Bryan Guinness, 2nd Baron Moyne
Bryan Walter Guinness, 2nd Baron Moyne (
October 27,
1905 -
July 6,
1992), was an heir to the
Guinness family brewing fortune, lawyer, poet and novelist. He married
Diana Mitford, but later divorced her.
He was born to
Walter Edward Guinness (created 1st Baron Moyne in 1934), son of the
1st Earl of Iveagh, and Lady Evelyn Stuart Erskine, daughter of the 14th
Earl of Buchan. He attended Heatherdown,
Eton College, and
Christ Church, Oxford, and was
called to the bar in
1931.
As an heir to the Guinness brewing fortune and a handsome, charming young man, Bryan was an eligible bachelor. In
1929, he married the Hon.
Diana Mitford, one of the infamous
Mitford sisters, and had two sons with her. The couple became leaders of the London artistic and social scene and were dedicatees of
Evelyn Waugh's first novel
Vile Bodies. However, they divorced in
1933, after Diana deserted him for British fascist leader Sir
Oswald Mosley. Guinness remarried happily in
1936 to Elisabeth Nelson, with whom he would have nine children.
In
1944, while serving his country as a liaison officer, Guinness succeeded to
the barony when his father, posted abroad as a Minister Resident in the Middle East, was assassinated in Cairo. After the war, Lord Moyne served on the board of the
Guinness corporation, as well as various trusts and artistic committees in Ireland. He wrote a number of critically applauded novels, memoirs, books of poetry, and plays.
Lord Moyne died in 1992 at Biddesden, his home in Hampshire, and was succeeded by his eldest son
Jonathan.
His works:
*Plays: The Fragrant Concubine, A Tragedy (1938); A Riverside Charade (1954)
*Children's books: The Story of Johnny and Jemima (1936); The Children of the Desert (1947); The Animal's Breakfast (1950)
*Poetry: Twenty-three Poems (1931); Reflexions (1947); Collected Poems (1956); Selected Poems (1964); The Clock (1973).
*Novels: Singing Out of Tune (1933); Landscape with Figures (1934); A Week by the Sea (1936); Lady Crushwell's Companion (1938); A Fugue of Cinderellas (1956); Leo and Rosabelle (1961); The Giant's Eye (1964); The Engagement (1969); Hellenic Flirtation (1978)
*Memoirs: Potpourri (1982).