Michael Astor
The Hon. Michael Langhorne Astor (10 April 1916 – 28 February 1980) was a British Conservative Party politician.
Early life
[edit]Michael Astor was born on 10 April 1916. He was the fourth child of Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor, and Nancy Witcher Langhorne, both Members of Parliament.[1] He attended prep school at St. Michael's, Uckfield, where he was a contemporary of the future writer and painter Denton Welch, who later included him in a short story. He was educated at Eton College and gained the rank of captain, serving in the Royal Artillery (Territorial Army).[1] He served as an officer during WW2 in "Phantom" GHQ Liaison Regiment.
Career
[edit]He was elected as Conservative Member of Parliament for Surrey East in the 1945 general election.[2] He kept his seat in the 1950 election but did not stand in 1951. He wrote a memoir, Tribal Feeling, published in 1963, and a novel, Brand, published in 1968.[3]
Personal life
[edit]Astor married three times:
- Barbara McNeill (1942–1961), with whom he had four children.
- Pandora Clifford (1961–1968). Annabel Jones, his stepdaughter from his second marriage, married his nephew, William Astor, 4th Viscount Astor.[4]
- Judith Innes (1970–1980), with whom he had a daughter, Polly in 1971. Polly has a daughter, Martha West, with actor Dominic West.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Michael Langhorne Astor". Geni.com. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
- ^ "Hon. Michael Astor". They Work For You. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
- ^ "Tribal Feeling". Internet Archive. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
- ^ Colacello, Bob. "Inside the Very Charmed World of British Noble Annabel Astor". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
- ^ Anthony, Andrew. "Interview Way out West Andrew Anthony". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
External links
[edit]Media related to Michael Astor at Wikimedia Commons
- 1916 births
- 1980 deaths
- Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
- British people of German descent
- Politics of the London Borough of Croydon
- UK MPs 1945–1950
- UK MPs 1950–1951
- Astor family
- Royal Artillery officers
- People educated at Eton College
- Younger sons of viscounts
- British male novelists
- 20th-century British novelists
- 20th-century British male writers
- 20th-century British writers
- 20th-century British memoirists
- British Army personnel of World War II
- Conservative MP for England, 1910s birth stubs