Patrick Stopford, 9th Earl of Courtown

James Patrick Montagu Burgoyne Winthrop Stopford, 9th Earl of Courtown[2] (also known as Patrick Courtown;[3] born 19 March 1954), styled Viscount Stopford between 1957 and 1975, is an Irish peer and politician. He is one of the 92 hereditary peers elected to remain in the House of Lords after the House of Lords Act 1999 and sits for the Conservatives.

The Earl of Courtown
Official portrait, 2018
Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Lords
Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard
In office
13 July 2016 – 5 July 2024
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Boris Johnson
Liz Truss
Rishi Sunak[1]
Preceded byThe Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Succeeded byThe Baroness Wheeler
Lord-in-waiting
Government Whip
In office
8 May 2015 – 13 July 2016
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byThe Lord Popat of Harrow
Succeeded byThe Lord Young of Cookham
In office
8 July 1995 – 2 May 1997
Prime MinisterJohn Major
Preceded byThe Earl of Lindsay
Succeeded byThe Lord Hoyle
Member of the House of Lords
as a hereditary peer
24 July 1979 – 11 November 1999
Preceded byThe 8th Earl of Courtown
Succeeded bySeat abolished
as an elected hereditary peer
11 November 1999
Election1999
Preceded bySeat established
Personal details
Born
James Patrick Montagu Burgoyne Winthrop Stopford

(1954-03-19) 19 March 1954 (age 70)
Political partyConservative
Spouse
Elisabeth Dunnett
(m. 1985)
ChildrenJames Stopford, Viscount Stopford
EducationEton College
Alma materBerkshire College of Agriculture

The son of James Stopford, 8th Earl of Courtown and Patricia Winthrop, he has a brother named Jeremy, and three sisters: Elizabeth, Mary and Felicity.[4] He was educated at Eton and at the Berkshire College of Agriculture. He later attended the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester. He succeeded to the earldom of Courtown in 1975. In 1985, he married Elisabeth Dunnett, daughter of Ian Rodger Dunnett.

The Earl took his seat in the House of Lords as 8th Baron Saltersford in 1979.[5] In 1995, he was appointed a lord-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth II, and a government whip. He was a government spokesman for the Home Office, Department of Transport and the Scottish Office. In 2013 he was appointed a Conservative party whip. Following the 2015 election, he joined the government, again as a lord-in-waiting and as a government whip. He was promoted to deputy chief whip and captain of the yeomen of the guard in the May ministry in July 2016. In that role, he took part in the Royal Procession at the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla.[6]

The Courtown ancestral home, Courtown House, was demolished in the 1960s, but the Earl visited its location in 2010, with members of his family, and unveiled a plaque in memory of his father at the local church.[4]

The Earl's heir apparent is his son, James.

References

edit
  1. ^ "Ministerial Appointments commencing: 25 October 2022". GOV.UK. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  2. ^ "Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (Lords Deputy Chief Whip)". gov.uk.
  3. ^ Personal website
  4. ^ a b Fintan Lambe (24 March 2010). "Earl of Courtown pays visit to family's ancestral home". The Irish Independent. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  5. ^ HL Deb, 26 July 1979 vol 401 c2035
  6. ^ "Coronation order of service in full". BBC News. Retrieved 6 May 2023.

Sources

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Political offices
Preceded by Deputy Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords
2016–2024
Succeeded by
Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard
2016–2024
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Earl of Courtown
1975–present
Incumbent
Heir apparent:
James Stopford, Viscount Stopford
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by Baron Saltersford
1975–present
Member of the House of Lords
(1975–1999)
Incumbent
Heir apparent:
James Stopford, Viscount Stopford
Parliament of the United Kingdom
New office
Elected hereditary peer to the House of Lords
under the House of Lords Act 1999
Sat as Baron Salterford

1999–present
Incumbent