Lord Richard Percy

Lord Richard Percy (11 February 1921 – 23 December 1989) was an English zoologist with an aristocratic and military background, best known for his specialist research on lampreys. He had a long association with Newcastle University and the field of Northumbrian natural history. Having published some work in East Africa in the early 1950s, he also undertook research on behalf of the U.K. government into the ecology of seabirds in the Seychelles. Early life Lord Richard Charles Percy was born on 11 February 1921 at Alnwick Castle, a younger son of the 8th Duke of Northumberland and Lady Helen Gordon Lennox. He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford. Queen Mary and Princess Victoria were among his godparents, and he was page to HRH Prince Arthur of Connaught at the Coronation of George VI in 1937: his photographic portrait by Madame Yevonde as Prince Arthur’s page is in the National Portrait Gallery. As a child in 1924 he was painted with his sister, Lady Diana Percy, by Philip de Laszlo. In 1937 De László requested the loan of the portrait for his large exhibition at Wildenstein’s in London, saying he considered it to be “one of the most outstanding children’s pictures of [his].” Military service Having spent only a year at Christ Church, he went to Sandhurst in 1940 and was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards in 1941. His service number was 200087. From June 1944 he served with the Regiment’s 1st (Motor) Battalion in the Guards Armoured Division as they advanced through Normandy and on into Germany – for a time acting as Air Liaison Officer at Divisional HQ. He was regarded as an “efficient but unconventional” officer, playing the organ in every village church his Battalion liberated and keeping a Hardy ‘smuggler’ fishing rod in his armoured car throughout the campaign. In 1946 he retired from the regular army with the rank of Major.