John Grimston, 7th Earl of Verulam

John Duncan Grimston, 7th Earl of Verulam (born 21 April 1951), styled Viscount Grimston between 1960 and 1973, is a British peer and was a member of the House of Lords from 1974 to 1999.

Early life

Grimston was born in 1951, the only son of John Grimston, 6th Earl of Verulam and his wife Marjorie Ray Duncan, daughter of Walter Atholl Duncan. He was educated at West Downs, Eton and Christ Church, Oxford (MA Engineering and Economics.

In 1973, on the death of his father, he succeeded in the peerages of Earl of Verulam and Viscount Grimston (1815), Baron Forrester in the peerage of Scotland (1633), Baron Dunboyne and Viscount Grimston in the peerage of Ireland (1719), Baron Verulam (1790), and as a Baronet (1629).

An only son, he had four sisters, Lady Elizabeth (1939–1987), Lady Hermione Frances (1941), Lady Romayne Bryony (1946), and Lady Iona Charlotte (1953).

Career For fourteen years until 1996 Verulam was a director of corporate finance at Barings Bank and was then Managing Director of ABN-AMRO Bank from 1996 to 2000 and a Director and Vice-Chairman of Kleinwort Benson Private Bank from 2001 to 2008. He is currently Chairman of Grimston Trust Ltd and founding partner of the Verulam Consulting group.

Grimston has founded two registered charities: The Friends of St Michael's Church, and The West Herts Environmental Foundation.

Marriage and children In 1976, Verulam married Dione Smith. They have four children:

James Walter Grimston, Viscount Grimston (born 6 January 1978), heir apparent to the earldom and other titles, married Lady Rosanagh Innes-Ker, daughter of the 10th Duke of Roxburghe, in 2008 Hon. Hugo Guy Sylvester Grimston (born 5 November 1979), married Gallia McDermott in 2008 Lady Flora Grimston (born 28 September 1981), married Jazz pianist Peter Letanka (grandson of John Gathorne-Hardy, 4th Earl of Cranbrook) in 2013 Hon. Sam George Grimston (born 18 October 1983)

Verulam lives at Gorhambury House, Hertfordshire.