Francis Holmes a Court

Francis William Holmes à Court, 6th Baron Heytesbury (8 November 1931 – 5 October 2004) was a British landowner and peer, serving as a Member of the House of Lords from 1971 until 1999. Early life The only child of William Holmes à Court, 5th Baron Heytesbury, and his wife Beryl Crawford, a daughter of Dr Albert Edward Bredin Crawford of Aston Clinton House, Buckinghamshire, the young Francis Holmes à Court was educated at Bryanston School and Pembroke College, Cambridge. He was an exhibitioner of his college and a member of the University's Mountaineering Club.

He was a member of the House of Lords from 1971 until 1999, when most hereditary peers lost their seats, but rarely spoke there.

Personal life On 22 September 1962, Francis Holmes à Court married Alison Jean Balfour, daughter of Professor Michael Leonard Graham Balfour and Ethel Grizel Wilson. They had one son, James, who succeeded to the peerage, and a daughter, Camilla. image = Coat of arms of Holmes à Court, Barons Heytesbury.svg

crest = 1st, Out of a naval crown or, an arm embowed in armour, the hand proper grasping a trident azure headed or; 2nd An eagle displayed sable charged on the body with two chevronels or and holding in the beak a lily slipped proper. escutcheon = Quarterly, 1st and 4th, Barry wavy of six or and azure, on a canton gules a lion of England (Holmes); 2nd and 3rd Per fess or and paly of six erminois and azure, in chief an eagle displayed sable, beaked and membered gules, charged on the body with two chevronels argent (à Court). supporters = Two eagles, wings elevated and displayed sable, beaked and membered gules, each holding in the beak a lily slipped proper. motto =Grandescunt aucta labore (Increased by labour, they grow large) orders =