Biography of Walter Guiness 1st Baron Moyne 1880-1944

On 29th March 1880 Walter Guiness 1st Baron Moyne was born to Edward Guiness 1st Earl Iveagh [aged 32] and Adelaide "Dodo" Guinness [aged 36].

On 24th June 1903 Walter Guiness 1st Baron Moyne [aged 23] and Evelyn Erskine Baroness Moyne [aged 20] were married. She the daughter of Shipley Gordon Stuart Erskine 14th Earl Buchan [aged 53]. He the son of Edward Guiness 1st Earl Iveagh [aged 55] and Adelaide "Dodo" Guinness [aged 59].

On 27th October 1905 [his son] Bryan Walter Guiness 2nd Baron Moyne was born to Walter Guiness 1st Baron Moyne [aged 25] and [his wife] Evelyn Erskine Baroness Moyne [aged 22]. He married (1) 30th January 1929 Diana Mitford, daughter of David Freeman-Mitford 2nd Baron Redesdale and Sydney Bowles Baroness Redesdale, and had issue.

Before 15th October 1906 [his brother] Rupert Edward Cecil Lee Guinness 2nd Earl Iveagh [aged 32] and [his sister-in-law] Gwendolen Florence Mary Onslow Countess Iveagh [aged 25] were married. She by marriage Countess Iveagh. She the daughter of William Onslow 4th Earl Onslow [aged 53] and Florence Coulston Gardner Countess Onslow [aged 53]. He the son of [his father] Edward Guiness 1st Earl Iveagh [aged 58] and [his mother] Adelaide "Dodo" Guinness [aged 62].

On 21st September 1909 [his father] Edward Guiness 1st Earl Iveagh [aged 61] and [his mother] Adelaide "Dodo" Guinness [aged 65] were married. They were half third cousins.

In 1916 [his mother] Adelaide "Dodo" Guinness [aged 72] died.

In 1919 [his father] Edward Guiness 1st Earl Iveagh [aged 71] was created 1st Earl Iveagh.

On 14th April 1920 [his daughter] Grania Guinness Marchioness of Normanby was born to Walter Guiness 1st Baron Moyne [aged 40] and [his wife] Evelyn Erskine Baroness Moyne [aged 37]. She married 10th February 1951 Oswald Phipps 4th Marquess Normanby, son of Constantine Phipps 3rd Marquess Normanby and Gertrude Stansfeld Foster Marchioness Normanby, and had issue.

IN 1926 Walter Guiness 1st Baron Moyne [aged 45] bought the passenger ferry SS Canterbury from the Southern Railway. She was converted to a steam yacht and renamed Arpha. She was sold to Sark Motorships Ltd in 1938.

On 7th October 1927 [his father] Edward Guiness 1st Earl Iveagh [aged 79] died. His son [his brother] Rupert [aged 53] succeeded 2nd Earl Iveagh.

14th November 1928. Daily Mirror. Dubtant to Wed. Engagment of Hon. [his future daughter-in-law] Diana Freeman-Mitford [aged 18] to Cabinet Minister's Son.

One of the prettiest debutants of the year is to marry the son of a Cabinet Minister.

The engagement was announced last night of the Hon. Diana Freeman-Mitford, third daughter of Lord [aged 50] and Lady [aged 48] Redesdale, and Mr. Bryan Guiness [aged 23], elder son of Colonel Walter Guiness [aged 48], Minster of Agriculture, and Lady Evelyn Guiness [aged 45].

David Freeman-Mitford 2nd Baron Redesdale: On 13th March 1878 he was born to Algernon Freeman-Mitford 1st Baron Redesdale and Clementina Gertrude Helen Ogilvy. In February 1904 David Freeman-Mitford 2nd Baron Redesdale and Sydney Bowles Baroness Redesdale were married. On 17th August 1916 Algernon Freeman-Mitford 1st Baron Redesdale died. His son David succeeded 2nd Baron Redesdale of Redesdale in Northumberland. Sydney Bowles Baroness Redesdale by marriage Baroness Redesdale of Redesdale in Northumberland. On 17th March 1958 David Freeman-Mitford 2nd Baron Redesdale died. His brother Bertram succeeded 3rd Baron Redesdale of Redesdale in Northumberland.

Evelyn Erskine Baroness Moyne: On 24th June 1903 Walter Guiness 1st Baron Moyne and she were married. She the daughter of Shipley Gordon Stuart Erskine 14th Earl Buchan. He the son of Edward Guiness 1st Earl Iveagh and Adelaide "Dodo" Guinness. The London Gazette 33793. Whitehall, January 28, 1932. The KING has been pleased, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the Realm, bearing date the 21st instant, to confer the dignity of a Baron of the United Kingdom upon the Right Honourable Walter Edward Guinness, D.S.O., and the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten, by the name, style and title of Baron Moyne of Bury St. Edmunds in the County of Suffolk. [she by marriage Baroness Moyne of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.] In 1939 she died.

On 30th January 1929 [his son] Bryan Guiness [aged 23] and [his daughter-in-law] Diana Mitford [aged 18] were married at St Margaret's Church, Westminster [Map].

In 1931 Walter Guiness 1st Baron Moyne [aged 50] bought the passenger ferry SS Brighton from the Southern Railway. She was converted to diesel power and renamed Roussalka. On 25 August 1933, Roussalka was wrecked in Killary Bay but all on board were rescued.

The London Gazette 33793. Whitehall, January 28, 1932. The KING has been pleased, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the Realm, bearing date the 21st instant, to confer the dignity of a Baron of the United Kingdom upon the Right Honourable Walter Edward Guinness [aged 51], D.S.O., and the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten, by the name, style and title of Baron Moyne of Bury St. Edmunds in the County of Suffolk. [[his wife] Evelyn Erskine Baroness Moyne [aged 49] by marriage Baroness Moyne of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.]

In June 1933 [his son] Bryan Walter Guiness 2nd Baron Moyne [aged 27] and [his daughter-in-law] Diana Mitford [aged 22] were divorced.

Devon-based newspaper the Western Times reported how 'the Hon. Diana Guinness was granted a decree nisi by Lord Merrivale in the Divorce Court yesterday on the ground of the adultery of her husband, the Hon. Bryan Walter Guinness, who did not defend the suit.'

According to Mrs. Guinness's case she and her husband were perfectly happy until after the birth of their second child in 1931. Differences arose, and there were quarrels. In February, 1933, a deed of separation was entered into. A month later Mrs. Guinness received from her husband a letter stating that he had stayed with Miss Isolde Field at a Brighton hotel.

In 1939 [his wife] Evelyn Erskine Baroness Moyne [aged 56] died.

On 6th November 1944 Walter Guiness 1st Baron Moyne [aged 64] was assassinated. Eliyahu Bet-Zuri and Eliyahu Hakim of the Jewish terrorist group Lehi waited for Moyne near his home in Cairo. Moyne arrived in his car with his driver, Lance Corporal Arthur Fuller, his secretary, Dorothy Osmond, and his ADC, Major Andrew Hughes-Onslow. The ADC went to open the front door of the residence and the driver got out to open the door for Moyne. They were suddenly told not to move, as Bet-Zuri emerged and shot Fuller in the chest, causing him to collapse in the driveway and bleed to death in minutes. Hakim then pulled the car door open and fatally shot Moyne three times. His son Bryan [aged 39] succeeded 2nd Baron Moyne of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.