Honorific Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
The Lord Delamere | |
Office: | Member of the House of Lords |
Status: | Lord Temporal |
Term Label: | as a hereditary peer |
Term Start: | 13 April 1979 |
Predecessor: | The 4th Baron Delamere |
Term End: | 11 November 1999 |
Successor: | Seat abolished |
Birth Name: | Hugh George Cholmondeley |
Birth Date: | 18 January 1934 |
Birth Place: | London, England |
Children: | Hon. Thomas Cholmondeley |
Occupation: | Farmer |
Hugh George Cholmondeley, 5th Baron Delamere (; born 18 January 1934), styled The Honourable Hugh George Cholmondeley from birth until 1979, is a British peer. He is a well-known figure in the evolution and development of post-colonial Kenya. He owns the vast Soysambu Ranch in Kenya.
Lord Delamere is the eldest son of Thomas Cholmondeley, 4th Baron Delamere, whom he succeeded as baron in 1979. His mother was Phyllis Anne Montagu Douglas Scott, granddaughter of both the 6th Duke of Buccleuch and the 7th Duke of Rutland. Hugh Delamere (as he is known to family and friends) is an indirect descendant of Sir Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister of Great Britain.[1] He was educated at Eton, and then went up to Magdalene College, Cambridge.[2] Graduating with a BA in 1955, he advanced to MA in 1959.[3]
On 11 April 1964, Cholmondeley married Anne Renison, daughter of Sir Patrick Muir Renison, the former Governor of Kenya. The couple had one son: Hon. Thomas Cholmondeley (19 January 1968 – 17 August 2016).[4]
In this period, the Cholmondeley family continued to own land in Cheshire, and to have other holdings in the country; but the former baronial seat of Vale Royal Abbey was sold in 1947.[5] He inherited the title from his father on 13 April 1979. The Delamere title and the branch of the Cholmondeley family were originally from Cheshire, so in 1987 he was asked to become a JP.
Lord Delamere has lived, worked and invested most of his life in building the modern state of Kenya. As of 2003 he continued to live on and own the vast estates at Sugoni Farm, Soysambu, Elmenteita, Kenya.[3]