 3rd Baron Churston. Before their divorce, they had a son, Patrick Benjamin Guinness, who was killed in an automobile accident near Rarogne, Switzerland. Joan left him for Prince Aly Khan, the eldest son of the

Aga Khan III Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah (2 November 187711 July 1957), known as Aga Khan III, was the 48th Imamate in Nizari doctrine, imam of the Nizari Isma'ili, Ism'aili branch of Shia Islam. He was one of the founders and the first permanent president of ...

, the 43rd Shia Imam, and Guinness successfully sued Joan and Khan on grounds of adultery. Joan and Khan did not defend the charges and the judge, Mr Justice Bucknill, granted Guinness a '' decree nisi'' and full custody of their son and ordered Khan to pay court costs. Joan married Khan on 18 May 1936, a few days after the divorce became absolute. In 1936, he married his second wife, Lady Isabel Violet Kathleen Manners (1918–2008), daughter of the 9th Duke of Rutland. The Guinnesses were prominent in society at Palm Beach. Together, they were the parents of a son and a daughter, Serena Belinda Rosemary ("Lindy") Guinness, who became the Marchioness of Dufferin upon her marriage to the 5th Marquess of Dufferin. In a reversal of the outcome of his first marriage, in 1951, Lady Isabel was granted a divorce after accusing him of adultery, which he did not contest. On 7 April 1951, he married his third wife, the Mexican socialite Gloria Rubio y Alatorre (1913–1980). Her daughter, Dolores married his eldest son. On 31 December 1988, Guinness died of

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina pectoris, angina, myocardial infarction, heart attack), heart failure, ...

at The Methodist Hospital in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, United States. He was buried with the remains of his third wife at the Bois-de-Vaux Cemetery,

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

References

;Notes ;Sources * Mosley, Charles, ''Burke's Peerage and Baronetage'', 107th edition, volume 2, page 1695. * Vickers, Hugo, ''The Unexpurgated Beaton: The Cecil Beaton Diaries as He Wrote Them'', 1970–1980, Knopf, New York, 2003.

External links

*
Obituary: Loel Guinness, 82, R.A.F. Flier And a Socialite on 2 Continents
The New York Times, 3 January 1989. {{DEFAULTSORT:Guinness, Loel 1906 births 1988 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Irish Guards officers Royal Air Force group captains Loel Guinness UK MPs 1931–1935 UK MPs 1935–1945 British anti-communists English bankers British socialites Royal Air Force personnel of World War II English aviators Officers of the Order of the British Empire Commanders of the Order of Orange-Nassau Officers of the Legion of Honour British recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Politics of Bath, Somerset Politicians from New York City 20th-century English businesspeople