Page 179 - WHO'S WHO OF DUDLEY ROTARY

HONORARY MEMBERS:

1. The Earl of Dudley - in succession, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Earls of Dudley
Honorary members 1922-1953/4 then 1979-1983[84]
(1) William Humble Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, TD, PC
(1867-1932). Educated at Eton, on the death of his father in 1885 he
inherited 46 square miles of mineral deposits in Staffordshire and
Worcestershire, two hundred coal and iron mines, several iron works
(including the Round Oak Steelworks) and a substantial fortune. He was
Mayor of Dudley 1895-96, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1902-05 and Governor
General of Australia 1908-11;
followed by
(2) William Humble Eric Ward, 3rd Earl of Dudley, MC TD (1894-1969), known as Viscount Ednam
until 1932 - see #4 below;
and then
(3) William Humble David Ward, 4th Earl of Dudley (1920-2013), known as
Billy and styled Viscount Ednam from 1932 to 1969. His second wife was the
film actress Maureen Swanson. He did not enjoy the riches of his
predecessors: by the time he succeeded his father, much of the family’s
estate had been sold off or broken up as the coal, iron and steel industries
gradually diminished or became nationalised. Many thousands of acres of
land, farms and houses were sold. Himley Hall was sold in 1947: used as a
Red Cross Auxiliary Hospital during the Second World War then bought by
the National Coal Board to be its regional headquarters. His father then became a tax exile in
the Bahamas, a condition of which was that he disposed of all his property in the UK, so further
land was sold in 1963 and by 1965 Himley Estates Ltd had been wound up.

2. Member of Parliament for the Borough of Dudley for his period in office. From 1974 it was the
MP for Dudley East constituency
Honorary members 1927-1983/84
(1) Cyril Edward Lloyd (1876-1963) Conservative MP 1922-29 and 1941-45.
He was a member of the Lloyds banking family, but made his career in
engineering, serving as chairman of N Hingley & Sons Ltd for more than forty
years. He was a founder member of the Club (#18) from 1922.

(2) Oliver Ridsdale Baldwin, 2nd Earl Baldwin of Bewdley (1899-1958),
son of Conservative prime minister Stanley Baldwin but Labour MP for
Dudley 1929-31. Educated at Eton then, after service in the army during
the First World War, undertook various jobs including a brief
appointment as an officer in the Armenian army, and wrote journalism
and books on a range of topics.