Harold Wernher

Sir Harold Augustus Wernher, 3rd Baronet GCVO TD (16 January 1893 – 30 June 1973)

Biography

He was the son of Sir Julius Wernher, 1st Baronet and his wife Alice Sedgwick Mankiewicz. On 20 July 1917, Harold married Anastasia de Torby (9 September 1892 Wiesbaden - 7 December 1977 London), the eldest daughter of Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich Romanov and they had three children:

• George Michael Alexander Wernher (22 August 1918 – 4 December 1942), killed, aged 24, in Béja, Tunisia on active service.
• Georgina Wernher ( 17 October 1919 – 28 April 2011) who married Lt.-Col. Harold Phillips and had several children, including Alexandra Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn and Natalia Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster.
• Myra Alice Wernher (b. 8 March 1925) who married Sir David Henry Butter and had several children, including Maralyn Ramsay, Countess of Dalhousie, and Sandra Butter, bridesmaid to Katharine, Duchess of Kent. Lady Butter is a Patroness of the Royal Caledonian Ball.

He reached the rank of major-general during World War II, and played an important role in coordinating the logistics of Operation Overlord.

In 1948, Harold inherited his baronetcy from his brother (who had no male heirs). He had previously inherited Luton Hoo upon his father's death. Harold died at Luton, Bedfordshire in 1973 and as he also did not have any surviving male heirs, the baronetcy became extinct.

To avoid death duties the Wernher estate donated the Wernher Triptych to the British Museum.