Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, 10th Duke of Richmond, 10th Duke of Lennox, 10th Duke of Aubigny, 5th Duke of Gordon (19 September 1929 – 1 September 2017), styled Lord Settrington until 1935 and Earl of March and Kinrara between 1935 and 1989, was an English peer and landowner.
The son of Frederick Gordon-Lennox, 9th Duke of Richmond, he succeeded to the titles when his father died in 1989. The seat of the Dukes of Richmond is Goodwood House in Sussex. The 10th Duke moved to the smaller Molecomb House nearby when his son Lord March took over control of the estate and moved into the main house with his family.[1]
The Duke was educated at Eton College and William Temple College, a now-defunct Church of England theological college (see William Temple Foundation). He was a 2nd Lieutenant in the 60th Rifles from 1949 to 1950. He was a Chartered Accountant and spent nearly two decades working in the corporate world.[2][3]
He held a number of civic, business and church appointments, including Chancellor of the University of Sussex from 1985 to 1998, and Church Commissioner from 1963 to 1976; member of the General Synod of the Church of England from 1960 to 1980 and on committees of the World Council of Churches. He was a Deputy Lieutenant of West Sussex from 1975 until 1990, and Lord Lieutenant from 1990 to 1994.[2] He was also a patron of Prisoners Abroad, a charity supporting the welfare of Britons imprisoned overseas and their families.
In 2006, he founded Sussex Community Foundation in response to severe social deprivation that he had observed throughout Sussex. In his own words:[4]
It is, in my view, a scandal that there are areas in Sussex which are in the bottom 20% of national measures of social deprivation. At the same time, when local people or companies think of giving to charity they tend to think of large national bodies, because little is known about the small community groups on their doorsteps.
The then Earl of March married in 1951 Susan Monica Grenville-Grey (1932-2023), daughter of Colonel Cecil Everard Montague Grenville-Grey and Louise Monica (née Morrison-Bell). They had three children:
The Duke and Duchess, then Earl and Countess of March, attracted press attention when they adopted two girls of mixed race during a time of anti-immigrant sentiment and when interracial marriage was frowned upon:
Both girls were born in England to white mothers, with a Ghanaian and a black South African father respectively.[3] Adopted children of peers were not allowed to use styles, titles and courtesy titles until a Royal Warrant issued in April 2004 meant that Maria and Naomi were elevated as Ladies, as daughters of a duke of the realm.[5]