William Astor, 3rd Viscount Astor

The Right Honourable The Viscount Astor
The future Lord Astor with his mother and aunt in 1913.
Member of the House of Lords
In office 30 September 1952 – 7 March 1966
Member of Parliament for Wycombe
In office 25 October 1951 – 30 September 1952
Preceded by	John Haire
Succeeded by	John Hall
Member of Parliament for Fulham East
In office 14 November 1935 – 5 July 1945
Preceded by	John Wilmot
Succeeded by	Michael Stewart
Personal details
Born	13 August 1907(1907-08-13)
Died	7 March 1966(1966-03-07) (aged 58) Nassau, Bahamas
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Sarah Kathleen Elinor Norton Phillipa Victoria Hunloke Janet Bronwen Alun Pugh
Relations	Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor Nancy Witcher Langhorne

William Waldorf Astor, 3rd Viscount Astor (13 August 1907 – 7 March 1966) was a British businessman and Conservative Party politician and a member of the prominent Astor family.

Background and education

Known as Bill Astor, he was the son of Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor and Nancy Langhorne. He was educated at Eton and at New College, Oxford.

Political career

In 1932, Astor was appointed secretary to the Earl of Lytton, League of Nations Committee of Enquiry in what was then known as Manchuria. First elected to the House of Commons in 1935, he served as a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Fulham East until 1945. Between 1936 and 1937 he was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty Sir Samuel Hoare, who was then made Secretary of State for the Home Department in the new cabinet of Neville Chamberlain in 1937.

Astor left politics for a time, but returned as the Conservative MP for Wycombe in the 1951 general election, serving for two years. On his father's death in 1952, he inherited his title, becoming the 3rd Viscount Astor. Astor took his seat in the House of Lords, forcing a by-election in Wycombe which was won by the Conservative candidate John Hall. During the 1963 Profumo Affair Astor was accused of having an affair with Mandy Rice-Davies. In response to being told during one of the trials arising out of the scandal that Astor had denied having an affair with her, Rice-Davies famously replied, "Well he would, wouldn't he?"

Astor then took over the family's Cliveden estate in Buckinghamshire, where he and his family continued to live until 1966. Active in thoroughbred horse racing, he inherited Cliveden Stud, a horse farm and breeding operation in the village of Taplow near Maidenhead.

Marriages

Lord Astor married three times:

• 1945: Sarah Kathleen Elinor Norton - (divorced 1953). They had one son, William Waldorf Astor, 4th Viscount Astor (born 1951)
• 1955: Phillipa Victoria Hunloke, daughter of Henry Philip Hunloke - (divorced 1960). They had a daughter, Hon. Emily Mary Astor (born 1956)
• 1960: Bronwen Pugh. They had two children, Hon. Janet Elizabeth Astor (born 1961) and Hon. Pauline Marian Astor (born 1964).

Lord Astor died in Nassau, Bahamas at age 58 from a heart attack.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Viscount Astor

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by John Charles Wilmot	Member of Parliament for Fulham East 1935–1945	Succeeded by Michael Stewart
Preceded by John Haire	Member of Parliament for Wycombe 1951–1952	Succeeded by Sir John Hall
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Waldorf Astor	Viscount Astor 1952–1966	Succeeded by William Waldorf Astor