chairman philanthropist Marquess of Normanby
Styled Earl of Mulgrave from birth, he was the eldest son of Constantine Phipps, 3rd Marquess of Normanby and was educated at Lambrook preparatory school, Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford. He inherited his father"s titles in 1932 and joined the Green Howards as a Lieutenant in 1939.
Christ Church; Eton College.
In 1940, Lord Normanby was captured at the Battle of Dunkirk and was a prisoner of war at Obermassfeldt in Thuringia until 1943. During his captivity, he persuaded his captors to allow him to teach braille to the blind prisoners, despite not knowing it himself. They constructed their alphabets with glass-headed pins and cardboard.
He progressed from this to teach lessons in wider subjects.
Later, when he was repatriated along with his blind students, he joined Street Dunstan"s council. He was also awarded a military Administration Member of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his work in leading the POWs.
On his release, Lord Normanby was appointed an Administration Member of the Order of the British Empire and was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, Viscount Cranborne, from 1944-1945. He briefly served in the same post for the Lord President of the Council, Lord Woolton, in 1945.
That year, Lord Normanby was also appointed a Lord-in-Waiting, but the appointment was brief due to his crossing the floor, becoming the only Labour marquess (he later left the Labour Party also and became a crossbencher).
On 10 February 1951, Lord Normanby married Honorary Grania Guinness (a daughter of Walter Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne) and they had seven children:
Lady Lepel Sophia (b 1952)
Constantine Edmund Walter, styled Earl of Mulgrave, later 5th Marquess of Normanby (b 1954)
Lady Evelyn Rose (b 1955. Married novelist James Buchan in 1986)
Lord Justin (b 1958)
Lady Peronel Katharine (b 1959)
Lady Henrietta Laura (b 1962)
Lady Anne Elizabeth Grania (b 1965)
Lord Normanby was Chairman of King"s College Hospital from 1948 (for which he was promoted to a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1974) until his death.
In 1985, he was made a Knight of the Garter.
In recognition of his successful independent efforts, the head of Street Dunstan"s charity for blinded service personnel, Lord Fraser of Lonsdale, appointed him an honorary member of the charity"s teaching staff As well as being a member of Street Dunstan"s council, he was also Chairman of the National Library for the Blind from 1946 until his death and its President from 1977 to 1988.
