Alexander Macmillan, 2nd Earl of Stockton

The Right Honourable The Earl of Stockton
Member of the European Parliament for South West England
In office 10 June 1999 – 10 June 2004
Preceded by	Constituency created
Succeeded by	Roger Knapman
Member of the House of Lords as Earl of Stockton
In office 29 December 1986 – 11 November 1999
Preceded by	Harold Macmillan
Succeeded by	House of Lords Act 1999
Personal details
Born	10 October 1943
Spouse(s)	Birgitte Hamilton (m. 1970, div. 1991) Miranda, Countess of Stockton (m. 1995, div. 2011)
Relations	Maurice Macmilllan, Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden (father) Katharine Ormsby-Gore (mother)
Children	Daniel Macmillan, Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden Lady Rebecca Macmillan Lady Louisa Macmillan

Alexander Daniel Alan Macmillan, 2nd Earl of Stockton (born 10 October 1943) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom.^[1][2] He is the first son of the late Conservative politician Maurice Macmillan and the first grandson of former prime minister Harold Macmillan.

Life

Lord Stockton was educated at Eton College, the University of Paris, and at Strathclyde University.^[3] He was a member of the European Parliament for South West England from 1999 to 2004. He was one of the hereditary peers to have been excluded from the House of Lords. He inherited his peerage from his grandfather, Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963, on his death at the end of 1986, as his father was already deceased.^[4] He has several times been an unsuccessful candidate in the by-elections held among hereditary peers for a seat in the House of Lords: in 2007 he came third in a contest to replace Lord Mowbray, coming third behind the winner, Lord Cathcart, and Lord Younger of Leckie; in the 2010 by-election to replace Lord Northesk, he came second behind Lord Younger of Leckie; in 2011 he lost to Lord Hanworth in a ballot for the seat of the deceased Lord Strabolgi; and in 2014 he lost out to the Earl of Oxford and Asquith.^[5]

At the May 2011 local council elections, Lord Stockton was elected as a Conservative councillor on South Bucks district council.^[6] Both his father Maurice Macmillan (1921–1984) and his grandfather preceded him as Chairman of Macmillan Publishers Ltd., the publishing house long owned by the family. Stockton sold it to the German Holtzbrinck group. He ranked 253rd in the Sunday Times 2004 Rich List, with an estimated wealth of £165m.^[7]

Lord Stockton renovated Hayne Manor with his current wife in Devon and listed it for sale.^[8][9]

On 29 April 2002, Lord Stockton appeared alongside several other relatives of deceased former Prime Ministers, as well as the then Prime Minister Tony Blair and the four surviving former Prime Ministers, for a dinner at Buckingham Palace which formed part of the celebrations for the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II.^[10]

Lord Stockton is Vice President of the Royal Crescent Society, Bath.

Styles of address

• 1943-1984: Mr Alexander Macmillan
• 1984: The Honourable Alexander Macmillan
• 1984-1986: Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden
• 1986-1999: The Right Honourable The Earl of Stockton
• 1999-2004: The Right Honourable The Earl of Stockton MEP
• 2004-: The Right Honourable The Earl of Stockton

Marriages

• Hélène Birgitte Hamilton, 1970, divorced 1991. There were three children of this marriage:
  • Daniel Maurice Alan Macmillan, Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden (b. 9 October 1974)^[11]
  • Lady Rebecca Elizabeth Macmillan (b. 1980)
  • Lady Louisa Alexandra Macmillan (b. 1982)
• Miranda Quarry (the third wife of Peter Sellers), 23 December 1995, divorced 2011. This union produced no children.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Alexander Macmillan, 2nd Earl of Stockton

16. Daniel MacMillan               8. Maurice Macmillan                       17. Frances Eliza Orridge               4. Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton                             18. Joshua Belles               9. Helen Belles                       19. Julia Reid               2. Maurice Macmillan, Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden                                   20. Lord Edward Cavendish               10. Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire                       21. Emma Lascelles               5. Lady Dorothy Cavendish                             22. Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne               11. Lady Evelyn Fitzmaurice                       23. Lady Maud Hamilton               1. Alexander Macmillan, 2nd Earl of Stockton                                         24. William Ormsby-Gore, 2nd Baron Harlech               12. George Ormsby-Gore, 3rd Baron Harlech                       25. Lady Emily Seymour               6. William Ormsby-Gore, 4th Baron Harlech                             26. Charles Gordon, 10th Marquess of Huntly               13. Lady Margaret Gordon                       27. Maria Pegus               3. Hon. Katharine Ormsby-Gore                                   28. Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury               14. James Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury                       29. Georgina Alderson               7. Lady Beatrice Gascoyne-Cecil                             30. Arthur Gore, 5th Earl of Arran               15. Lady Cicely Gore                       31. Hon. Edith Jocelyn

Arms

Arms of Alexander Macmillan, 2nd Earl of Stockton

Coronet A Coronet of an Earl Crest [Upon a Helm with a Wreath Azure and Sable] within Sprigs of Oak fructed Or a dexter Cubit Arm and a sinister Arm embowed both proper the dexter hand gauntleted Or and with the other brandishing a Two Handed Sword proper Hilt Pommel and Quillons Sable Escutcheon Argent a Chief Or overall between three Open Books proper edged Or and bound Azure those in chief inscribed respectively in letters Sable "Miseres" and "Discere" and that in base also in letters Sable inscribed "Succo" and as many Mullets Azure a Lion rampant Sable Supporters On the dexter side a Lion rampant Gules, and on the sinister side an American Bald Headed Eagle proper, both standing upon a Compartment comprising a crenelated Wall proper in the portal thereof an Anchor Azure and jointed on either side by two Bars wavy Azure to a Grassy Mount growing from that on the dexter a Long Branch and from that on the sinister a Thistle both proper

References

1. "Earl Alexander Macmillan speaks at Royal Hotel dinner". Scarborough Evening News, April 17, 2008
2. "Mr Alexander Macmillan". millbanksystems.com.
3. "- Person Page 4608". thepeerage.com.
5. http://www.parliament.uk/documents/lords-information-office/Lords%20Notice%2015%20Sept%202014%20Lord%20Methuen%20by-election.pdf
6. "Election results". South Bucks Council.
8. "Hunting, shooting and partying", The Sunday Times, July 16, 2006
9. http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2006/08/16/97047/Historic-renovated-house-in-Devon.htm
10. "Queen dines with her prime ministers". BBC News. 29 April 2002.
11. "The elite". The Guardian. 11 April 1999.

Sources

• The Times Online report on the 2nd Earl of Stockton
• Profile of Alexander Macmillan, Viscount Macmillan, 2nd Earl of Stockton

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Stockton