George John Charles Mercer Nairne Petty-Fitzmaurice, 8th Marquess of Lansdowne, DL (27 November 1912 – 25 August 1999), was a British peer and Conservative politician.
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Background
Petty-Fitzmaurice was the only son of Lord Charles Mercer Nairne, the second son of Henry Petty-FitzMaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne. His father was killed in action in 1914 while on active service in the First World War, and his mother, the former Lady Violet Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, later married secondly John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever.
He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, and served in the British Army in the Second World War.
In August 1944, Petty-Fitzmaurice's life was significantly changed when his cousins the 7th Marquess of Lansdowne and his younger brother were both killed in action in the War. As a result, he suddenly and unexpectedly inherited the family peerages and estates, except for the Lordship of Nairne, which under Scottish law went to the 7th Marquess's sister Katherine Evelyn Constance Bigham (1912–1995).
Career
Lansdowne became a Justice of the Peace for Perthshire in 1950 and a Deputy lieutenant of Wiltshire in 1952. In 1957 and 1958 he was a Lord-in-Waiting (government whip) and then was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office between 1958 and 1962 and Minister of State for Commonwealth and Colonial Affairs between 1962 and 1964. Effectively his political career was ended by the election of the Labour government of 1964–1970. In 1964 he was appointed as a Privy Councillor.