| The Earl of Gainsborough | |
| Birth Name: | Anthony Gerard Edward Noel |
| Birth Date: | 24 October 1923 |
| Viscount Campden (1926-27) | |
| Residence: | Exton Hall |
| Nationality: | British |
| Parents: | Arthur Noel, 4th Earl of Gainsborough Alice Mary Eyre |
Anthony Gerard Edward Noel, 5th Earl of Gainsborough KStJ (24 October 1923 – 29 December 2009) was a British peer.
Lord Gainsborough succeeded his father, Arthur Noel, 4th Earl of Gainsborough, in the earldom in 1927. He attended Worth Priory in Sussex. When World War II started, he was on his way to the United States so he attended the Jesuit-run Georgetown Preparatory School, then located in Washington DC. Returning to Britain in 1943 he was declared unfit for military service. When he was 30, the estate was free from debt and he moved back into Exton Hall.
Gainsborough worked for Vickers Supermarine in Southampton.[1]
Gainsborough served as chairman of Oakham Rural District Council, 1952-67 before becoming vice-chairman and then chairman of Rutland County Council, 1970–73. As president of the Rural District Councils Association in 1965, he played a prominent role in opposing the Redcliffe-Maud Report's proposals for reorganising local councils which were implemented under the Local Government Act 1972.
Gainsborough was Master of the Worshipful Company of Gardeners (1967); President, British Association, Sovereign Military Order of Malta (1968–74); Knight of the Venerable Order of St John (1970); Chairman of the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth from 1970 to 1980, and President of the Hospital from then until his death.
He married at the Brompton Oratory on 23 July 1947 Mary Stourton (24 September 1925 – 30 December 2018),[2] elder daughter of Major the Hon. John Stourton MP and granddaughter of Charles Stourton, 24th Baron Mowbray, 25th Baron Segrave and 21st Baron Stourton. The Earl and Countess had eight children:[3]
Lord Gainsborough died in 2009 and was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest son Anthony.