Julian Asquith, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Asquith

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The Right Honourable
The Earl of Oxford and Asquith
KCMG
Julian Asquith, at Hamama, in 1943
Governor of the Seychelles
In office
August 1962 – February 1967
MonarchElizabeth II
Preceded byJohn Kingsmill Thorp
Succeeded bySir Hugh Norman-Walker
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
22 April 1937 – 11 November 1999
Hereditary peerage
Personal details
Born(1916-04-22)22 April 1916
Died16 January 2011(2011-01-16) (aged 94)
Political partyCrossbench
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1947; died 1998)​
Parents
RelativesH. H. Asquith (grandfather)
EducationAmpleforth College
Alma materBalliol College, Oxford

Julian Edward George Asquith, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Asquith, KCMG (22 April 1916 – 16 January 2011) was a British colonial administrator and hereditary peer.

Background and education[edit]

Asquith was the only son of Katharine (née Horner) and Raymond Asquith, a barrister. He was the grandson of H.H. Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, British Prime Minister from 1908 until 1916. Lord Oxford's two older sisters both predeceased him; the younger of these was Lady Perdita Rose Mary Asquith, later Lady Hylton (1910–1996),[1] who was married to William Jolliffe, 4th Baron Hylton and became the grandmother of the actress Anna Chancellor.

He inherited the earldom in 1928 on the death of his grandfather, since his father had been killed in the First World War. He was raised as a Roman Catholic after his mother's conversion to Catholicism in 1923. He and was educated at St Ronan's School and Ampleforth College, going on to study at Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated with Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees. In 1936, he attended the opening of the new building of Campion Hall, a Catholic institution within the University, with the Duke of Alba, Spanish ambassador to London, and Alban Goodier S.J., the former Archbishop of Bombay.[2]

In 1940, Asquith was commissioned in the Royal Engineers and served with 3 Field Squadron in Egypt.[3] From 1942 to 1948 he was an Assistant District Commissioner in Palestine.

Career[edit]

After the war, Lord Oxford pursued a career in the Colonial Service. He was Deputy chairman Secretary of the British Administration Tripolitania from 1949 to 1950, Director of Interior Tripolitania in 1951 and Advisor to the Prime Minister of Libya in 1952. In 1955 he was Administrative Secretary of Zanzibar and from 1958 to 1962 was the Administrator of Saint Lucia. He was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1961.

His Excellency the Governor and the Countess of Oxford at the opening of the first-ever Seychelles National Show, September 2nd 1966.

Oxford was the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Seychelles from 1962 to 1967, and the Commissioner of the British Indian Ocean Territory from 1965 to 1967. In 1964, he was advanced as Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George. He also held the posts of Constitutional Commander of the Cayman Islands in 1971, and Turks and Caicos Islands from 1973 to 1974.

Marriage and children[edit]

On 28 August 1947, Lord Oxford married Anne Mary Celestine Palairet,[4] daughter of Mary de Vere Studd and Sir Michael Palairet (1882–1956)[5] at the Brompton Oratory. Anne Oxford was also a Roman Catholic via her parents' conversions.

Lord and Lady Oxford had five children: three daughters (the second of which is married to a diplomat)[citation needed] and two sons, both diplomats:

Lord Oxford inherited the estate of Mells Manor from his mother Katharine Asquith, the younger daughter of Frances Jane (née Graham) and Sir John Francis Fortescue Horner.

The Countess of Oxford and Asquith died in 1998. The Earl died, aged 94, on 16 January 2011.[9] He was succeeded in his peerage titles, which he had held for over 80 years, by his elder son, Raymond (b. 1952), a former British diplomat and elected hereditary member of the House of Lords.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Lady Perdita Asquith
  2. ^ "Campion Hall Pages 339-340 A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 3, the University of Oxford. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1954". British History Online.
  3. ^ Royal Engineers: 3 (Cheshire) Field Squadron (Fd Sqn RE). The National Archives, London: The National Archives. January 1941.
  4. ^ Neville, P. (2004-09-23). Palairet, Sir (Charles) Michael (1882–1956), diplomatist. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 8 Dec. 2017, see link
  5. ^ "Palairet, Sir Michael, (29 Sept. 1882–5 Aug. 1956)", Who Was Who, Oxford University Press, 1 December 2007, doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u241530, ISBN 978-0-19-954089-1, retrieved 12 September 2021
  6. ^ L. G. Pine, The New Extinct Peerage 1884–1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant and Suspended Peerages with Genealogies and Arms (London: Heraldry Today, 1972), pp. 16, 276
  7. ^ Charles V Kidd, David Williamson, eds., Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (Debrett's Peerage Ltd, 1990, ISBN 0312046405), p. 950
  8. ^ Burke's Peerage, volume 2 (2003), p. 3,036
  9. ^ "Obituaries – The Earl of Oxford and Asquith". The Daily Telegraph. 17 January 2011.

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

Media related to Julian Asquith, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Asquith at Wikimedia Commons

Government offices
Preceded byas Commissioner of Saint Lucia Administrator of Saint Lucia
1958–1962 		Succeeded by
Gerald Jackson Bryan
Preceded by
Sir John Thorp
 Governor of the Seychelles
1962–1967 		Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Earl of Oxford and Asquith
1928–2011 		Succeeded by
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