George Brodrick, 2nd Earl of Midleton

George St John Brodrick, 2nd Earl of Midleton MC (21 February 1888 – 2 November 1979) was an English aristocrat, landowner and soldier.

Early life

He was the eldest son of five children born to St John Brodrick, 1st Earl of Midleton by his first wife, Lady Hilda Charteris. His siblings included Lady Muriel Brodrick (wife of Dudley Marjoribanks, 3rd Baron Tweedmouth), Lady Sybil Brodrick who was Maid of honour to Queen Mary from 1911 to 1912 (wife of Sir Ronald William Graham), Lady Aileen Brodrick (wife of Charles Francis Meade), Lady Moyra Brodrick (wife of Gen. Sir Charles Loyd of Geldeston Hall) After his mother's death in 1901, his father remarried, in 1903, to Madeleine Stanley, a daughter of The Baron St Helier. From his father's second marriage, his younger-half siblings were Maj. Hon. Francis Alan Brodrick (who married Margaret Letitia Lyell, only daughter of Maj Hon Charles Henry Lyell) and Maj. Hon. Michael Victor Brodrick. Both of his brothers were killed in action in Italy in September 1943. His maternal grandparents were Francis Richard Charteris, 10th Earl of Wemyss and Lady Anne Anson (a daughter of Thomas Anson, 1st Earl of Lichfield).

He was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford.

Career From 1914 to 1918, he served in World War as aide-de-camp on the personal staff of Sir Ian Hamilton in Egypt and Gallipoli. In 1918, he was Staff Officer and was awarded Military Cross. During World War II, he served as aide-de-camp to the Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces.

He succeeded his father, who had served as Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State for India, as the Earl of Midleton in 1942.

Personal life

Lord Midleton was married three times to three actresses, but did not have any children from any of his marriages.

First marriage His first marriage was to the stage actress Margaret "Peggy" Rush, (Peggy was born in Chicago, Illinois, in around 1898.) Her parents relocated to England, when she was just three months old. In 1915 she began her stage career as a member of a musical comedy chorus, that appeared at the Maxine Elliott's Theatre. A photograph of her by the Bassano studio (1923) can be found in Britain’s National Portrait Gallery. "Miss Rush had a sense of humor... She once said that she never knew whether to refer to herself as American or English. She quipped that she felt safest calling herself a Chicagoan". They divorced in March 1925 before he succeeded to the Earldom. Guinevere, an actress at the Gaiety Theatre, was the widow of George Jay Gould, and a daughter of Alexander Sinclair of Dublin. Her grandfather was Sir Edward Burrowes Sinclair, King's Professor of Midwifery in the School of Physic of the University of Dublin, and her cousin was Sir George McMunn, High Commissioner of Palestine.