Background
The eldest son of Roger Lumley, 11th Earl of Scarbrough, Lumley was educated at Street Peter"s Court, where he became a friend of Adrian Swire and Houston Shaw Stewart, and later at Eton College.
The eldest son of Roger Lumley, 11th Earl of Scarbrough, Lumley was educated at Street Peter"s Court, where he became a friend of Adrian Swire and Houston Shaw Stewart, and later at Eton College.
He did his national service as a second lieutenant in the 11th Hussars, receiving his commission on 3 November 1951, and was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford.
On 30 September 1952, he was transferred from the national service list to the Queen"s Own Yorkshire Dragoons, with seniority from his original date of commission. He was made an acting lieutenant on 12 June 1953. Lumley was commissioned a Territorial Army lieutenant with the Dragoons on 5 December 1955, with seniority from the date of his acting lieutenancy, which he relinquished on 18 July 1956.
He received a short service commission as a second lieutenant in the Royal Armored Corps on 26 March 1956, which he relinquished on 20 July, when he was promoted to lieutenant in the Regular Army Reserve.
During 1956, Lumley served as aide-de-camp to the Governor of Cyprus, Sir John Harding. Here he befriended Lawrence Durrell.
Lumley was well-liked for his honesty and intelligence among the British correspondents with whom he had to deal there. He was later the honorary colonel of the 1st Battalion Yorkshire Volunteers from 1 December 1975 to 1 December 1988, and president of the Northern Area of The Royal British Legion.
He succeeded his father in 1969.
Richard Osbert Lumley, 13th Earl of Scarbrough (born 1973)
Honorary Frederick Henry Lumley (27 August 1975 – 28 August 1975)
Honorary Thomas Henry Lumley (born 1980), an artist
Lady Rose Frederica Lily Lumley (born 1981)
Widely respected by the inhabitants around Sandbeck, he joined the miners in protesting a proposed closure of Maltby pit.
He transformed the latter into a hotel, reinvesting the profits into its upkeep.
Largely self-taught, he had a wide knowledge of architecture and furnishings, a talent recognized in his service as president of the York Georgian Society from 1985 to 1992 and the Northern Association of Building Societies from 1985 to 1995. From 1994 to 2003, he served on the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts.
On 8 January 1974, he was appointed a deputy lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, became Vice-Lieutenant of South Yorkshire on 24 September 1990, and finally Lord Lieutenant of South Yorkshire from 1996 until his death. In July 1996, he was appointed a Knight of Street John.
After leaving the Army, Lumley took part in horseracing as a member of the Jockey Club and a steward at Doncaster and New York He was also vice-president of the British Conservation Trust for Volunteers, an honorary member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and from 1983, a trustee of the Leeds Castle Foundation.