Alan Ian Percy, 8th Duke of Northumberland, KG,CBE,MVO,TD (17 April 1880 – 23 August 1930) was a British peer, army officer, and newspaper proprietor.
Military career
Percy was a
second lieutenant of the 2nd Volunteer Battalion
the Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment), when he was admitted as a second lieutenant in the
Grenadier Guards on 24 January 1900.[1] He was part of a detachment sent to South Africa in March 1900 to reinforce the 3rd battalion during the
Second Boer War,[2] and served with his regiment there until the war ended. For his service, he received the
Queen's South Africa Medal. Following the end of the war, he returned to the United Kingdom in August 1902.[3] During his time as ADC to the Governor General of Canada, he undertook a wager to walk 111 miles from one city to another in three days—despite blizzards and heavy snowfall, he completed the challenge and won the wager. During the
First World War he served with the Grenadier Guards, working with the Intelligence Department to provide eyewitness accounts of battles and the front line. His brother Lord William Percy also served during the war; wounded in 1915, he spent the remainder of the war working as a military attorney. He was made a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur. On 1 October 1918 he was appointed
Honorary Colonel of the
3rd (Reserve) Battalion, Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment).[4][5]
From 1921, he funded the Boswell Publishing Company, and then in 1922 until his death, the Patriot, a radical right-wing weekly which published articles by
Nesta Webster and promulgated a mix of
anti-communism and
antisemitism.[7]
In 1930, the Duke wrote a short story The Shadow on the Moor, a fox-hunting ghost story in the manner of
M R James set in Northumberland, in which the hunter becomes the hunted. Originally privately published, the story remains in print as a short novella.[9]
Lady Diana Evelyn Percy (23 November 1917 – 16 June 1978); she married
John Egerton, 6th Duke of Sutherland on 29 April 1939. They had no children.
Lord Richard Charles Percy (11 February 1921 – 20 December 1989). Educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford. Joined the
Grenadier Guards in 1941, serving with the Regiment's 1st Battalion in the
Guards Armoured Division in North West Europe until retiring with the rank of Major in 1946; joined the Territorial Army regiment, the
Northumberland Hussars in 1947 (Lieutenant-Colonel commanding 1958–1961). He was a lecturer in Zoology at
Newcastle University for 36 years.[11] He married Sarah Jane Elizabeth Norton (1937–1978), daughter of Petre Norton of
The Manor House,
Whalton, on 10 September 1966. They had two children:
Algernon Alan Percy (17 March 1969)
Josceline Richard Percy (2 June 1971)
Lord Richard Charles Percy married secondly Hon. Clayre Campbell in 1979.
Lord Geoffrey William Percy (8 July 1925 – 4 December 1984); he married Mary Elizabeth Lea on 27 May 1955. They had one daughter:
Diana Ruth Percy (22 November 1956)
The 8th Duke died on 23 August 1930[4] and was buried in the
Northumberland Vault, within
Westminster Abbey.[12] He was succeeded in the dukedom and his other titles by his eldest son, George.[4]