Martin Buckmaster, 3rd Viscount Buckmaster explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Right Honourable
The Viscount Buckmaster
Order:3rd
Office:Viscount Buckmaster
Term Start:1974
Term End:2007
Predecessor:Owen Buckmaster
Successor:Adrian Buckmaster
Birth Name:Martin Stanley Buckmaster
Birth Date:11 April 1921
Birth Place:Paddington, London, England
Death Place:London, England
Resting Place:St. Mary's Church, Brettenham
Party:Crossbencher
Mawards:is not set -->
Embed:yes
Allegiance: United Kingdom
Serviceyears:1939 - 1946
Rank:Captain
Servicenumber:143728
Battles:World War II

Martin Stanley Buckmaster, 3rd Viscount Buckmaster (11 April 1921 – 8 June 2007) was a British diplomat. He sat on the crossbenches in the House of Lords from 1974.

Buckmaster was the elder son of Owen Buckmaster, 2nd Viscount Buckmaster, a barrister and Lloyd's underwriter, and his first wife, Joan Simpson.[1] His grandfather was Stanley Buckmaster, 1st Viscount Buckmaster, a barrister and Liberal MP who served as Solicitor General for England and Wales from 1913 to 1915 and was created 1st Viscount Buckmaster in 1915 when he became Lord Chancellor.

Buckmaster was educated at Stowe School. On the outbreak of World War II, he joined the Royal Sussex Regiment straight from school. After receiving his commission in August 1940 he served in the Middle East and was granted the honorary rank of Captain when he relinquished his commission in June 1953.

Buckmaster was demobilised in 1946 and joined the Foreign Office, using his experience of the Middle East to good effect. He was a political officer in Abu Dhabi from 1955 to 1958, and then First Secretary at the British embassy in Libya until 1963. After serving in Bahrain, he moved to Kampala to become First Secretary in Uganda from 1969 to 1971. He later served in Beirut and Yemen, retiring in 1981. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1979 Birthday Honours.

He became Viscount Buckmaster on his father's death in 1974, his father having inherited the title in 1934. He took a seat on the crossbenches in the House of Lords, speaking mainly on matters relating to the Middle East. He was vice-chairman of the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding.

A committed Christian, he also spoke on issues of public morality. He was a member of the Conservative Family Campaign, and a patron of the Christian Broadcasting Council.

He was succeeded to the viscountcy by his nephew, Adrian Buckmaster, son of his younger brother, Hon. Colin John Buckmaster.

Arms

Escutcheon:Or semee of fleurs-de-lis Azure a lion rampant of the last on a chief of the second a portcullis of the first.
Crest:A demi-lion Azure holding in the dexter paw a fleur-de-lis and charged on the shoulder with a portcullis both Or.
Supporters:On either side a bulk Proper each gorged with a chain pendant therefrom a portcullis Or.
Motto:Equanimitas Magnanimitas (Equanimity, Magnanimity)[2]

References

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Index entry. 17 February 2021. FreeBMD. ONS.
  2. Book: Debrett's Peerage . 2019 . 1899.