Elizabeth Douglas-Home

Elizabeth Hester Douglas-Home, Baroness Home of the Hirsel (née Alington; 6 November 1909 – 13 September 1990) was the wife of British politician and Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home.

The Right Honourable The Lady Home of the Hirsel
As the Countess of Home in 1963
Spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In role 19 October 1963 – 16 October 1964
Prime Minister	Alec Douglas-Home
Preceded by	Lady Dorothy Macmillan
Succeeded by	Mary Wilson
Personal details
Born	Elizabeth Hester Alington 6 November 1909
Died	3 September 1990 (aged 80)
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	The Lord Home of the Hirsel ​ ​ (m. 1936)​
Relations	Cyril Alington (father) David Douglas-Home (son)

Biography

She was born Elizabeth Alington,[1] the second daughter of the Very Rev Cyril Alington[2]—headmaster of Shrewsbury School and Eton College respectively, as well as chaplain to King George V[2]—and his wife, Hester Margaret Lyttelton, daughter of George Lyttelton, 4th Baron Lyttelton.[2] Elizabeth was the first woman to become a fellow (governor) of Eton.

She married Alec Douglas-Home on 3 October 1936.[1] Thanks to her husband acquiring and renouncing various titles she had, according to The Guinness Book of Records, more names successively in her lifetime than any other once-married, British-only woman.[3]

She died on 3 September 1990 at the age of 80.[4] Her husband outlived her by just over five years.[5] They had been married for 53 years.

References

1. Hurd 2004, under "Marriage and the Second World War".
2. Card 2004.
3. Guinness Book of Records 1985.
4. "Confirmation of birthname". RootsWeb. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
5. Hurd 2004, under "Retirement".

Bibliography

• Blair, Cherie; Cate Haste (2005). The Goldfish Bowl: Married to the Prime Minister 1955–1997. Vintage. ISBN 978-0-09-946202-6.
• Card, Tim (2004). "Alington, Cyril Argentine". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30379.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link) (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Guinness Book of Records 1985. Guinness World Records Limited. 19 October 1984. ISBN 978-0-85112-419-3.
• Hurd, Douglas (2004). "Home, Alexander Frederick [Alec] Douglas-, fourteenth earl of Home and Baron Home of the Hirsel". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

External links

• Media related to Elizabeth Douglas-Home at Wikimedia Commons
• Portraits of Elizabeth Douglas-Home at the National Portrait Gallery, London